Interzone #285

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Rating: 3/5

An average issue, with interesting stories by Gregor Hartmann, Andy Dudak and John Possidente.

• “Each Cell a Throne” by Gregor Hartmann: a private detective is given the job of convincing an old man not to upload himself into a computer. As they argue back-and-forth, the story reveals the detective also has her own reasons for trying to convince him not to do it.
• “Flyover Country” by Julie C. Day: in a future full of man-made diseases, one person has a job taking care of a field until one day, it is used for an unsaid biological mission by a company. Striking up a romantic relationship an unplanned part that would lead to heartbreak and possible biological contamination.
• “Frankie” by Daniel Bennett: in the middle of a war, only the writings of one person, Frankie, appears to hold a country together. But when he dies, who is left to hold the country together?
• “Salvage” by Andy Dudak: in a future where most of humanity has been suddenly frozen into statues by aliens concerned with the increasing expansion of the universe (there’s a reason for this), one person interfaces with the statues; for their mental states are still running, but in a very slow state. She informs them of their state and gives them the option of being extinguished, left as they are or uploaded into a virtual place. As she gets to know them, she learns of their history and their anger and demands for justice against a tyrant who ruled over them when they were frozen.
• “The Dead Man’s Coffee” by John Possidente: a journalist looking for a story talks to a man about a trail on another world, while drinking coffee on a space station. Without gravity, some coffees are more expensive than others and only by accident does she get to drink the expensive coffee of a dead man.

Magazine read from 2020/02/10 to 2020/03/06