Interzone #294

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Rating: 3/5

A better than average first issue of Interzone under new management. Some interesting stories here by J.F. Sebastian, Kat Clay, Daniel Bennett and a possible non-fiction piece by Liviu Surugiu.

• “The Disappeared” by J.F. Sebastian: a story that starts with a migrant that survived a boat disaster but mourns the deaths of his family. Then things begin to turn strange as the people in his camp (and the world) ‘forget’ about his dead family and then his relatives. Finally, only he remembers anything about them, and he fears to go to sleep and end up forgotten.
• “Murder by Proxy” by Philip Fracassi: a gruesome murder investigation by a detective leads to an unusual suspect who may have hidden plans to do more murders by proxy unless they can be stopped.
• “The Black Box Killer” by Kat Clay: in the future where committing a crime gets your name redacted from history, and you have to walk around with your face obscured, a detective in the Redaction Bureau has to track down a killer. Figuring out who is who in a story where names are “———” makes for a challenging read.
• “The Coming of the Extroverts” by Daniel Bennett: a musician becomes incensed when an act, the Extroverts, steals his limelight. The musician then comes up with a conspiracy theory-like explanation for the success of the Extroverts and a plan to expose them.
• “Seven Shots at the Ultimate High” by Marisca Pichette: a group of youngsters aim for the ultimate group dance high at a dance club.
• “The Building across the Street” by R.T. Ester: a man is given the task of entering a building and reading a series of faxes that tell a story of an alien searching for life in space. The ending would reveal what the faxes are really for.
• “Last Act of the Revolution” by Louise Hughes: when the revolution is won, what is the person who started it to do? A reporter tries to find out, only to be nearly involved in one final act before the revolutionary disappears.
• “Neostalgia” by Liviu Surugiu, translated from the Romanian by Teodora Vidrean, Ana Maria Bancea, Alexandru Maniu and Irina Mocanu: an apparently true non-SF story by the author, starting with Operation Tidal Wave to bomb Romanian oil refineries. One bomber goes astray, accidentally dropping bombs on a civilian target. One would-be victim survives by what some consider a miracle, and whose descendant would become the author, who now narrates the story with nostalgia for what might have been.

Magazine read from 2023/02/15 to 2023/02/28