The cover evidently ‘showcases the sensual explorations of women trapped in their alien environments’. (Personally, I’d much rather do without ‘Dragons!’) The layout certainly looks similar to the likes of other sfnal mags like Starlog/SFX, although I’m not sure how many people browsing the shelves will spot that the top strapline ‘Aliens! Murder! Celebrities! Dragons! Sex! Food!’ is tongue in cheek. The masthead and cover layout have been changed following professional advice, with a view to Interzone sitting more comfortably on the bookshelves. With the previous regime a smoky bar in Brighton seemed to be the only way of keeping abreast of plans (although the plans were evidently to keep on doing what had been done for the last 180 issues).Ĭosmetically, this issue is as big a step forward as there has been in the magazine’s near 20 years. Though I write both short fiction and novel length stuff, I wonder sometimes if that is pandering to the reality of the marketplace.TTA Press took over Interzone last year, and it has made a refreshing change to be party to the thoughts behind what publisher/editor Andy Cox and his team have in mind with regard to the direction of the venerable title, through the TTA Press Discussion Boards. I flirted with poetry at uni, but I have only really recently come back to it. I had dabbled in primary school with little stories, but in high school, poetry became the thing. The AHWA is a way for me to contribute to the community, perhaps give something back to my roots. Dark fiction comes and goes in waves, but it can be hard, especially for someone living in Australia to connect and make a career out of it. I am currently not a member of anything apart from the AHWA. The two go together, no? I have been a member, and sometimes board member of various writing organisations, SFWA and the HWA among them. Or at least, generally, fiction and poetry with a dark contemplative edge. Please comment on your involvement in the AHWA and its importance to you. For instance I spent a couple of years in Turkey when I was young, travelled all throughout Europe and some of it through countries that don’t exist any more. But then I spent my formative years growing up in various countries, so it’s kind of in my blood.

I’m an itinerant Aussie now based in Germany by way of the UK for a while.

Sunset by Jay Caselberg