The December 2008 Interzone (TTA Press, ISSN9770 264 359 206, 68pp) is the final issue of what has been an excellent year for Britain's leading SF magazine, graced for the second successive December by a fine Kenn Brown cover.
"Everything That Matters" by Jeff Spock features an underwater treasure hunt on an alien world, and a protagonist left savaged by an alien shark and healed through genetic modification. It's a typical Interzone story using genetic modification and exotic locations as entirely commonplace backdrops for a well-written story of revenge rationalized as self-preservation. An excellent opening.
Jason Sanford
In "When Thorns Are The Tips Of Trees" by Jason Sanford humanity has been devastated by a phage which roots its victims' bodies in the ground to grow as crystalline pseudo-trees whose memories can be activated by a person's touch. But the disease is also transmitted by physical contact, leading to a society where parents are frightened to hug their children, and where lovers need to be tested for compatibility.
There are those among the infected who believe that because the trees memories are locked, it is wrong to keep them alive, especially in a time of drought. Sanford does a superlative job rendering his world entirely believable, balancing strangeness, plot, and emotion. One of the year's best.
"The Shenu" by Alexander Marsh Freed features urban magic as part of everyday life, with each protagonist having their own magical ability. But its plot is vague and while the individual sections are excellently written, the story as a whole never really seems to cohere.
Mercurio D. Rivera
Mercurio D. Rivera won the 2006 reader's poll for "Dreaming of Langalanga," and now reappears with "The Fifth Zhi," in which clones grown for the task are dispatched to destroy a nightmare-inducing giant growth. One of the clones, the titular fifth variant begins to develop self-identity, but is unable to overcome his conditioning. While the story is effectively written, it feels more contrived than the Sanford, probably because Rivera has to infodump an explanation: something about her words makes me realize the truth. (p30).
"The Country Of The Young" by Gord Sellar is set in a future reunified Korea where rejuvenation can make the old young again, but treatment is restricted, and denied to foreign nationals. Ji Ah is a woman married to one such national -Prabhir- and she has to watch the decay that accompanies his aging. It's a revisiting of what seems a favourite Sellar theme, examining whether terrorism may in certain circumstances be justifiable.
Aliette de Bodard
Butterfly, Falling At Dawn by Aliette de Bodard marks her second visit to the Xuyan Empire, where the conquistadores where driven back by the Aztecs, aided by a Chinese fleet. Magistrate Hue Ma is a Mexican refugee from that country's civil war who has taken refuge in the Xuyan Empire's legal system. When she assigned to investigate the death of another refugee, Hue Ma is forced to confront her feelings about her own background. De Bodard depicts an alternate world which really is different (time is measured in bi-hours) but that difference is simply the backdrop to some very familiar emotions.
Reviews
Jim Steel has assumed overall responsibility for Book Zone, the review section this year.
Under his control the section now has more features and interviews -- this issue Sandy Auden reviews and interviews Tim Lebbon, as well as reviewing Dozois' Year's Best and other book titles. Tony Lee reviews DVDs and Nick Lowe films.
With four excellent and two competent stories, issue 219 ends Interzone's strongest year yet. The magazine could claim --with Asimovs-- to be the best in the genre.
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