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Interzone (magazine)

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This article is about the science fiction magazine. For other uses, see Interzone (disambiguation).

Interzone
First issue cover
CategoriesScience fiction magazine
First issueSpring 1982
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Websitehttps://interzone.press

Interzone is a British fantasy and science fiction magazine. Published since 1982, Interzone is the eighth-longest-running English language science fiction magazine in history, and the longest-running British science fiction (SF) magazine.[1] Stories published in Interzone have been finalists for the Hugo Awards and have won a Nebula Award and numerous British Science Fiction Awards.

Publication history

[edit]

In 1981 Malcom Edwards, who was then a freelance writer, and David Pringle, who chaired that year's British Science Fiction Convention, independently became interested in starting a new science fiction (sf) magazine. Pringle had obtained permission from the convention committee to put that year's profit of £1,300 (equivalent to £6,300 in 2023) towards starting a magazine, and along with Simon Ounsley, Alan Dorey, and Graham James he created a proposal for a 112-page digest-sized magazine. Edwards' proposal was for a 32-page A4-sized magazine, to be funded by subscriptions; he interested John Clute, Colin Greenland, and Roz Kaveney in the idea and sent the proposal to the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA). Dorey was the chair of the BSFA at the time and put Edwards in touch with Pringle.[2]

The two proposals differed in more than just the size and page count: Pringle had imagined a magazine that would publish non-fiction as well as a range of science fiction, whereas Edwards's proposal was for a more literary style of fiction. Despite the differences, planning went ahead; it proved difficult to agree on who should edit the magazine, and eventually it was decided that all eight people involved should edit as an unpaid collective, with all of them reading every submission and agreeing on all editorial decisions. Pringle suggested the title, which came from the city of Interzone described in William Burroughs' novel The Naked Lunch. Charles Platt agreed to act as the American agent for the new magazine.[3] The first issue was dated Spring 1982, and subscribers to the new magazine received a booklet edition of J. G. Ballard's story News from the Sun.[4]

The unwieldy eight-person editorial collective did not last. Graham James was only credited as one of the editors for the first two issues, and Edwards lasted for only two more.[5][6] Kaveney departed after the seventh issue, and Clute and Dorey after the ninth, though they remained as advisors. Colin Greenland left after the twelfth issue, leaving Ounsley and Pringle as co-editors.[7][8] Three issues were produced in each of the first two years, after which the schedule settled down to a regular quarterly for five years before becoming bimonthly in late 1988.[9][10]

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."[11]

In 1984 Interzone received a generous donation from Sir Clive Sinclair;[12] 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".[13]

Issue data for 1982 to 2017
Spring Summer Fall Winter
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1982 1/1 1/2 1/3
1983 1/4 5 6
1984 7 8 9 10
1985 11 12 13 14
1986 15 16 17 18
1987 19 20 21 22
1988 23 24 25 26
1989 27 28 29 30 31 32
1990 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42
1991 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
1992 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
1993 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78
1994 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90
1995 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102
1996 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114
1997 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126
1998 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138
1999 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
2000 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162
2001 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174
2002 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184
2003 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192
2004 193 194 195
2005 196 197 198 199 200 201
2006 202 203 204 205 206 207
2007 208 209 210 211 212 213
2008 214 215 216 217 218 219
2009 220 221 222 223 224 225
2010 226 227 228 229 230 231
2011 232 233 234 235 236 237
2012 238 239 240 241 242 243
2013 244 245 246 247 248 249
2014 250 251 252 253 254 255
2015 256 257 258 259 260 261
2016 262 263 264 265 266 267
2017 268 269 270 271 272 273
2018 274 275 276 277 278
2019 279 280 281 282 283 284
2020 285 286 287 288 289
2021 290/291
2022 292/293
2023 294 295 296
2024 297 298 299 300
Issues of Interzone, showing volume/issue number. Underlining indicates that an issue was titled as a quarterly (e.g. "Spring 2004") rather than as a monthly.

In 2006, the Science Fiction Writers of America removed the magazine from its list of professional markets due to low rates and small circulation.[14] However, within the genre field the magazine is still ranked as a professional publication.[15] 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."[16] It pays semi-professional rates to writers.[17]

In January 2021, after announcing a delay of issue 290 "for various reasons (some covid-related, some not)",[18] 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.[19] However, the deal was later cancelled, with Andy Cox saying he was unhappy that existing subscriptions would not be honoured.[20]

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. [21]

Further delays followed, with the first MYY Press edition, issue 294, eventually sent to subscribers at the end of January 2023;[22] and issue 295 at the end of August.[23] Two months later, Jelley announced that the magazine would finally return to a regular bimonthly schedule, but only in a digital format.[24]

Awards and recognition

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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.[25] In 2010 the magazine became one of only eleven magazines to have a story win a Nebula Award.[25] The winning story was the novelette "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster.[26] 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[25] and the longest-running British SF magazine.

Writers

[edit]

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.[27]

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.

Bibliographic details

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The editorial succession at Interzone is as follows:[28][29][30]

  • Spring–Summer 1982. John Clute, Alan Dorey, Malcolm Edwards, Colin Greenland, Graham James, Roz Kaveney, Simon Ounsley, David Pringle.
  • Fall 1982 – Spring 1983. John Clute, Alan Dorey, Malcolm Edwards, Colin Greenland, Roz Kaveney, Simon Ounsley, David Pringle.
  • Fall 1983 – Spring 1984. John Clute, Alan Dorey, Colin Greenland, Roz Kaveney, Simon Ounsley, David Pringle.
  • Summer 1984 – Fall 1984. John Clute, Alan Dorey, Colin Greenland, Simon Ounsley, David Pringle.
  • Winter 1984 – Summer 1985. Colin Greenland, Simon Ounsley, David Pringle.
  • Fall 1985 – Summer 1988. Simon Ounsley, David Pringle.
  • September 1988 – Spring 2004. David Pringle.
  • September/October 2004 – July 2022. Andy Cox.
  • January 2023 – current as of August 2024. Gareth Jelley.

The October 1994 issue was guest-edited by Paul Brazier.[31]

Anthologies

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In the first years, several anthologies were published.

  • John Clute, Colin Greenland and David Pringle: Interzone – The 1st Anthology, Everyman Fiction Limited, 1985
  • John Clute, David Pringle and Simon Ounsley: Interzone – The 2nd Anthology, Simon & Schuster Limited, 1987
  • John Clute, David Pringle and Simon Ounsley: Interzone – The 3rd Anthology, Simon & Schuster Limited, 1988
  • John Clute, David Pringle and Simon Ounsley: Interzone – The 4th Anthology, Simon & Schuster Limited, 1989
  • John Clute, David Pringle and Simon Ounsley: Interzone – The 5th Anthology, New English Library Paperbacks, 1991
  • David Pringle: The Best of Interzone, Voyager, 1996

The second through fourth anthologies were reissued by New English Library.

Footnotes

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  1. ^ "ANDY HEDGECOCK says politically engaged fantasy is thriving in the 21st century Archived 14 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine," The Morning Star, 24 March 2015.
  2. ^ Ashley (2016), pp. 119-120.
  3. ^ Ashley (2016), p 120.
  4. ^ Ashley (2016), p. 121.
  5. ^ Ashley (2016), p. 123.
  6. ^ Stephensen-Payne, Phil. "Magazine Contents Lists: Page 5677". Galactic Central. Archived from the original on 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  7. ^ Ashley (2016), p. 126.
  8. ^ Stephensen-Payne, Phil. "Magazine Contents Lists: Page 5678". Galactic Central. Archived from the original on 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  9. ^ Ashley (2016), pp. 360-361.
  10. ^ Stephensen-Payne, Phil. "Interzone". Galactic Central. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  11. ^ "Celebrating 25 Years of Interzone, comments by Alan Dorey," Interzone No. 212, September–October 2007, pp. 4–5.
  12. ^ David Pringle and Colin Greenland, "Editorial," Interzone, No. 8, Summer 1984
  13. ^ "Summation: 2007" from The Year's Best Science Fiction, 25th Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, editor. St. Martin's Griffin, p. xv.
  14. ^ Gardner Dozois, The Year's Best Science Fiction, 2006
  15. ^ "2009 Magazine Summary," Locus Magazine, February 2010, page 55.
  16. ^ "Summation: 2009" from The Year's Best Science Fiction, 27th Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois, St. Martin's Griffin, page xv.
  17. ^ Duotrope's Digest – Publication Details: Interzone
  18. ^ Cox, Andy. "INTERZONE #290 + BLACK STATIC #78". TTA Press. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  19. ^ Langford, David. "Ansible 403, February 2021". Ansible. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  20. ^ Langford, David. "Ansible 404, March 2021". Ansible. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  21. ^ Langford, David. "Ansible 420, July 2022". Ansible. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  22. ^ Langford, David. "Ansible 427, January 2023". Ansible. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  23. ^ Langford, David. "Ansible 434, September 2023". Ansible. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  24. ^ Langford, David. "Ansible 436, November 2023". Ansible. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  25. ^ a b c "Interzone Evaluated: Awards, Stories Reprinted, Issues Published" by Colin Harvey, Suite 101, 19 July 2010, Retrieved 18 Sep 2010.
  26. ^ Winners: 2009 Nebula Awards Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  27. ^ Andy Cox (3 May 2008). "Interzone 216: Special Mundane-SF issue". TTA Press.
  28. ^ Ashley (2016), p. 360.
  29. ^ Ashley (2022), p. 366.
  30. ^ Stephensen=Payne, Phil. "Magazine Contents Lists: Page 5729". Galactic Central. Archived from the original on 20 September 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  31. ^ Stephensen-Payne, Phil. "Magazine Contents Lists: Page 5698". Galactic Central. Archived from the original on 20 September 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.

Sources

[edit]
  • Ashley, Mike (2016). Science Fiction Rebels: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1981 to 1990. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-78138-260-8.
  • Ashley, Mike (2022). The Rise of the Cyberzines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1991 to 2020. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-80085-648-6.
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