History
Interzone was initially produced by an unpaid collective of eight people— John Clute, Alan Dorey, Malcolm Edwards, Colin Greenland, Graham James, Roz Kaveney, Simon Ounsley and David Pringle. [2] According to Dorey, the group had been fans of the science fiction magazine New Worlds and wanted to create a "New Worlds for the 1980s, something that would publish only great fiction and be a proper outlet for new writers." [3]
While the magazine started as an editorial collective, soon editor David Pringle was the driving force behind Interzone. In 1984 Interzone received a generous donation from Sir Clive Sinclair; [4] the magazine later received support from the Arts Council of Great Britain, Yorkshire Arts, and the Greater London Arts Association.
Interzone was first initially published quarterly, from Spring 1982 to Issue 24, Summer 1988. It was then on a bi-monthly schedule from September/October 1988 to Issue 34, March/April 1990. For over a decade, it was then published monthly until several slippages of schedule reduced it to an effectively bi-monthly magazine in 2003.
Founding editor David Pringle stepped down in early 2004 with issue 193. It was taken over by Andy Cox, who had founded TTA Press to publish his magazine The Third Alternative, which was subsequently renamed Black Static and published alongside Interzone. Under TTA Press, the magazine underwent a series of redesigns, notably switching from A4 to a compact perfect bound format in 2012. Gardner Dozois referred to Interzone in 2007 as the "handsomest SF magazine in the business". [5]
In 2006, the Science Fiction Writers of America removed the magazine from its list of professional markets due to low rates and small circulation. [6] However, within the genre field the magazine is still ranked as a professional publication. [7] As Dozois has stated, "By the definition of SFWA, Interzone doesn't really qualify as a 'professional magazine' because of its low rates and circulation, but as it's thoroughly professional in the caliber of writers that it attracts and in the quality of the fiction it produces, just about everyone considers it to be a professional magazine anyway." [8] It pays semi-professional rates to writers. [9]
In January 2021, after announcing a delay of issue 290 "for various reasons (some covid-related, some not)", [10] Andy Cox announced that he was stepping down as editor of Interzone, and selling the title to PS Publishing, who planned a quarterly digital-only title edited by Ian Whates. [11] However, the deal was later cancelled, with Andy Cox saying he was unhappy that existing subscriptions would not be honoured. [12]
A "double issue" numbered 290/291 was published in June 2021, followed by 292/293 in July 2022, which was announced as the 100th and last to be published by TTA Press. The new editor was announced as Gareth Jelley, who would publish it under his MYY Press, and aimed to restore the bimonthly schedule. An accompanying online magazine, interzone.digital, was launched at the same time as the official announcement. [13]
Further delays followed, with the first MYY Press edition, issue 294, eventually sent to subscribers at the end of January 2023; [14] and issue 295 at the end of August. [15] Two months later, Jelley announced that the magazine would finally return to a regular bimonthly schedule, but only in a digital format. [16]
Awards and recognition
Interzone has been nominated 25 consecutive times for the Hugo Award for best semiprozine, winning the award in 1995. In 2005 the Worldcon committee gave David Pringle a Special Award for his work on the magazine. The magazine has also won the British Fantasy Award.
Each year, multiple stories published in Interzone are reprinted in the annual "year's best stories" anthologies, while other stories have been finalists for the Hugo and Nebula Awards. [17] In 2010 the magazine became one of only eleven magazines to have a story win a Nebula Award. [17] The winning story was the novelette "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster. [18] In addition, 16 stories originally published in Interzone have won the British Science Fiction Award for short fiction.
Interzone is the eighth longest-running English language science fiction magazine in history [17] and the longest-running British SF magazine.
Writers
Interzone has been responsible for starting the careers of a number of important science fiction writers, including Stephen Baxter, Greg Egan, Kim Newman, Alastair Reynolds and Charles Stross, as well as publishing works by established writers such as Brian Aldiss, J. G. Ballard, Iain M. Banks, Thomas M. Disch, William Gibson, Robert Holdstock, Gwyneth Jones, Terry Pratchett, Christopher Priest, John Sladek, Brian Stableford, Ian Watson and many others. Interzone is also known for publishing new and upcoming writers, regularly publishing the works of Tim Lees, Aliette de Bodard, Gareth L. Powell, Eugie Foster, Jason Sanford, Val Nolan, Nina Allan, and others.
Interzone features regular columns by David Langford (Ansible Link– News & Gossip, Obituaries), Tony Lee (Laser Fodder – DVD Reviews) and Nick Lowe (Mutant Popcorn – Film Reviews). In 2010, Lowe won a British Science Fiction Award for his Mutant Popcorn column.
In 2008 a Mundane SF issue was published, guest edited by Geoff Ryman, Julian Todd and Trent Walters. [19]
Leeds-based artist Pete Lyon contributed many illustrations in the 1980s. He was nominated for the British SF Association Awards in 1987 for his cover work on the first Interzone magazine.
Geoffrey Charles Ryman is a Canadian writer of science fiction, fantasy, slipstream and historical fiction.
Sean Christopher McMullen is an Australian science fiction and fantasy author.
David Rowland Langford is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science-fiction fanzine and newsletter Ansible and holds the all-time record for most Hugo Awards, with a total of 29 wins.
Keith John Kingston Roberts was an English science fiction author. He began publishing with two stories in the September 1964 issue of Science Fantasy magazine, "Anita" and "Escapism".
David Pringle is a Scottish science fiction editor and critic.
Black Static, formerly The 3rd Alternative, was a British horror magazine edited by Andy Cox. The magazine twice won the British Fantasy Award for "Best Magazine" while The 3rd Alternative twice won the same award for Best Small Press. In addition, individual stories published in the magazine won other awards and were reprinted in a number of collections of the year's best fiction.
The 53rd World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Intersection, was held on 24–28 August 1995 at the SEC Centre and the nearby Moat House Hotel in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Evening social events also took place at the Central and Crest Hotels.
Janet Kagan was an American author. Her works include two science fiction novels and two science fiction collections, plus numerous science fiction and fantasy short stories that appeared in publications such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Asimov's Science Fiction. Her story "The Nutcracker Coup" was nominated for both the Hugo Award for Best Novelette and the Nebula Award for Best Novelette, winning the Hugo.
Lisa Gracia Tuttle is an American-born science fiction, fantasy, and horror author. She has published more than a dozen novels, seven short story collections, and several non-fiction titles, including a reference book on feminism, Encyclopedia of Feminism (1986). She has also edited several anthologies and reviewed books for various publications. She has been living in the United Kingdom since 1981.
"The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" is a science fiction novelette by Roger Zelazny. Originally published in the March 1965 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, it won the 1966 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and was nominated for the 1966 Hugo Award for Best Short Fiction.
Lois Tilton is an American science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and horror writer who has won the Sidewise Award and been a finalist for the Nebula Award. She has also written a number of innovative vampire stories.
Reactor, formerly Tor.com, is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. Unlike traditional print magazines like Asimov's or Analog, it releases online fiction that can be read free of charge.
Jason Sanford is an American science fiction author whose 2022 novel Plague Birds was a finalist for the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards. He's also known for his short fiction, which has been published in Interzone, Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Year's Best SF 14, InterGalactic Medicine Show and other magazines and anthologies.
"BLIT" is a 1988 science fiction short story by the British writer David Langford.
The James White Award is an annual short story competition open to writers from around the world. It was established in 2000 to commemorate the life and work of the Irish science fiction author James White. The competition was created to encourage new writers and is not open to professional authors. "Professional author" is defined as one who is eligible for active membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America – that is, a writer with three short story sales to qualifying markets or one novel sale to a qualifying market. Entries must be 6,000 words or less and written in English. The winning story receives a cash prize and publication in Interzone magazine. The award is sponsored by Interzone and the British Science Fiction Association, which took over the administration of the award in 2010.
"The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured his Larinks, a Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk" is a 1990 science fiction novelette by American writer Dafydd ab Hugh.
Nina Allan is a British writer of speculative fiction. She has published five collections of short stories, multiple novella-sized works, and five novels. Her stories have appeared in the magazines Interzone, Black Static and Crimewave and have been nominated for or won a number of awards, including the Grand prix de l'Imaginaire and the BSFA Award.
"Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" is a 2009 science fiction novelette by American writer Eugie Foster. It was first published in Interzone, and has subsequently been republished in Apex Magazine, in The Nebula Awards Showcase 2011, and in The Mammoth Book of Nebula Awards SF; as well, it has been translated into Czech, French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, and Hungarian, and an audio version was released on Escape Pod.
Interzone: The 2nd Anthology is an anthology edited by John Clute, Simon Ounsley and David Pringle published in 1987 by Simon & Schuster in the UK and by St. Martins Press in the US.
