Interzone (magazine)

Interzone was initially produced by an unpaid collective of eight people—John Clute, Alan Dorey, Malcolm Edwards, Colin Greenland, Graham James, Roz Kaveney, Simon Ounsley and David Pringle.[2] 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."[3]

While the magazine started as an editorial collective, soon editor David Pringle was the driving force behind Interzone. In 1984 Interzone received a generous donation from Sir Clive Sinclair;[4] 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. Andy Cox of TTA Press, which publishes The Third Alternative, then took ownership of Interzone. Since the switch Interzone has undergone a series of redesigns while maintaining high fiction standards. The redesigned Interzone has been called the "handsomest SF magazine in the business" by Gardner Dozois.[5]

In 2006, the Science Fiction Writers of America removed the magazine from its list of professional markets due to low rates and small circulation.[6] However, within the genre field the magazine is still ranked as a professional publication.[7] 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."[8] It pays semi-professional rates to writers.[9]

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.[10] In 2010 the magazine became one of only eleven magazines to have a story win a Nebula Award.[10] The winning story was the novelette "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster.[11] 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[10] and the longest-running British SF magazine.

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, 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.[12]

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.

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.

• Interzone
• Index of Interzone
• Interzone Reviews at Upcoming4.me