The 3rd Alternative, Issue 35, Summer 2003
Over the past couple of years UK magazines Spectrum SF and 3SF have launched and ceased publication. Whilst Spectrum SF hasn't quite had the last rites, I for one would lament it's final demise, as the fiction was of high quality, and honest-to-goodness Science Fiction. You knew what you were getting with Spectrum SF, as opposed to 3SF, which didn't really have a clear vision of what it was.
The 3rd Alternative has consistently made a point having a more literary approach, and 'Extraordinary Fiction' is the phrase it uses on the front page. This issue the guest editorial is by China Mieville, and he provides a mini-manifesto for the 'New Weird'. There's lots of high-falutin' words in there, and my concern expressed in the only other issue of TTA I've read (TTA 26) that the magazine is at risk of taking itself too seriously, remains. I like to think that I'm fairly literate and have a better than average vocabulary, but Melville sails pretty close to pretentiousness at a couple of points.
But we should let the fiction speak for itself, shouldn't we?
Jay Lake. All our Heroes are Bastards.
A dark, chilling story, very much blending the genres. The dead have come back to life, and have a political agenda. The USA has allowed them to integrate into society, and to recruit to their numbers from the living, unlike other countries who have successfully challenged the muertados
A young man watches his sister murdered and recruited to their ranks, and seeks help from the shadowy underworld figures opposing the dead. However, not all is as it seems.
The story felt very visual - darkened streets, pools of light, figures in long, black leather coats (de rigeur for bad dudes it would appear), and there is a clear influence of comics, computer games, movies (The Matrix, and even 'The Omega Man').
The incestuous relationship would give other magazines pause for thought (Asimov's now provides a warning if there is any kind of sexual content that is slightly out of the ordinary, and I don't think that the scientists who feature in Analog stories actually ever 'do it').
Ian Watson. The Butterflies of Memory.
Mobile phones have become ridiculously ubiquitous in the UK of late, and built in obsolesence mean that they are regularly replaced. Watson posits a near future where they pretty much grows on trees, with flutterfones flying around offering their services to pedestrians.
Similarly successful has been the FriendsReunited website, which enables old memories to be shared and stored. I, like the protagonist, have had the experience of an old school friend having memories which include me, but which I do not recall!
And so Tom Cavendish struggles with memories that may or may not be based on reality. Have the flutterfones been affecting people in this way?
Christopher Kenworthy. Cure.
Karen has made a living out of being a Shedder, someone who can make their emotions available to others. However, she has come to Singapore, and in its intense, oppressive heat, is seeking a cure, a freedom for something that has become a curse. Her recent, failed, relationship is interwoven along with backstory, to come to a neat conclusion.
Alexander Glass. The Nature of Stone.
Glass has broken into the American SF market with a cracking story in Asimov's August 2003 issue, having come to prominence in the UK over the past couple of years. I for one had pointed out the quality of a couple of his early stories in Interzone, and he could well go further.
Lilith Shaw walks the dark streets wearing a veil. The reason: a vicious attack on her has left her face grossly disfigured. But more than a simple disfigurement, the scars on her face have a mystical resonance that act as a basilisk : look on her face and you are turned to stone.
Whilst seeking treatment from a back-street surgeon, she is able to turn the tables on someone planning to use her for nefarious purposes.
A very dark story, its night-time and subterranean settings creating a noirish feel.
However, as with the Lake story, a slight feeling of style over substance. That such power should come from scarring after a random act of violence tested my suspension of disbelief - and I can generally stretch it quite a long way!
Glenn Dennis. Zoster Searches.
London is the lovingly described setting to this story, in which lovelorn Albert's virus-induced fevered state takes him through a strange dreamlike journey, to come full circle at the end, meeting his ex, Alice.
The Herpes virus (of the commonal garden cold sore variety), the god Hermes, online book stores, tube station annoucements to 'Mind the Gap' all come together as Albert unvravels due to Alice's departure.
Dennis has some great little touches in the story (Albert comes to an 'altered state of constipation' whilst enthroned at one point), although non-Brits may struggle with some of the terminology ('He's a wind-up merchant'), although bizarrely the London Underground is referred to as the 'subway' and Albert refers to having been at 'high school', neither of which are English institutions. And why does he refer to 'the national monument' instead of 'Nelson's Column'?
Non Fiction
Conclusion.
All in all a collection of high quality writing, with a print quality and illustrations of the same standard. The main concern for me is that with all the stories being contemporary, or virtually contemporary, there could be a danger of 'sameness' over a period of issues. Well, time will tell.
review copyright Mark Watson 2003 |
