It’s always good to see our small press and webzines making progress, and the editorial to Pantechnicon #7 announces that the magazine now has an ISSN, and also that they will become a token paying market from issue #8. Meanwhile, what does this issue have to offer?
Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest, the new home for my short fiction and novel reviews.
It's always good to see our small press and webzines making progress and the editorial to Pantechnicon #7 announces that the magazine now has an ISSN, and also that they will become a token paying market from issue #8. Meanwhile, what does this issue have to offer?
A bizarre piece of flash fiction from DF Lewis opens the issue. 'The Web Across The Door' details a young lad's encounter with a mysterious man on the stairs. I'd reached the end before I realised I didn't really know what was going on. I suspect you could read it several times and still be mystified, but then that's the fun of flash fiction: you can get away with odd little experimental pieces that wouldn't necessarily work if they were much longer.
I can't say I'm particularly fond of stories that open with graphic scenes of diarrhoea, but being an intrepid reviewer I overcame my qualms and continued on with Johnny Mains' 'The Trapper'. I have to say it's one of the most unpleasant stories I've ever read, which the author may well take as a compliment. The bowel movements are just the beginning as a trapper and his wife descend into more and more desperate circumstances. If you like a spot of unrestrained depravity, then you may just like this.
In Brian Wright's 'Blood', the sudden development of his telepathy ability gives a banking executive an edge, only to find that his new boss seems to be harbouring a much darker secret. The story has a successful mix of the mundane and the extraordinary that strings you along with anticipation.
David Barnett creates an entertaining British version of 'The X-Files' in 'Death Knock'. The pair of characters who work at the Department for Extra-Usual Affairs are briefly sketched but give the impression of having been carefully crafted. There are plenty of references to strange things outside the story that give it a nice rounded feel. The story itself, of a newspaper reporter who turns up after he's supposed to be dead, is a gentle and pleasant episode that reaches a satisfying conclusion.
In 'The King Is Dead', three iconic figures turn up in a rather mundane setting and offer a young man the chance to get his life back. Alister Davison writes an entertaining little story with a twist on the deal-with-the-devil concept and left me smiling, which is always good.
In 'Tranquil Sea', David Brookes has combined a lot of intriguing ideas and interesting characters in the story of a small group of contractors constructing a giant radio telescope on the far side of the moon. There are flashes of brilliance and sections of enthusiastic description of the strange phenomena that impede the project, but some of the impact of this is lost by a liberal sprinkling of unnecessary or erroneous text. People being deafened by explosions or struggling to climb a four foot wall on the surface of the moon don't really come across as realistic. It could have done with some trimming, but the characters' complex backgrounds and interactions, as well as the increasingly bizarre developments carry the story through.
The final contribution is a short piece from Suzanne Jackson. A patient with a light bulb fixation is always 'Seeing The Light' and wants everyone else to see that she is not insane. The first person narrative gives a twisted insight into her world and makes for an effectively disturbing tale.
So Pantechnicon #7 maintains, or even improves on, the standard of previous issues. There are interviews and articles too to round out the issue. Whether the introduction of payment will improve the quality remains to be seen. I'm looking forward to finding out.
End.
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