And it is climate change that forms the key strand of Neil Williamson’s 2014 novel The Moon King – another future Glasgow, another society in semi-collapse. One of the main characters in Williamson’s story, a washed-up cop on the trail of a serial murderer, could have walked straight from the pages of Carole Johnstone’s astounding novella Wetwork, published in Interzone’s sister magazine Black Static earlier this year. Before reading Johnstone’s story, I would have bet serious odds against ever finding a work that would stand even a small chance of reversing my terminal zombie-fatigue, yet Wetwork is not just another zombie story. With its scintillating use of Glaswegian and Doric dialects, it is as tough and realistic a portrait of a city in crisis as anyone could dare to imagine. That the inner lives and personal dilemmas of its policemen-protagonists are rendered with such agonising empathy adds another layer of excellence to what might just be the finest piece of shorter fiction I’ve read all year.
At this year’s FantasyCon in Scarborough, I took part in a panel discussion on whether it was time to ‘rescue’ science fiction from the formulaic escapism of space opera and bring it back to Earth, where the greater task of speculative fiction lies waiting to be completed. I argued pretty consistently for the ‘yes’ camp in this debate, and it occurs to me now that Scottish SF has been making pretty much that same argument for the past few decades. The more I think about this topic, the more fascinating it seems, and certainly deserving of a longer and more comprehensive article than time and space allow for in this instance. The fact that I seem to have written an entire column on Scottish SF and not even mentioned Iain Banks and Ken MacLeod can only underline this, although I can’t resist slipping in a quick mention of Ken MacLeod’s 2014 novel Descent. This quietly ruminative and unjustly neglected text uses the theme of alien abduction to background a story of coercive government and the conflict between truth and profit, set amidst a landscape of mistrust. Exactly those themes we’ve been discussing here, in other words.
With Scotland and England taking up such clearly opposed positions in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, questions around the very concept of nationhood seem particularly urgent. Could it be argued that Scotland’s more outward-facing, inclusive approach to both national and international politics has fostered a greater willingness among its writers and more specifically its science fiction writers to grapple with themes that directly address our current predicament? As artists and citizens who are both the beneficiaries and the victims of political systems that largely refuse to accept any value beyond the profit motive, should such questions matter to us? The answer to both these questions can only be yes. If a significant proportion of English science fiction finds itself looking increasingly parochial and irrelevant, one further question remains to be asked: is this lack of political engagement the result of indifference, or despair?
ANSIBLE LINK
DAVID LANGFORD
Trumps of Doom. Apparently Donald Trump ‘is like the blond alien in the 1995 movie Species, who mutates from ova to adult in months, regenerating and reconfiguring at warp speed to escape the establishment, kill everyone in sight and eliminate the human race.’ (New York Times) • Stephen King tweeted, ‘My newest horror story: Once upon a time there was a man named Donald Trump, and he ran for president. Some people wanted him to win.’ Not for nothing is the University of Maine creating the Stephen E. King Chair in Literature in his honour. But who will dare sit on it?
Awards. British Fantasy Awards (novel categories). Fantasy: Naomi Novik, Uprooted. Horror: Catriona Ward, Rawblood. • Gaylactic Spectrum (novel exploring LGBT themes): Ian MacDonald, Luna: New Moon. • Eugie Foster Memorial Award (short): Catherynne M. Valente, ‘The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild’ (Clarkesworld). • Forrest J Ackerman Award for Service to SF: Gregory Benford. • Gemmell (heroic fantasy). Novel: Mark Lawrence, The Liar’s Key. Debut: Peter Newman, The Vagrant. Cover Art: Jason Chan for The Liar’s Key. • Honorary Graduand at Anglia Ruskin University (for services to letters): Nalo Hopkinson. • PEN (Harold) Pinter Prize (for authors who cast an ‘unflinching, unswerving gaze upon the world’): Margaret Atwood.
As Others Avoid Us. H.W. Brands: ‘For enjoyment I read almost everything but history […], fantasy and sci-fi. The real world is bizarre enough for me.’ Daniel Silva: ‘I have never been drawn to science fiction or fantasy. In fact, I can say with some certainty that I have never read a fantasy novel.’ (both New York Times Book Review)
Court Circular. The creators of the US TV series Timeless, whose innovative premise is the tracking of crime via time machine while avoiding damage to history, are being sued by Onza Entertainment of Spain for allegedly stealing this unprecedented concept from Onza’s proposed El Ministerio del Tiempo, whose startlingly original gimmick is…
We Are Everywhere. A newspaper correction of sf relevance: ‘The house was the setting of the “Mork and Mindy” TV show, not the residence of the poet Allen Ginsberg.’ (New York Times) The concepts are so easily confused.
Adrian Greenwood, UK antiques dealer, was murdered on 6 April for the sake of his first edition of The Wind in the Willows (worth £50,000) – or so the court was told by prosecuting counsel in the trial of Michael Danaher, who allegedly planned this crime months in advance and kept damningly detailed notes on his laptop. (Guardian, October)
As Others Rank Us. ‘A world without teachers or dock-workers would soon be in trouble, and even one without science fiction writers or ska musicians would clearly be a lesser place.’ (David Graeber, Evonomics.com)
Gollanczfest! During its London festival in September, Gollancz held a boozy party on the acoustically-challenged top floor of Foyles in Charing Cross Road, celebrating five glorious years of SF Gateway and of the online SF Encyclopedia – which had just reached the landmark of having added Two Million Words since the launch party in 2011.
The Weakest Link. Q: ‘Which part of the Medusa’s body was made up of snakes?’ A: ‘Her lower abdomen’. (ITV, The Chase)
As Others Write Us Off. Recent non-fantastic YA novels (‘realist…grittier’) mark the end of genre as we knew it. ‘Now, though, the appetite for paranormal lunacy has abated, and issue-driven fiction set very much in a universe of urbanism’s chief concerns is having a renaissance.’ (New York Times)
Hugos There? The 2017 Worldcon in Helsinki plans a trial run of the proposed Best Series Hugo category, with a series defined as three or more linked volumes (at least one published in 2016) totalling at least 240,000 words. How long is a novel? The qualifying length for the Hugo category is 40,000 words, and 60,000 or 70,000 used to be considered decent novel lengths; but a whole trilogy of such puny little things doesn’t now add up to a series. Asimov’s original Foundation trio, given a one-off Hugo as All-Time Best Series in 1966, would be reckoned too short.
Alice B. Wilson, author of the only post-1972 story in The Folio SF Anthology (2015) ed. Brian Aldiss, is apparently a pseudonym of Brian (Wilson) Aldiss.
Thog’s Masterclass. Dept of Anticipation. ‘Rapid sonorous beats of turmoil and uncertainty pulsed in his head to near unimaginable proportions as the potential ramifications perpending if what he expected to discover was to come true overtook him.’ (Peter Senese and Robert Geis, Cloning Christ, 2002) • Self-Taut Dept. ‘I felt myself clench. Tight as a mollusk.’ (S.J. Watson, Before I Go to Sleep, 2011) • Dept of Losing Face. ‘Ruth Ann’s face drifted off…’ (Christina George, The Publicist, 2012) • Hypernasality Dept. ‘“There are ways, there are ways!” declared Drecke, winking and laying his finger along the cucumber-sized lump of his nose.’ (Jack Vance, ‘The Man From Zodiac’, August 1967 Amazing) • Dept of Describing a Woman’s Bottom. ‘…two wrestlers full of muscles in a crush, each one in turn gaining an inch on their opponent who immediately takes it back, deadlocked so that they merely seem to heave from side by side.’ (Alan Moore, Jerusalem, 2016) • If Badger Books Had Sex Scenes. ‘Color it purple and fill out your vision with pulsing, pistoning, driving, churning, sliding, surging,
suctioning, gripping, kneading, undulating, writhing, twisting, rocking, swaying, bucking, heaving, jerking, convulsing, ecstatic movements of your own devising…’ (Clyde Ames [William H. Knoles], Gorgonzola, Won’t You Please Come Home?, 1967)
R.I.P.
Bernard Bergonzi (1929–2016) UK literary academic whose many publications include The Early H.G. Wells: A Study of The Scientific Romances (1961) and H.G. Wells – A Collection of Critical Essays (1976, as editor), died on 20 September aged 87.
Paul Brazier, editor of the Brighton-based semiprozine Nexus (1991–1993), who for ten years was typesetter and graphic designer for Interzone (which absorbed Nexus in 1994), died on 10 October; he was 66.
Michel Butor (1926–2016), French nouveau roman novelist and pioneering sf critic who wrote on Jules Verne and published a once mildly notorious 1953 essay translated as ‘Science Fiction: The Crisis of its Growth’, died on 24 August aged 89.
Arthur Jean Cox (1929–2016), US writer who published sf from 1951 onward – his first novel being Nude in Orbit (1968) as by Gene Cross – recently died; he was 87.
Dennis M. Cummins (1951–2016), US musician, author of short horror stories and Horror Writers Association member, died on 18 October aged 64.
Jorge De Abreu (1963–2016), Venezuelan author of much short genre fiction who was president of the Venezuelan Association of Fantasy and SF and edited two of its online magazines, died on 28 September; he was 52.
Steve Dillon (1962–2016), UK comics artist who featured in Doctor Who Magazine and Warrior, drew Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper episodes for 2000 AD, co-created Preacher with Garth Ennis and worked with Ennis on Hellblazer and The Punisher, died on 22 October; he was 53.
Doug Fratz (1952–2016), US editor and reviewer best known for the critical magazine Thrust (1973–1993, renamed Quantum in 1990), which received five Hugo nominations, died on 27 September; he was 63.
Ed Gorman (1941–2016), popular US crime, western and horror author who as Richard Driscoll co-wrote the 1992 Star Precinct sf trilogy with Kevin D Randle, died on 14 October; he was 74. Gorman co-edited several sf/fantasy anthologies.
Duane E. ‘Doc’ Graveline (1931–2016, US doctor – briefly a NASA astronaut in 1965 – and self-published sf author whose novels include The Ark (1997) and Brothers of the Perseids (1998), died on 5 September aged 85.
W.P. Kinsella (1935–2016), Canadian author best known for baseball stories including the fantasies Shoeless Joe (1982, filmed 1989 as Field of Dreams), The Iowa Baseball Confederacy (1986) and If Wishes Were Horses (1996), died on 16 September; he was 81.
Dave Kyle (1919–2016), long-time (since 1933) fan, writer, illustrator and publisher who was a member of the Futurian group, co-founded Gnome Press in 1948 and entered the First Fandom Hall of Fame in 1988, died on 18 September 2016; he was 97. His works include three novels set in E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith’s Lensman universe and two lavishly illustrated coffee-table books about sf, the first being A Pictorial History of Science Fiction (1976).
Barry R. Levin (1946–2016), noted US antiquarian sf/fantasy book dealer (as Barry R. Levin Books of California) since 1973, committed suicide on 14 September; he was 70.
D. Keith Mano (1942–2016), US author whose novels of religious dilemmas include fantasies and the future-apocalyptic sf The Bridge (1973), died on 14 September aged 74.
Richard T. ‘Sparky’ Moore (1925–2016), highly prolific though generally uncredited comics artist who drew for Western Publishing (often Disney characters), Dell Comics and such 1960s animations as Marvel Super Heroes and Hanna-Barbera’s Jonny Quest, Mightor and Space Ghost, died on 7 September aged 91.
Robert C. ‘Bob’ Peterson (1921–2016), publisher of 1940s sf bibliographies including The Fantasy Index, editor of the anthology The Science-Fictional Sherlock Holmes (1960) and member of the First Fandom Hall of Fame, died on 15 August.
Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016), US author of much notable sf with strong ecological and feminist themes, including The Gate to Women’s Country (1988) and Grass (1989), died on 22 October; she was 87. Her genre novels began with the popular True Game science-fantasies (1983–1986); her straight sf debut was The Revenants (1984); frequently shortlisted for major awards, she received the 2015 World Fantasy Award for life achievement.
Bill Warren (1943–2016), US fan and genre film historian who worked with Walt Lee on Reference Guide to Fantastic Films (1972–1974) and wrote the 1950s-focused reference Keep Watching the Skies! (1982, 1986; combined 2009), died on 7 October; he was 73.
Robert E ‘Bob’ Weinberg (1946–2016), US author, bibliographer, book dealer, prolific anthologist, small-press publisher, sf/fantasy art connoisseur and expert on the pulp magazines, died on 25 September; he was 70. His first novel was The Devil’s Auction (1988).
M.K. Wren (Martha Kay Renfroe, 1938–2016), US author of the 1981 Phoenix Legacy space-opera trilogy and the critically praised post-holocaust novel A Gift Upon the Shore (1990), died on 20 August; she was 78.
BLACK STATIC #55 OUT NOW
fiction
LISA TUTTLE
STEPHEN HARGADON
SIMON AVERY
BONNIE JO STUFFLEBEAM
JEFF BOWLES
DAVID HARTLEY
interviewed
V.H. LESLIE
comment
LYNDA E. RUCKER
STEPHEN VOLK
book & film reviews
PETER TENNANT
GARY COUZENS
art
MARTIN HANFORD
BEN BALDWIN
GEORGE C. COTRONIS
RICHARD WAGNER
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ALTS
HARMONY NEAL
illustrated by Richard Wagner
The letter said Cat had to join the support group or lose her monthly stipend. The paper tasted of bureaucracy, skin flakes, and Jovan Sex Appeal. She tossed it in the trash. She’d received the email version earlier in the week and had already confirmed she’d attend, but StateCorp made her sign for a physical copy mere hours before the meeting anyway. She took a deep breath, making the sides of her neck ache with longing. If only she had gills, she’d disappear and never need money again.
But she didn’t have gills, so her life was stupid and common and tragic. The various branches of the military contacted her daily to see if she’d changed her mind and wanted to enlist. Over 10 gigs of videos from Andre insisted the Marines were fun and damn if he hadn’t learned so much since joining and the danger was almost nil. She wasn’t about to kill people for a living, directly or indirectly through “service”, but she hadn’t been able to find suitable employment. Alterations were not covered as disabilities requiring reasonable accommodations under the law. StateCorp had seen to that. They agreed to provide employment or stipends to their test subjects, and the government allowed them to keep creating embryos that might turn into happy, functioning adults whose alterations could be made available for public purchase, or miserable outcasts kept out of the public’s view.
She flipped her tablet face down on her desk, just in case they were watching, which they probably were. Some things she kept for herself.
The plas
tic tent that covered her latest project mimicked an old-timey circus tent with colorful stripes and seams. She unzipped the top and lifted away the pointed crown, proud of the mix of scents that wafted up. She touched each figure in turn. The three unaltered humans balancing on pink rubber balls tasted of sweat and fear, but their collars and chains needed a sweeter metal tinge. The giant bear alt tasted of musty fur and satisfaction, with a hint of freshwater fish from his cane and a slight aftertaste of wild blackberries, compliments of his top hat. She considered adding ram horns to the popcorn vendor, not caring that other people wouldn’t notice most of the layers. Her earlier projects hadn’t been at all concerned with visual appearance, conglomerations of tastes and smells and tactile sensations that would appear to be little more than wet mounds of chunky clay to people accustomed to relying on their eyes. Her new project was her first attempt to marry scent and taste with a visual component.
Interzone #267 - November-December 2016 Page 2