The Interzone Sampler

Guest blogger Jason Sanford often rants on his website at www.jasonsanford.com. His fiction has been published in Interzone, Year's Best SF 14, Analog, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Pindeldyboz, and other places, and has won the 2008 Interzone Readers' Poll and a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship.

There's a lot of chatter these days about Analog, Asimov's and F&SF slowly dying. I suspect that like Mark Twain, not only have the rumors of their impending deaths been greatly exaggerated, they've been exaggerated to push a diverse set of agendas, ranging from online publishing triumphing over those pesky dead tree mags to the perpetual concerns over the genre's aging population of readers.One surprising thing about this angst is the belief that the American style of SF magazine publishing—using a digest format—is the only way to achieve SF magazine success. For proof of another way to thrive, please consider the British magazine Interzone.Interzone is a slick bi-monthly publication, just under 8.5x11 in size with dazzling full-color covers and B&W interior art. Gardner Dozois has called Interzone "the best looking SF magazine," and it's hard to disagree. But as good as their design is, the writing is even better. I love their fiction, and find their reviews and nonfiction articles to be the best in the business.Now in the interest of total, fanatical disclosure, Interzone frequently publishes my stories. But I was a reader of the magazine well before they accepted my first tale. While I subscribe to and read all the American digest magazines, Interzone is the only genre magazine I consistently read from cover to cover.Unfortunately, Interzone is difficult to find in the United States. But the good news is that if you subscribe to 2 years (12 issues) of the magazine, 6 of those will have no overseas postage charge added (i.e., you pay the UK price).To tempt you into subscribing, below are 4 sample Interzone stories. Three of the stories won Interzone's annual readers' poll for best story, while the fourth story is one I believe has a great shot at winning the upcoming readers' poll.

• Mercurio D. Rivera's "Longing for Langalana" (PDF download). Also available in a podcast. Winner, 2006 Interzone Readers' Poll.
• Gareth L. Powell's "Ack-Ack Macaque" (podcast). Winner, 2007 Interzone Readers' Poll.
• My "When Thorns Are The Tips Of Trees" (PDF download). Winner, 2008 Interzone Readers' Poll. Update: Forgot to link to the podcast on StarShipSofa.
• Eugie Foster's "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" (reprinted in Apex Magazine). IMHO, a leading contender to win the 2009 Interzone Readers' Poll.