There have been impressive special issues of magazines over the decades, not least such numbers of good little magazines as TriQuarterly or Conjunctions or even the too-often precious McSweeney's, but few have been as good a snapshot of the changes happening in a field of literature as the hefty (384 pp) Volume V, Issue 2 (#14) of the pomo, largely Situationist journal Semiotext[e] (ISSN: 0-093-95779), issued in 1989. Editors (for this issue) Rudy Rucker, Peter Lamborn Wilson and (not kin, I believe) Robert Anton Wilson were almost unsurprisingly able to draw in some of the most "bleeding edge" writers in speculative fiction, and some of their great inspirations in sf, horror and fantasy writing (such as Philip José Farmer, Colin Wilson, Barrington J. Bayley, Robert Sheckley, J. G. Ballard and William Burroughs...and editor RA Wilson) and mix their often playful work in with that of the newer folks advancing the form in various ways. This issue's "Burning Sky" was one of the first two or three stories I read by the brilliant Rachel Pollack, who has produced good novels and comics scripts but is best (I'd say) in the short story genre, Michael Blumlein is similarly swinging (or is that slashing?) for the fences, and Bruce Sterling's contribution is one of his key stories. Not everything here is top-shelf ("Solitons" is probably the worst single story I've read by Paul Di Filippo, and sadly one of the first), but one of the problems with art, particularly art that is trying not to Play It Safe, is falling on one's arse or otherwise looking foolish while striving, even more than when doing more conventional work (not that certain talents can't look foolish in that compass as well). Some of these folks have damned near fallen silent since (such as T. Winter-Damon), and that's probably a pity...others have certainly gone through a variety of modes (such as John Shirley, like Ian Watson a writer who had begun establishing himself earlier in the '70s than Shirley's eventual "Movement"/"cyberpunk" cohort including Rucker, Sterling, Di Filippo, Willam Gibson, Lewis Shiner and Richard Kadrey, the last represented here with visual rather than literary work); others, such as Thom Metzger, seem to have been more Semiotext(e) regulars than contributors to other outlets (though latterly in Rucker's webzine Flurb, as well as having published several books) . All told, an issue (though some would like to insist it's a stand-alone book) worth seeking out, with some brilliant, a lot of good, some slight and only a bit of terrible work, all of it helping to limn the radical tradition in fantastic fiction writing, and making clear the links to other radical traditions (and radical artists) in a way that is too easy to overlook otherwise.
From ISFDB:
From ISFDB:
- Cover: Mike Saenz
- 11 • Introduction (Semiotext[e] SF) • essay by Peter Lamborn Wilson and Rudy Rucker
- 15 • The Toshiba H-P Waldo • shortstory by Mike Saenz
- 16 • Acknowledgements (Semiotext[e] SF) • essay by Peter Lamborn Wilson
- 17 • Preface (Semiotext[e] SF) • essay by Robert Anton Wilson
- 23 • Metamorphosis No. 89 • shortstory by Don Webb
- 27 • We See Things Differently • novelette by Bruce Sterling
- 44 • Portfolio • interior artwork by Freddie Baer
- 49 • America Comes • poem by Bruce Boston
- 53 • Frankenstein Penis • shortstory by Ernest Hogan
- 61 • Six Kinds of Darkness • (1988) • shortstory by John Shirley
- 71 • More Subatomic Particles • shortstory by Nick Herbert
- 75 • Burning Sky • shortstory by Rachel Pollack
- 87 • Day • poem by Bob McGlynn
- 91 • Rapture in Space • shortstory by Rudy Rucker
- 103 • Quen Wimpel Meets Bigfoot • shortstory by Kerry Thornley
- 109 • Hippie Hat Brain Parasite • (1983) • shortstory by William Gibson
- 115 • The Great Escape • shortstory by Sol Yurick
- 129 • Portfolio • interior artwork by James Koehnline
- 133 • Jane Fonda's Augmentation Mammoplasty • shortstory by J. G. Ballard
- 135 • Report on an Unidentified Space Station • (1982) • shortstory by J. G. Ballard
- 141 • Solitons • shortstory by Paul Di Filippo
- 153 • Is This True? Well, Yes and No • shortstory by Sharon Gannon and David Life
- 159 • Genocide • shortstory by Richard Kadrey
- 167 • The Antarctic Autonomous Zone: A Science Fiction Story • poem by Peter Lamborn Wilson [as by Hakim Bey ]
- 171 • Vile Dry Claws of the Toucan • shortstory by Ian Watson
- 177 • Shed His Grace • shortstory by Michael Blumlein
- 187 • All Right, Everybody on the Floor! • shortstory by Thom Metzger
- 193 • The Gene Drain • shortstory by Lewis Shiner
- 205 • The CIA Register • shortstory by William S. Burroughs
- 207 • The New Boy • shortstory by William S. Burroughs
- 211 • Another Brush with the Fuzz • shortstory by Daniel Pearlman
- 217 • You Can't Go Home Again • shortstory by Ron Kolm
- 219 • Georgie and the Giant Shit • shortstory by Greg Gibson
- 233 • Delphic (Projection #5) • poem by Lorraine Schein
- 235 • The Sex Club • shortstory by Terry L. Parkinson [as by T. L. Parkinson ]
- 245 • Your Style Guide • shortstory by Marc Laidlaw
- 251 • Maslow, Sheldrake, and the Peak Experience • shortstory by Colin Wilson
- 257 • Amsterdam Diary • shortstory by Robert Sheckley
- 271 • I Was a Teenage Genetic Engineer • shortstory by Denise Angela Shawl
- 275 • Chapter One, the Novel • shortstory by Luke McGuff
- 277 • Portfolio • interior artwork by Richard Kadrey
- 281 • Saint Francis Kisses His Ass Goodbye • novelette by Philip José Farmer
- 297 • Gnosis Knows Best • shortstory by Hugh Fox
- 307 • The Beer Mystic's Last Day on the Planet • shortstory by Bart Plantenga
- 313 • Visit Port Watson! • (1985) • shortstory by Anonymous
- 333 • Lord of Infinite Diversions • shortstory by T. Winter-Damon
- 337 • Project Parameters in Cherry Valley by the Testicles • shortstory by Robert Anton Wilson
- 345 • The Scepter of Praetorious • shortstory by Ivan Stang
- 357 • Louie, Louie • shortstory by Jacob Rabinowitz
- 365 • Cling to the Curvature! • novelette by Barrington J. Bayley
- bc • Semiotext[e] SF • interior artwork by Steve Jones