Polluto is a British magazine published four times a year in hardback and limited edition paperback (ISBN978-0955063169, 144pp, Winter 2009) by Dog Horn Publishing. It makes no attempt to hide it's anti-Pop Culture stance -- quite the opposite.
Sub-titled 'Queer and Loathing in Wonderland,' many of the stories, including the opening 'Alice in the Palace' --a short hallucinatory dream-like odyssey through an orgy with the White Rabbit and Mad Hatter and many others, in which author Dave Mignon riffs with identity and gender -- use fairy stories, children's classics and populist icons to underpin their decidedly adult examination of sexuality.
In "Queer and Loathing on the Yellow Brick Road" Deb Hoag has Dorothy cut off those frickin' braids, and ditch the gingham for glitter eyeliner, spandex and blood-red acrylic nails (p33) and leading a Munchkin revolt against an alcoholic Glinda.
Pick of the sub-set, and one of the issue's highlights is Interzone Review Editor Jim Steel's "The Bears in the Wood," a demented mix of Goldilocks, Snow White, Hamelin and a plethora of fantasy stories, topped off with feral children chasing a pair of hapless fugitives. Brilliant.
Andrew Hook
'The Androidgenous Zone' by Allen Ashley and Andrew Hook is one of the rare truly SF-nal stories. Ashley and Hook's future is one of increasing asexuality in conflict with those who wish to revert to hirsute primitivism, of androids in conflict with the Retro Resistance, using straight-line extrapolation to satirize current trends such as those aspire to size zero in defiance of their own bodies' needs.
Another highlight is Frank Burton's "Voom and Bloom," one of the rare short-shorts that works, narrated by two pools of sentient liquid; it's unusual and like all the best fiction makes the reader see the world anew.
Rhys Hughes
The longer stories in Polluto tend to work better than the vignettes, and the longest story in the magazine is the best. 'The Parasol Clerks' by Rhys Hughes quotes from John T. Sladek's 'Masterson and the Clerks,' but also seems to offer a nod of tribute to Brian W. Aldiss' Hugo-winning Hothouse -- among others. Theo Geller is kidnapped by the mysterious SCVS an umbrella organization dedicated to taking over, adapting and improving many of the so called 'services' that were formerly offered by local government (p.6) and put to work in their labyrinthine office. The SCVS has a truly world-changing mission, one which is entirely in keeping with this lunatic, pun-laden epic. One of the very best stories of the year.
The reference to John Sladek is singularly revealing. As well as the emphasis on sexuality and the often oblique literary styles, the magazine's look is singularly reminiscent of the Stonehouse issues of New Worlds in 1967 - 8. There is a central art gallery of varying quality, a regular column by Micci Oaten and a large poetry segment.
Polluto will not be to everyone's taste, but it provides genuinely challenging fiction and deserves the support of broad-minded readers who want stories that break out from the standard commercial narrative arc.
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