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Hub Magazine
01/10/2007 . Source: Rod MacDonald 
Weekly. Free online. check out: www.hub-mag.co.uk
'Hub Magazine' will provide you with a weekly fix of Science Fiction, fantasy and horror. It won't cost you a penny. All you have to do is look up the website above and subscribe using your e-mail address. It must be added that should you not like Hub, it's very easy to unsubscribe.
For this minimal effort, you'll get a substantial short story, at least one review and a feature. The quality of writing, as far as I can ascertain from reading five issues, is actually very good. While I am not able to write fiction to a high standard, I'm nevertheless able to recognise it elsewhere. This stuff is worth reading.
The magazine is free because it receives financial support from Orbit Books. It is also supported by lottery funds through the Arts Council of England. I imagine, with these bodies forking out money, they would wish to see substantial results. From what I can gather, they are getting a good deal.
'Hub Magazine' has a touch of class about it. Why, may you ask, am I praising this publication? It fits into a convenient weekly niche. It doesn't take a long time to read and when you do, you look forward to next week. I would rather have it split up like this than read a monthly magazine. Being weekly, it becomes a regular part of life, more so than a monthly or bimonthly publication. Of course, this probably puts considerable demand on the editorial team of Lee Harris and Alasdair Stuart and it comes as no surprise to learn that there are very few other weekly magazines of this nature.
I could have selected from several issues of Hub for this review. The fact that I have chosen issue number 22, September 1, 2007, doesn't infer that this was better or worse than the others. It was chosen randomly just to give an idea of the typical contents of the magazine.
The short story is 'The Mechanism' by I.C. Johnson where cyborgs are almost human but not quite. They have feelings, emotions and even sexual drives. In this futuristic story, the planet Mars is being terraformed and cyborgs are employed in the project. While the cyborgs have achieved rights in society, they are nonetheless discriminated against by humans. A type of apartheid exists. Johnson explores the psychology of the cyborg and its relation to humans, in a revealing way which is not the usual robotic stuff we've seen so often in stories. This is definitely one to read. You may be surprised by the conclusion.
There was also a review of the movie '1408'. Starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, it concerns an hotel room which is pure evil. A multitude of people died by various means within its walls but this doesn't deter a cynical psychic investigator, much to his later regret. Encouraged by the review, I went to see the movie and wasn't disappointed.
The other review was of 'The Mammoth Book Of Best War Comics'. Perhaps like many of my age, I read them in the sixties. While I would not purchase the book, the review provided a few reminiscences. Finally, an interesting interview with horror author, Shaun Hutson. I have never been taken with his writing but nevertheless it was a competent review.
'Hub Magazine' presented us with fifteen pages of worthwhile material. It has a straightforward format with no cheap gimmicks. I can certainly recommend it to SFCrowsnest readers.
Rod MacDonald
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