Interzone #245 Mar: Apr 2013
By TTA Press
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About this ebook
Books reviewed in this Mar/Apr 2013 issue are:LONDON FALLING by Paul Cornell plus author interview, THE FOLLY OF THE World by Jesse Bullington, AFROSF edited by Ivor W. Hartmann, THE VORRH by B. Catling, JOHN BRUNNER by Jad Smith, THE GRIM COMPANY by Luke Scull, THE TWYNING by Terence Blacker, THE ROOK by Daniel O’Malley, WHITE HORSE by Alex Adams, THE HOLDERS by Julianna Scott, REDSHIRTS by John Scalzi, THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF PULP HEROES edited by Mike Chinn, THE MAD SCIENTIST’S DAUGHTER by Cassandra Rose Clarke, OUTLAW BODIES edited by Lori Selke & Djibril al-Ayad
Movies reviewed in this issue are: CLOUD ATLAS, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, WARM BODIES, WRECK-IT RALPH, SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, GRABBERS and ANTIVIRAL
DVD movies reviewed in this issue are the six 'Never Landscapes' of Peter Pan;
PETER PAN (2000), RETURN TO NEVERLAND, PETER PAN (2003), NEVERLAND (2003), FINDING NEVERLAND and NEVERLAND (2011) plus CRAWLSPACE, LOOPER, GAME OF THRONES SEASON 2, ALPS the Lee selection of Best Bonds: LICENCE TO KILL and SKYFALL.
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
TTA Press
TTA Press is the publisher of the magazines Interzone (science fiction/fantasy) and Black Static (horror/dark fantasy), the Crimewave anthology series, TTA Novellas, plus the occasional story collection and novel.
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Interzone #245 Mar - TTA Press
245
* * * * *
INTERZONE
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
ISSUE #245
MAR - APR 2013
Cover Art
Cover art: HOMUNCULARIUM by Jim Burns
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PUBLISHED BY:
TTA Press on Smashwords ISBN: 9781301968237
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v2 RG
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ISSN (Print edition) 0264-3596 > Published bimonthly by TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB, UK (t: 01353 886575) Copyright › © 2013 Interzone and its contributors Worldwide Distribution › Pineapple Media (t: 02392 787970) › Central Books (t: 020 8986 4854) › WWMD (t: 0121 7883112)
› If you want the print edition and Interzone is not stocked by your local bookshop, newsagent or newstand please ask them to order it for you, or buy it from one of several online mail order distributors...or better yet subscribe direct with us!
* * * * *
Fiction Editors › Andy Cox, Andy Hedgecock ([email protected]) Book Reviews Editor › Jim Steel ([email protected]) Story Proofreader › Peter Tennant ([email protected]) E-edition + Publicity › Roy Gray ([email protected]) Podcast › Pete Bullock ([email protected]) Twitter + Facebook + Google › Plus Marc-Anthony Taylor Website › ttapress.com Email [email protected] Forum › ttapress.com/forum E Subscriptions › Not available as yet. Submissions › Unsolicited submissions of short stories are always welcome. Please follow the contributors’ guidelines on the website.
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Note we omit some images from this edition but those you can see are also in colour at http://ttapress.com/1603/interzone-245/0/4/
Note live links are repeated in the ENDNOTES
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Smashwords Edition License Notes
This emagazine is licensed for your personal use/enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this magazine with others please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this magazine and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go or Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the contributors and editors
* * * * *
CONTENTS
INTERFACE
EDITORIAL & NOTES
ANSIBLE LINK > David Langford's News, Gossip & obituaries
ENDNOTES > Links etc. > last 'pages'.
BACK PAGE
FICTION
THE ANIMATOR by Chris Butler
illustrated by Ben Baldwin
HYPERMNEMONIC by Melanie Tem
illustrated by David Gentry
THE INTERNATIONAL STUDBOOK OF THE GIANT PANDA by Carlos Hernandez
illustrated by Martin Hanford
PASKUTINIS ILIUZIJA (THE LAST ILLUSION) by Damien Walters Grintalis
illustrated by Dave Senecal
THE FACE TREE by Antony Mann
illustrated by Martin Hanford
REVIEW SECTION
BOOK ZONE edited by Jim Steel
books: book reviews by Jim's team of reviewers
MUTANT POPCORN movie reviews by Nick Lowe
LASER FODDER DVD Blu ray reviews by Tony Lee
* * * * *
EDITORIAL NOTES
All is Flux, Nothing Stays Still
Flux is an occasional fiction supplement that we’ll be sending out FREE to subscribers of Interzone + Black Static print editions. The first Flux will be ‘The Short, Glamorous Career of Aquaman & His Amazing Aquacide Machine’ by Tyler Keevil. The second Flux will be ‘The Bigfoot House’ by Tim Lees. The cover illustrations/design for Flux are by David Gentry.
To add Black Static to your Interzone in print subscription simply select the Dual Subscription option on the online shop (ttapress.com/shop) or inserted order form. If you ever have any queries just send an email to [email protected] or any of the individuals listed in Endnotes, or raise them on the Interaction forum (ttapress.com/forum).
By the time you receive this issue the second TTA Novella – Spin by Nina Allan – will be at press or complete, and should be ready to send out in the next Interzone/Black Static print mailing in May. If you’ve already subscribed to TTA Novellas you need do nothing more. The original subscription offer is still running – £25 for five novellas, post-free to anywhere in the world – but you can of course buy Spin and any other novella by itself if you prefer. Again, just select the appropriate option on the online shop or on any order form. We hope you enjoy Spin, Flux, and IZ245. Please let us know! Eyepennies, the first of the novellas is out as an e book now.
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Internal hyperlinks I may have solved some of the problems I mentioned in earlier issues so I'll try again. Again if you notice any changes please let me know your views.
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E-Edition (An Apology): This E edition of Interzone 245 has been uploaded later than I hoped but I have a good excuse and at least Interzone 246 will not be published when this is uploaded. Hopefully I can do better henceforward. Please accept our apologies for delays. Keep checking Smashwords for new issues. Thanks for your patience! This issue, #245, has been out in print since March 14.
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Jim Burns' Homuncularium in full, or at least the best we can do here.
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The next print issue, Interzone 246, will be dated May/Jun. In print or as E book, don't miss it.
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ANSIBLE LINK - David Langford's News & Gossip
As Others See The Hobbit. ‘Cate Blanchett has five solitary lines in The Hobbit, playing some sort of pretty princess, during one scene and has been placed there for matters of fluff and making film premieres actually worth photographing. / There are oak trees in The Hobbit with more input than Cate Blanchett has. Give me one bloody wisecracking woman Hobbit with a sword and a sense of derring-do!’ (Grace Dent, Independent) The Jackson film trilogy Rose Cotton, Barbarian Swordsperson remains far in the future.
Orson Scott Card’s script assignment for DC Comics’ digital All-New Adventures of Superman annoyed some fans who dislike his notorious diatribes against gay rights. A parody comic offered a Superman origin story with a new reason for Krypton’s destruction: ‘Gay marriage has doomed us all.’ The Hollywood Reporter suggests that film company Summit may be worrying about its coming Card adaptation: ‘Promoting Ender’s Game without Card would be like trying to promote the first Harry Potter movie without J.K. Rowling’, while unidentified studio executives are quoted as saying ‘I don’t think you take him to any fanboy event’ and ‘Keep him out of the limelight as much as possible.’
Awards. Crawford (fantasy): Karin Tidbeck, Jagannath. • Horror Writers Association, lifetime achievement: Clive Barker and Robert McCammon. • Heinlein Award: Allen Steele and Yoji Kondo. • Razzies (worst in cinema): dominated by Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 with seven wins including Worst Picture.
William Shatner was unable to resist asking Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency, ‘Are you tweeting from space?’ Reply from International Space Station: ‘@WilliamShatner Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we’re detecting signs of life on the surface.’
Nebula Shortlist. Novel: Saladin Ahmed, Throne of the Crescent Moon; Tina Connolly, Ironskin; N.K. Jemisin, The Killing Moon; Caitlín R. Kiernan, The Drowning Girl; Mary Robinette Kowal, Glamour in Glass; Kim Stanley Robinson, 2312. • Dramatic (Ray Bradbury Award): The Avengers; Beasts of the Southern Wild; The Cabin in the Woods; The Hunger Games; John Carter; Looper.
The Weakest Link: Climate Change Dept. Bradley Walsh: ‘What Shakespeare play has the coldest season of the year in the title?’ Contestant: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ (ITV, The Chase)
Adam West’s Batmobile from the 1960s Batman TV series, a customised 1955 Lincoln Futura, sold at auction for $4.2 million. Original cost in 1965: $1, plus $15,000 for the makeover. (The Register) Other past owners complained enviously that ‘while I was at college my mother threw out my Batmobile.’
Bumper Court Circular. A ‘mockbuster’ film parody of The Hobbit, titled Age of Hobbits and timed for release three days before the Tolkien/Jackson epic, was blocked by a temporary restraining order from a US federal judge. The defendants, Global Asylum Ltd, claimed their title referred only to the nickname given by scientists to an ancient Indonesian humanoid subspecies: this wasn’t taken terribly seriously. (Variety) • A 3D printed iPhone dock in the shape of the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones has been ruthlessly suppressed by the rights owners HBO. (Wired) • The Tolkien estate’s November lawsuit against the licensing of Lord of the Rings slot machines and online games (causing ‘irreparable harm to Tolkien’s legacy and reputation and the valuable goodwill generated by his works’, ho hum) led to a countersuit by our old friends the Saul Zaentz Co. (Middle-earth News) • Games Workshop lawyers decided the GW trademark on Warhammer 40,000 ‘Space Marines’ extended beyond games into fiction, and persuaded Amazon to withdraw author M.C.A. Hogarth’s unrelated ebook Spots the Space Marine. There was widespread outrage in sf circles, not always to the point (the fact that Heinlein wrote about space marines in 1948 carries little weight in trademark law); but Amazon presumably decided GW had over-reached, as Hogarth’s book was reinstated three days after her despairing blog post about the ban.
Jane Yolen became the first woman to deliver the Andrew Lang Lecture since its founding at the University of St Andrews in 1927. (Tolkien’s ‘On Fairy Stories’ was the 1939 Lang lecture.)
New Year Honours. Quentin Blake, illustrator of many children’s fantasies including J.P. Martin’s Uncle books and most of Roald Dahl, was knighted. Ewan McGregor, Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels, has an OBE; so does scriptwriter (and fantasy author) Jeremy Lloyd, best known for TV sitcoms other than his sf Come Back Mrs Noah (1977–1978).
Thog’s Masterclass. Dept of Anatomy. ‘Hairs on her lower leg trembled as if they were on the back of her neck.’ (Ali Shaw, The Girl with Glass Feet, 2009) ‘Now on the ferry, he looked at the white hairs dashing along his forearms and the backs of his hands.’ (Ibid) ‘When Midas spoke he fancied it came from his insides, maybe from some alliance of organs that didn’t have a name.’ (Ibid) ‘She felt a sudden clamminess in her gullet, an oyster swallowed wrong, dropping through her stomach and into her bowels, becoming a numbing absence beneath her knees.’ (Ibid) • Mannerly Homicide Dept. ‘I told him she had been strangled as gently as I could.’ (Jody Shields, The Fig Eater, 2000) • Eyeballs in the Sky. ‘He finished his drink and let his eyes slide away from hers into the empty cup.’ (Doyce Testerman, Hidden Things, 2012) • Cunning Subterfuge Dept. ‘An elderly, uniformed man strolled out of a gatehouse disguised as a cantina.’ (Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky, The Turing Option, 1992)
* *
R.I.P.
Gerry Anderson (1929–2012), UK creator with his then wife Sylvia of a string of much-loved children’s TV series using their ‘SuperMarionation’ puppet technique, died on 26 December; he was 83. A generation of British kids imprinted on such Anderson highlights as the 1960s Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90 – all featured on 2011 Royal Mail commemorative stamps.
Antonio Caronia (1944–2013), Italian sf activist, author of sf stories and books about sf (including a Philip K. Dick encyclopedia) and translator of J.G. Ballard, died on 30 January; he was 69.
Charles Chilton (1917–2013), UK author and radio presenter famed for his 1950s BBC Radio serial Journey into Space (the first three storylines of which he also novelised), died on 2 January. He was 95.
Ray Cusick (1928–2013), designer of the utterly iconic Daleks for Doctor Who in 1963, died on 21 February aged 84.
Jan Howard Finder (1939–2013), US fan, author, anthologist (Alien Encounters, 1983), Tolkienophile and convention organiser, died on 25 February; he was 73.
Stuart Freeborn (1914–2013), UK make-up artist whose most famous creations were the ape-men of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Yoda in Star Wars, died on 5 February aged 98. His many other genre credits include Dr Strangelove.
Anne Devereaux Jordan, a 1980s editor at F&SF who founded the US Children’s Literature Association in 1973, died on 2 February; she was 69. In 1992 she received the CLA’s first Anne Devereaux Jordan Award for outstanding contributions in that field.
Daniel Pearlman (1935–2013), US sf/fantasy author and former professor of creative writing who published in genre magazines and anthologies from 1988, died on 18 February aged 77. His first genre novel was the cyberpunk dystopia Memini (2003).
James Plumeri, cover art director for 15 years with New American Library and then 1985–2005 with Bantam Dell (where he designed the mass-market covers for Salem’s Lot and The Shining), died on 2 February aged 79.
Archie Roy (1924–2012), Scots astronomer, academic and paranormal researcher whose six sf/horror novels include the ‘Hitler Wins’ alternate history All Evil Shed Away (1970), died on 27 December. He was 88.
Jacques Sadoul (1934–2013), French editor, anthologist, writer and sf historian who presided for many years over the J’ai Lu sf imprint, died on 18 January aged 78. In 1972 he founded the Prix Apollo, given until 1990 for the year’s best sf novel published in France.
Steve Utley (1948–2013), US author of many admired short stories including ‘Custer’s Last Jump’ (1976) and ‘Black as the Pit, from Pole to Pole’ (1977) – both with Howard Waldrop – died on 12 January. He was 64.
Riccardo Valla (1942–2013), Italian science/sf writer, translator (of The Da Vinci Code and much sf) and chief editor at Editrice Nord in the 1970s, died on 14 January aged 70.
H.R. (Henry Richard) Van Dongen (1920–2010), prolific sf artist whose first magazine cover was for Super Science Stories in September 1949 and who painted covers for 46 issues of Astounding/Analog 1950–1985, died on 27 February 2010 aged 89, as discovered only this year in sf circles.
Sol Yurick (1925–2013), US novelist whose 1980s story ‘The King of Maleputa’ anticipated the virtual data-haven theme of Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon (1999), died on 5 January aged 87.
* * * * *
Copyright © 2013 David Langford
* * * * *
THE ANIMATOR
by Chris Butler
Illustrations for The Animator by Ben Badlwin
THE ANIMATOR
Mr Jackson’s studio nestled in the northwest sector of Autumn City, in an area known for its jewellers and clothing emporiums. The streets outside buzzed with hectic activity, the clatter of cycles and rickshaws, street sellers calling, all through the daylight hours, while we laboured quietly inside.
Eleanor had called in to see me while Mr Jackson was out at lunch. Powell,
she said abruptly, I think I’ll introduce you to my uncle.
I almost spat my drink across the workbench, but managed to gulp down the hot tea.
She laughed, and her spores were almost giddily effervescent.
Oh don’t worry about it,
she said. He’s got to meet you sometime.
He does?
She leant forward again, gazing into the phenakistoscope, which was mounted on a spinning plate on the bench. I pushed alternately on the pedals under the workbench to keep the plate turning.
It really is a marvel,
she said again. You’re so clever, Powell.
In reality the machine was very simple. And clever or not, I was merely an apprentice at Mr Jackson’s studio. Nevertheless, I had taken great care with the photographs of Mr and Mrs Stevenson. Looking through the slats into the spinning barrel, their images appeared to come alive so that the couple danced around and around.
I’ll arrange everything,
Eleanor said. I looked at her blankly for a moment. With an exasperated burst of spores she said, With my uncle, the Duke!
She was serious; she planned to introduce me to the Autumn Duke. Are you sure it’s not, well, a bit premature?
I was probably mumbling, I realised. As an afterthought I added the word Darling
in an all-too-transparent attempt to stay in her good books. Assuming I was in them in the first place.
You have prospects,
she said, referring either to our relationship or my career, I wasn’t sure which.
She made her way around the bench, leant over and kissed me on the cheek, whispering in my ear, See you later.
My fellow apprentice, Ivy, gave me a withering look as Eleanor flounced out of the door.
It’ll end in tears,
she said, mark my words.
She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked wistfully in the direction of the door.
Before I could comment, Mr Jackson came back from lunch. He removed his coat and hung it on the stand. Our main business was clocks, making and repairs, but phenakistoscopes were a profitable sideline. He cast an appraising eye over my work.
Set it spinning,
he said, waving his finger in a circular motion. Let’s have a look.
I pushed on the pedals again, sending the plate turning.
He peered in at the animation, then gave me a big smile. It’s good work, Powell,
he said. You better get it delivered to the Stevensons.
Yes, sir.
Ivy helped me to box it up. It really is a beauty,
she said. She smiled, relaxed and happy. Her eyes were bright blue.
I nodded. I hope they like it.
Of course they will,
she said. How could they not?
* *
After work I headed through the town square on my way to meet Eleanor, but my route was blocked by a crowd. Above the crowd, I could see men being brought up onto the platform for public hanging.
Bear witness!
the Autumn Guard