A Michael Moorcock Special Issue, with over a third of the magazine given over to the former enfant terrible turned Elder Statesman.
The July-August issue of Interzone is a Michael Moorcock Special Issue, dedicated to the hugely influential editor of New Worlds in the 1960s and who with his colleagues turned science-fiction upside down, prompting outraged questions in Parliament, and creator of the Eternal Champion and his many manifestations.
Moorcock is –like many former enfants terribles– now a revered elder statesman, and as well as a Guest Editorial from him, there is a fascinating interview with Andy Hedgecock in which Moorcock discusses his work and his still controversial and forthright views on literature and politics, a short extract from Moorcock's memoir of Mervyn Peake, an excerpt from his forthcoming novel The Sedentary Jew, and a short story, The Affaire of the Bassin Les Hivres.
Unusually, the extract works better than the short story. The latter features the regular Moorcock characters the albino Zenith, Una Persson and von Bek, but Moorcock's oblique style may deter those who like their stories straightforward. By contrast the novel extract is brim full of vigour, and shines new light on often stereotyped characters such as Joseph of Aramathea and Jezebel, and has a lightness of touch missing from The Affaire.
The Moorcock tribute takes up over a third of the magazine, but is a refreshing change from Interzone’s usual contents – although that varies so frequently that it could be argued that the magazine’s style is an avoidance of a continuous style.
The rest of the magazine is given over to four other stories. The two really good ones have awful artwork, David Gentry's losing both author and title in the backdrop, the Fraser-Coombe simply thoroughly uninteresting, whereas the Dunn line drawings are elegant, and the Olsen illustration is lush.
The stories themselves;
'Exvisible' by Carlos Hernandez is on first read simply an excellent rendition of the SF staple of downloading personality, but though well written, the whole premise seems contrived. It's only on reflection that one realizes that the contrivance is deliberate -- just as death has its rites enabling the survivors to cope, so will a process that is in effect a little death, and 'Exvisible' may well be the first story to look at the customs needed to cope with it. This is SF at its best -- making the reader look at the world anew.
'Deer Flight' by Aliette De Bodard is full of standard fantasy tropes -- the wizard whose female apprentice has betrayed him, Morgan le Fay-like, the wild wood, hunters and magic, but it's well-worked , fairly original, and one of the better stories of its kind.
Ahmed A. Khan’s 'Elevator Episodes' is a neat little trick, but depends on it's multi-genre gimmick rather than plot or character, hardly surprising given that it's only a thousand words long.
Lastly, there is Grace Dugan’s ‘Knowledge,’ an inspired re-working of an old theme -- except that Dugan turns this through ninety degrees. In the space of a few thousand words Dugan combines SF, mystery and an examination of determinism versus free will, and does it almost superbly. There are a couple of caveats -- the answer to the mystery is obvious about a page before the narrator gets there, and on the last page, the three digit countdown accompanying each character abruptly vanishes. But it's still not only by far the best story in the issue, it may be one of the best in IZ this year, and should be a contender for one or more the various Year's Best anthologies.
With a striking cover by Richard Marchand, and the usual features; Ansible Link (SF gossip), Nick Lowe’s film and John Clute and other’s book reviews, Interzone makes Asimovs and F&SF look almost Stone Age by comparison.
