>>Nostalgia For Infinity

Del.icio.us links for January 30th through February 5th:

» Read the rest of this entry «

Del.icio.us links for September 4th through September 11th:

» Read the rest of this entry «

Del.icio.us links for August 8th through August 21st:

» Read the rest of this entry «

Whoops, apparently I have neglected to post these for the past few weeks. Sorry!

Del.icio.us links for May 9th through May 29th:

» Read the rest of this entry «

Del.icio.us links for March 15th through March 19th:

» Read the rest of this entry «

Del.icio.us links for March 6th through March 11th:

» Read the rest of this entry «

Acapella Zoo is a web and print ‘zine of slipstream/magic realist fiction based in the US – its editor is based in Seattle but its staff hail from across the States – and has been publishing since 2008. This, its fifth issue, features fifteen stories and poetry by twelve contributors; there is no non-fiction component, which is a shame, but the magazine does not need it. Its issues are not themed and there is no stated editorial intention to contextualise its stories. Instead it focuses on providing quality stories and poetry for fans of strange and cross-genre works, with a healthy mix of male and female contributors who are mostly but not exclusively US residents. I’ll focus chiefly upon the fiction, since as I am not a great reader of poetry I do not feel qualified to do more than passingly comment upon it.

The opening tale is Nancy Gold’s ‘Showtime’. This focuses on three children or young men who work as part of a travelling circus, performing simple morality plays which portray the classic conflict between good and evil. One of the trio wears wings made of collected feathers, playing the role of an angel; another, facially disfigured, plays the opposing part. The equilibrium of their triumvirate is broken when a young woman appears, a strange girl who collects wings but is drawn to the scarred ‘Gash’ rather than the boy who likes to play at being an angel. Ultimately, the strangeness of desire trumps the appeal of earning a buck through crude showmanship. The story touches upon themes of alienation, and highlights how an alliance built upon convenience and lack of alternatives is no match for equality between partners.

After a brief break for Feng Sun Chen’s poem ‘Eclipse’ – which, alas, I am unsure what to make of – there is Hayes Greenwood Moore’s ‘The Creature from the Lake’. At its heart this story is also about desire. A couple find an odd creature, wounded, near a lake, and nurse it back to health. The story is written from a woman’s perspective, and her partner soon becomes besotted with the beast they are caring for. As for the creature itself, it appears capable of singing, although more often it merely cries out in pain, and how much of the former is a misinterpretation of the latter is left to the reader to decide. The story ends with an unmade decision that, intended or not, functions as a metaphor for how easily relationships can be thrown askew by a variety of factors; children, marriage, affairs. Both of these initial stories have a strangeness about them that dissuades simple interpretation, a characteristic shared by many other offerings in this issue.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Title’s a bit of a mouthful, huh? But then, the Harry Potter series is nothing if not occasionally clumsy.

I suspect that the Potter series may be the longest-running consecutive series of films, with 8 titles (including the unreleased follow-up to this entry) spread between 2001 and 2011. This excludes James Bond as the films are episodic. It’s an achievement in itself, and it’s also been a unique experience to watch the actors grow from very young children into (mostly) more skilful young adults – all under the tutelage of a variety of directors.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Apparently I’ve never written about Interzone here on Nostalgia For Infinity, which honestly surprises me a bit as it’s the magazine I’ve been subscribed to longest (about six years now, since Andy Cox took over as editor). It’s the only SF magazine I read regularly, thanks to a mix of factors: its persistently cool design and artwork makes it something I’m rarely ashamed to be seen reading (unlike, say, fishboobs), its fiction tends to be an alluring mix of strange, characterful, thought-provoking and oddball whether the stories themselves are brilliant and mediocre, and it has some great non-fiction writers (Nick Lowe and David Langford contributing since the early days). There are issues I care less for, but it’s not for lack of effort of the part of IZ’s writers, editors, artists and other contributors.

» Read the rest of this entry «

It’s a while since I reviewed anything from British genre publisher Abaddon Books (see here), and indeed since I read anything from them. I’ve got a certain measure of admiration for what they’re trying to accomplish but the fiction I’d read from them to date had not exactly blown me away. However, I didn’t count on a friend pressing this book into my hands and insisting that I must read it. “I thought it would be rubbish,” she said. “But it has zombie elephants!” She did, originally, pick it up on the basis of the barely-clothed “barbarian” woman on the cover (check out that underboob – now that’s what I call a literary quality, phnarr phnarr).

I think these two facts tell you just about all you need to know about the unique selling points of Anno Mortis.

Oh, sarcasm aside it’s fun enough. Here’s how it goes: in the age of Emperor Caligula (casual mass murderer and serial fucker of all things with holes), the barbarian warrior Boda (as in Boudica, get it?!) is brought to Rome to fight in the coliseum as a gladiator. She quickly gets caught up in some shady business involving dark rites and the bodies of dead gladiators. Around the same time, the feckless playboy and wannabe playright Petronius is forced into the apprenticeship of the Senator Seneca, who it turns out is involved in some shady business involving dark rites and the bodies of dead gladiators. I hate to spoil it for you, but they toootally end up sharing some adventures and unlikely chemistry!

» Read the rest of this entry «