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Murky Depths: Issue Three / Review
“The Quarterly Anthology Of Graphically Dark Speculative Fiction”

Contents: Title / Author / Artist

• What’s Yours Is Mine / Pike Stephenson / Dylan Williams
• Evention / Mike Webster / Lucas Hinchley
• The Suicide Bar / Montilee Stormer /Jag Lall & Denis Pacher
• Nine-tenths Of The Law / Edward Morris / Wayne Blackhurst
• In This the Era of the Great Wilting / Jeffrey Archer-Burton / Jason Beam
• Death and the Maiden 3 / Richard Calder / Richard Calder
• Shit New World / Martin Hayes / James Cameron
• Maimed / Hazel Marcus Ong / Glen James
• SPOIL / Stan Nicholls / Johnny Lee
• The Dark Gospel 2 / Luke Cooper / Luke Cooper
• Speak Ill Of The Dead / Ian Faulkner / Mark Bell
• Zombie Diva / Glynn Barrass / Lucas Hinchley
• The Love Ship Guide to Seduction in Zero Gravity / Steve Pirie / Denis Pacher

Non Fiction:

• Sprawl and Brawl: Five Reasons Why Cyberpunk Sustains (Article) / Matt Wallace
• An Interview with Stan Nicholls

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Murky Depths: Issue One / Review
“The Quarterly Anthology Of Graphically Dark Speculative Fiction”

Contents:

• Death and the Maiden / Richard Calder
• Looking In, Looking Out / Gareth D. Jones
• Come To My Arms My Beamish Boy / Douglas Warrick
• Paston, Kentucky / Jonathan C. Gillespie
• The Other Woman / Chris Lynch
• 67442 / Paul Abbamondi
• Supply Ship / Kate Kelly
• State Your Name / Jon Courtenay Grimwood
• Empathy / Luke Cooper
• Snowblind / Marcie Lynn
• Cyberevenge Inc. / Eugie Foster
• Today Is Not / Michael Sellars
• I Bleed Light / Edward R. Norden
• The Quality of Mercy / Ron Shiflet
• Naught But Ash / Anne Stringer
• The Pattern Makers of Zanzibar / Lavie Tidhar

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Matthew Holness AKA Gareth Marenghi of the eponymous cult TV show has a story in Black Static 3, which has just gone to the printer and will be out, early, in February.

The Toad and I” by Matthew Holness. The author is a “A real life TV star, most famous for his Gareth Marenghi character (absolutely brilliant — hope you’ve seen it)” and he won the 2001 Perrier Comedy Award, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s top prize.

Also two debut stories, The Morning After, is Carole Johnstone’s first author credit anywhere. Carole is a Scot now living in Essex.

Seth Skorkowsky’s The Mist of Lichthafen is his first story sale but he’s since sold other stories and they saw the light of publication before there was space for him in BS 3.
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Interzone : Now Available From Fictionwise.

Creative writing is not immune to information technology. The literary equivalent to music’s Ipod is the ebook reader and there are many portable devices into readers can download an electronic version of a novel or magazine. Alternatives to specific ebooks are PDAs, laptops and some mobile phones.

Fictionwise (http://www.fictionwise.com/) is a US website which formats books and magazines for web distribution to e book readers such as the ‘Amazon Kindle’ or ‘Sony Reader’. They take a file from the publisher and convert it to the multitude of formats needed to ensure all E book readers and many ‘mobile’ devices can display the text.

Fictionwise sell the files through their website though publishers can also do it themselves via their own, or retailer, sites.

‘MultiFormat’ ebooks are not encrypted and paying for one type of download format allows free access to other formats of that ebook. So customers who update to a new e reader or mobile device do not lose access to their library.
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Short Fiction Review Magazine, The Fix, Relaunches Online

TTA Press, publisher of renowned short fiction showcases Interzone, Black Static, and Crimewave, also published The Fix. The latter in its print incarnation, provided critical analyses and reviews of an extensive range of short fiction.

Now, The Fix has relaunched in a new, online format, once again providing a venue for critical coverage of speculative short fiction across the full spectrum of magazines, webzines, anthologies, and single-author collections.

Publisher Andy Cox predicts that The Fix will grow into the hub for aficionados and practitioners of short fiction to visit for news and commentary relevant to the community.

Managing Editor Eugie Foster, arriving to helm The Fix fresh from a distinguished career as managing editor of Tangent Online, plans to spotlight short fiction in all its myriad mediums: print, online, audio, and film.
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Dark Tales : Issue Eleven

Reviewed By Gareth D. Jones

Another large helping of dark and disturbing fiction arrives in the form of Dark Tales #11. The whole issue is entertaining and varied in contents, and looks and feels quite smart too.

The opening story this issue is A. Reader’s Half Life, which is the name of a drug that reduces the patient’s age by half. Sounds like miracle, but as is usually the case there are unforeseen and rather unsettling side effects. The story is well written, and does a good job of outlining the true horror of the situation, with a profoundly thoughtful ending. At least, I thought it was the end, only to find another few paragraphs over the page that I thought rather blunted the impact. So, choose for yourself which end you think best.

Niall McMahon recounts A Dream of Faces, the touching tale of a young boy’s encounter with a terribly scarred burns victim who touches his life for a while. His initial reactions, the subsequent development of their relationship and her ultimately profound effect on his life really are engagingly told. The feelings of both come across well and ensure that the story will stay with you.

Debt is a story of lycanthropy by Andrew J Oliver. It’s only short, so there’s no real development of the characters or motivations beyond a brief setting of the scene. It’s also written in the second person, which I always find a little odd, but that’s just a matter of taste. The confusion and disorientation are conveyed well, but no real explanation is given. The success of the story then depends on whether you like reasons for the strange goings-on, or whether you’re happier with the unexplained.

A man attempting to retrieve his lost wallet from an eccentric old woman is the setting for Davin Ireland’s Growing Season. There’s some good descriptive work of the decrepit house and the overgrown garden, with the old lady becoming more and more creepy. The tale develops well as bewilderment and frustration set in, slowly giving way to horror as the old lady’s true purpose becomes clear. I’m giving up gardening after reading this.
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Fiction Magazine : Issue Four

Reviewed By Gareth D. Jones

Since issue #3, Fiction magazine has moved to PDF format, with the possibility of moving back to print in the future. I don’t find on-line magazines as exciting as having an actual printed magazine in your hand, but the editors are maintaining the standard of fiction established in their first two print editions.

The first and longest story is An Act of Mercy by Sarah Hughes. It’s a multi-stranded story that initially left me confused due to the similarity of character’s names in different threads (Ryan, Rayne, Reuben). This meant that I had to keep checking back , breaking the flow of the story. Several typos didn’t help too. Getting past these problems, it was an interesting story of viruses, nanobots, androids and a sprinkling of very diverse characters to add to the interest. I’m tempted to say it was almost too ambitious, introducing enough characters to sustain a much longer piece. The complex plot was entertaining though and the android characters were particularly well developed.

Gareth L Powell’s contribution is A Necklace of Ivy, a realistically rendered tale set against the backdrop of a mysterious alien plague sweeping through Cornwall. A young couple are making their way out of the county in advance of an army curfew, but make the mistake of stopping for one last break. The realistic dialogue and briefly sketched description make it a compelling little tale.
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Midnight Street : Issue Nine

Reviewed By Gareth D. Jones

Unlike most of the other magazines I’ve read recently, Midnight Street contains a varied mixture of interviews, reviews, and articles, as well as a sprinkling of poems interspersed among the fiction. It’s an A4 magazine with coloured illustrations on the cover and black and white within.

We start with The Ice Horse, an intriguing story by Mark Howard Jones in which an unfortunate captive is imprisoned inside a giant sculpture of a horse. Why he’s there isn’t entirely clear, partly due to his half-frozen state. The background character of the artistic genius who created the sculpture adds an interesting dimension too as the freezing captive tries to figure out an escape.

An unstable man who suffers from gaps in his memory, among other things, goes Shoplifting in Chris Ward’s story that alternates between humour and pity. As his character becomes more paranoid and desperate, unsure whether he stole the clothes he’s wearing, his situation becomes more and more pitiable. It’s a story well told, aside from the use of profanity that I thought over the top, being used in the narration as well as by the shoplifter. Sorry, alleged shoplifter.

The something in Ken Goldman’s story There’s Something in Autumn Palms Lake quickly turns out to be an alligator. I’m not spoiling the story by telling you that. The reason it’s there, told in flashback, and the final scene, make what seems to be a fairly predictable story into something much more interesting.
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Interzone 212 : Britain’s Longest Running Scifi & Fantasy Magazine
(Sept/Oct 2007) Due on Sale September 6 2007.

Read to the end for a subscription offer.

Cover Art: Science fiction imagery from a South American perspective by Argentine artist Osvaldo Gonzalez who now works from Florida.

Fiction:
Feelings of the Flesh Douglas Cohen’s novelette is this issue’s debut story. Its theme is the conflicts between desire and instinct for individuals, and society, when change is necessary. Douglas is single, almost 30, and has a BA in English from Hofstra University, Long Island. His day job in New York City involves organizing medical conferences for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. He lives an approximate 40 minute rail commute away in Valley Stream, NY. This is his first published story. Illustrated by Warwick Fraser-Coombe

Ack-Ack Macaque is Gareth Lyn Powell’s second Interzone story and he has sold a novel and a collection on the strength of his first appearance last year. Illustrated by SMS.
On the strength of his original publication in Interzone Gareth has progressed to two book deals; one for a novel (Silversands - Pendragon Press due 2009) and the other for a collection of short stories (Distant Galaxies Colliding - Elastic Press due August 2008). This second story features a one-eyed, cigar-smoking monkey wreaking havoc in Gareth’s home city, Bristol. There’s an interview with Gareth here.

A Handful of Pearls by Beth Bernobich. Beth is new to Interzone but she is making a name in the US magazines. Illustrated by Jesse Speak.
Beth is an author, software engineer and mother of a teenage boy. She studied in Heidelberg and Virginia and now lives in Connecticut, PS will publish her novelette Ars Memoriae as a limited-edition chapbook in 2009 and she has featured in Asimovs Magazine and Strange Horizons.

Dada Jihad by Will McIntosh, author of Soft Apocalypse in IZ 200. Chris Nurse illustrates.

The Algorithm by Tim Akers. After Toke in IZ 210 comes Tim’s fourth Interzone story. Illustrated by Warwick Fraser-Coombe
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Dark Tales : Issue Ten

Reviewed By Gareth D. Jones

This is my first experience of Dark Tales, a glossy A5 magazine that’s filled, predictably, with stories of a dark slant. It advertises itself as a magazine of fantasy, horror and SF, but disappointingly for me contained little in the way of SF. Still, reviewers can’t be choosers, as the old saying goes.

Merlins Pool is a story about fishing by Trevor Hicks. That makes it sound dull. It’s actually very atmospheric and with a sense of the mysterious that makes it quite a satisfying read.

John Morgan’s Still Life is a very short piece that shows what lengths some people will go to for art. Like all good flash fiction it gets to the point quickly, and that point is nice and sharp.

Sophie Duffy’s heroine in Hot and Cold is a lonely woman haunted by memories of her twin sister who went missing on the way to school over 20 years earlier. Now an estate agent, she feels strangely drawn to a creepy old house. There’s a nice balance of suspense being built, then shaken off as the woman dismisses her fears, that build to an over all emotive tale.

In The Model Colin Leonard gives us another troubled artist. this one blind and under the seemingly beneficent influence of a mysterious woman who has served as his muse. The story is told from the artist’s viewpoint, rather cleverly considering his blindness, and you really come to appreciate his dark world. I may have missed something at the end though. Although it built to a dramatic climax, I didn’t quite see what it was. Ironically enough.
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Forgotten Worlds : Issue Nine

Reviewed By Gareth D. Jones

As the months passed and no further issues of Forgotten Worlds appeared I began to fear the worst. Then all of a sudden issue #9 arrived in the post, bringing another varied selection of stories that fill this 56 page A5 magazine to capacity.

We start the magazine with the entertaining Flotsam Jewel by Fraser Ronald, a story of mysterious jewels, wizards and guilds. What’s particularly interesting about this story is the setting in the floating suburb known as Flotsam – a shanty town of old boats and shacks built on rafts that constantly moves with the swell of the tide. The setting is an integral part of the story rather than just a gimmick and along with the well-developed central character it gives the whole story a solid basis.

The Box is a truly unnerving tale by Neil Davies, in which a desperate man with a secret decides his new neighbour’s large wooden box could be very useful. It’s very well written, building the suspense while also surprising you with unexpected developments.

There are some excellent concepts in Graeme S Huston’s The Unregistered Daydreamer: Bold technological concepts, a humorous relationship with an alien, nightmares breaking out into reality. It’s all tied together well, until the pacing picks up towards the end. I got the impression that had the piece been longer the ideas would have developed better, rather than the rushed impression that I was left with. The character of the unregistered daydreamer himself is a great idea though.
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Darker Matter : Issue Number #5

Reviewed By Gareth D. Jones

Darker Matter is a UK based webzine that promises to be ‘the high quality online science fiction magazine so many worlds have been waiting for’. It provides artwork with each story and also has a continuously-updated list of the top-ten ranked stories so far. The font on the main page is not the easiest on the eye, but the stories are laid out nicely.

True History is Jason Stoddard’s far future tale of humanity who’s minds are connected by the Grid. It’s the kind of story that Greg Egan might have written, a clever concept of how man could develop technology too far and change what it is to be human. A thought provoking piece that makes you wonder.

A much lighter tale is provided by Sue Lange with Peroxide Head, a story about a hairdo rather than the end of civilisation. Thinking about it, to a woman both issues are equally serious. :~D There are some interesting ideas on alien civilisations and clever comparisons with our own to make it an enjoyable little piece.

From Hank Quesne we have Sponsored by… , a satirical story of corporate sponsorship, war games and innovative ways to get rid of unwanted social groups. The thing that makes it special is the principled central character, and his idealistic thinking, right up to the ironic conclusion.

You wouldn’t normally expect an alien invasion to consist of deer, but in Jerry Oltion’s Starlings the forests are being taken over by a mysterious new species that has everyone puzzled. It’s an enjoyable story that explores different attitudes and weaves a satisfactory tale.
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Interzone Cover Artwork All In One Place

On and impluse, I did a search for old Interzone covers on google images, and came back with this site which holds most (if not all) the covers of Interzone from Issue 1 to Issue 199, which strangely enough is exactly where I started subscribing to it.

I particularly liked the way the cover changed slightly from Issue 1 to Issue 2, the total eclipse of the sun moving off centre and the colour changing. Very effective, if simplistic.

You can see how the artwork progressed, and the way in which ’sf’ is being portrayed through art is changing.

It’s also amusing to see how the Interzone logos change over the years, of which I prefer the newest. Although that’s not to say the older ones weren’t ‘cool’ in their day - they just look kind of dated now, which isn’t really true of the artwork itself, it’s stood the test of time.

My favourite is Issue 16 as it reflects the kind of stories I rate high on my list - a world which is similar to our own on the surface, but strange when examined closely.

Looking at the covers, quite a few names jump out. Most notably, J.G Ballard, Christopher Priest, Jonathan Carroll (which I never realised had written for Interzone), Ian Watson, Kim Newman, Greg Bear, Bruce Sterling,, Greg Egan, Eric Brown and William Gibson, to name but a few. Which goes to make an impressive lineup.

A great archive, which covers the covers of the world’s best, British and longest running, sf magazine, although, sadly, the names of the artists are missing.

The Bourne Story Is Back (calm down girls)

This isn’t really scifi, but when I saw The Bourne Identity (and The Bourne Supremacy to some extent) it reminded me of Philip K Dick (probably Paycheck) - a person struggling with his environment, not knowing who he really was, or is, and venturing to find out by learning about what’s locked in is mind.

Let’s hope it keeps the same vein as the earlier movies (and ok, I admit I’ve only read the first book, couldn’t quite get into the others).

Matt Damon returns as the trained assassin Jason Bourne for the latest showdown in The Bourne Ultimatum. In the follow-up to 2002’s The Bourne Identity and 2004’s The Bourne Supremacy—the smash hits that have earned over $500 million at the global box office—acclaimed director Paul Greengrass (United 93, The Bourne Supremacy) joins returning cast members Julia Stiles and Joan Allen and new additions David Strathairn, Paddy Considine and Edgar Ramirez.

All he wanted was to disappear. Instead, Jason Bourne is now hunted by the people who made him what he is. Having lost his memory and the one person he loved, he is undeterred by the barrage of bullets and a new generation of highly-trained killers. Bourne has only one objective: to go back to the beginning and find out who he was.

Now, in the new chapter of this espionage series, Bourne will hunt down his past in order to find a future. He must travel from Moscow, Paris, Madrid and London to Tangier and New York City as he continues his quest to find the real Jason Bourne—all the while trying to outmaneuver the scores of cops, federal officers and Interpol agents with him in their crosshairs.

The Bourne Ultimatum was shot in Morocco, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Bourne Ultimatum Teaser Trailer:

Quicktime

High : Medium : Low

Realplayer

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Windows Media Player

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Fiction Magazine : Issue Two

Reviewed By Gareth D. Jones

Fiction returns with its 2nd issue, this time with a glossy cover to improve its air of professionalism, and the same informal, enthusiastic mix of reviews and comments. The fiction this time maintains or even improves the high standard set by issue #1.

The Gate is a fabulous story by Rhian Chapman. It’s the emotive story of a star ship pilot who uses wormhole-type gates to transport cargo across the galaxy. The transit is beautifully described and the emotional highs and lows of the life of a pilot are truly involving.

Noah Chin’s Last Wave on the Shore is an excellent piece of ironic story telling. In the far future composers struggle to write any music that hasn’t been heard before, and it’s left to two disillusioned men to give the bad news after analysing each submission. There are hints of well developed backdrop to the story that give it a nice perspective.

I don’t really read horror, so I’m not a good judge of Steven Deighan’s Feels Like Stephen King. It starts in familiar territory though – an aspiring writer receiving his manuscript back in the post. In this case the publisher is more creepy than the manuscript; perhaps a salutary lesson for us all!

Unusually there are two stories by the same author in this issue. Noah Chin’s second offering is Echoes, a futuristic war story where the jaded soldiers discover what life could be like. Again the irony comes through, and like his first story the prose is excellent.

Finally, the longest and most riveting story of the issue: Russ Jackson’s City of Flesh. It’s told in the first person, which confused me when the viewpoint shifted in the 2nd section. It’s a classic ‘aliens walk among us’ conspiracy, and the various protagonists offer different slices of insight into what’s happening. The Day of the Triffids came to mind among other things, and I was gripped to the end.

Fiction is now promising to be bimonthly, but still with plans to go monthly at some point. If the fiction maintains the same high standard it will certainly be a magazine to look out for.