Interzone (magazine)

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

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.

Interzone

First issue cover
Categories	Science fiction magazine
First issue	Spring 1982
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Website	https://interzone.press

Publication history

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

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

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

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

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

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. "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

• 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.

External links

• Interzone homepage
• Interzone (TTA Press)
• Index of Interzone
• Interzone Reviews at Upcoming4.me

• Speculative fiction portal