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Interzone # 199 - August 2005
01/10/2005 . Source: Donna Jones 
bi-monthly magazine: UK publisher/editor address: Andy Cox, TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB6 2LB. Price: £ 3.50 (UK) $ 6.00(US). ISSN: 0264-3596. check out website: www.ttapress.com
It's been a year in the life of newly acquired TTA magazine 'Interzone' and my, what changes are abound! First of all you can't help but notice that the front cover has a far more striking image. Brought to us from SF and fantasy artist Jim Burns, adding that must have quality by being the cover image of his recently released 'Imago' collection. A nice bit of product placement there making damn sure that 'Interzone' gets seen on the magazine shelf.
Thanks to the on-line influence of a forum community, these changes have come about because of popular interest. Change seems to be the flavour at TTA Press right now with 'Interzone's big boisterious brother being renamed 'Black Static' in his next appearance. But let's not slip away from the new family member, 'Interzone' gets better, but not quite yet! The 200th issue will be in full colour, cover to cover... Oooooh pretty! I'll just have to put up with monochrome for this one.
The fiction was a little patchy at times. Steven Mohan Jr's opening story about the cloning of celebrity for the porn industry that had swept away a victim of worse crimes involving cloning. It left me wondering whether it was the fact Madonna had been used as the main iconic figure or that the content felt a little woolly that had put me off this starter.
Overall, I read with varying degrees of enthusiasm, not because the standard of writing was low, more down to the fact that it didn't seem that much different from the last time I picked up a copy.
So, what do I reckon about 'Interzone'? Well, I think it has no competition out there, without competition it doesn't need to get better, hone its skills and become a stand-alone magazine that we are all begging for at the newsagents. When it became a part of TTA Press it lost one vital ability, the ability to evolve.
I must finish on a lighter note. A really great quote from Stephen Fry whilst talking about Douglas Adams not actually getting into all that icky SF but just happening to write a book about space and time concludes with something I will never forget... 'I do think science-fiction writers take themselves far too seriously.' On that bombshell I shall retreat into a corner and wait for the bashing!
Donna Jones
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