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Shoreline of Infinity Science Fiction Magazine #12
Shoreline of Infinity, Issue 12, Summer 2018
Ada Palmer interview
Stories from:
Helen Jackson – Do Not Pass GO
Robert Gordon – Aeaea
Anton Rose – Jammers
J S Richardson – Paradise Bird
W G White – Sand and Rust
Elva Hills – Sleeping Fire
Duncan Lunan – The Square Fella
SF Poetry: Caroline Hardaker, Ken Poyner, Elizabeth Dulemba
Chris Kelso – SF Caledonia: Crossing the Starfield
Ruth EJ Booth – Noise and Sparks: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Genre
Book Reviews
Ada Palmer, Seven Surrenders, & The Will to Battle
Eric Brown, Binary System
M John Harrison, You Should Come with Me Now: Stories of Ghosts
Sarah Maria Griffin, Spare and Found Parts
Malka Older,Null States
Sarah Lotz, Body in the Woods
Hal Duncan, A Scruffian Survival Guide
plus – The Beachcomber Presents by Mark Toner
Cover: Siobhan McDonald
Artwork by: Jackie Duckworth Art, Tsu, Jessica Good, Mark Toner, Elizabeth Dulemba
And the annual flash fiction competition
Stories from:
Helen Jackson – Do Not Pass GO
Robert Gordon – Aeaea
Anton Rose – Jammers
J S Richardson – Paradise Bird
W G White – Sand and Rust
Elva Hills – Sleeping Fire
Duncan Lunan – The Square Fella
SF Poetry: Caroline Hardaker, Ken Poyner, Elizabeth Dulemba
Chris Kelso – SF Caledonia: Crossing the Starfield
Ruth EJ Booth – Noise and Sparks: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Genre
Book Reviews
Ada Palmer, Seven Surrenders, & The Will to Battle
Eric Brown, Binary System
M John Harrison, You Should Come with Me Now: Stories of Ghosts
Sarah Maria Griffin, Spare and Found Parts
Malka Older,Null States
Sarah Lotz, Body in the Woods
Hal Duncan, A Scruffian Survival Guide
plus – The Beachcomber Presents by Mark Toner
Cover: Siobhan McDonald
Artwork by: Jackie Duckworth Art, Tsu, Jessica Good, Mark Toner, Elizabeth Dulemba
And the annual flash fiction competition
- GenresScience Fiction
179 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 14, 2018
2 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Noel Chidwick
45 books19 followersI'm Editor-in-Chief of Science Fiction magazine, Shoreline of Infinity (www.shorelineofinfinity.com), published in Scotland.
I've been a reader for as long as I can remember, my tastes tending towards the fantastical rather than the realistic. After all, isn't that the point of a story, to be taken to a different place?
Science Fiction and fantasy is where I have lived and dreamed since I first read Grimm's Stories. My teenage years were spent absorbing every word I could find by the likes of Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Wyndham, Bradbury, McCaffrey, LeGuin, Moorcock, Ballard, Priest.
I loved the early stuff from the 30s and 40s with writers such as E E Smith, Olaf Stapledon and the many other writers who earned their keeping bashing away at typewriters in dark, dust attics.
And my enjoyment in SF continues unabated with the writings of Stephen Baxter, Charles Stross, Ken MacLeod, Eric Brown, Peter Hamilton.
And many more. Many, many more.
I've written on and off over the years, dabbling in SF as a teenager when I had some stories published in fanzines. I have recently returned to the words with greater relish, and have released a couple of small collection of tales based on my adopted home town of Edinburgh.
I was shortlisted for a short crime story competition for Bloody Scotland, and the story is available, along with its fellow shortlistees, as an ebook published by Blasted Heath.
I've been a reader for as long as I can remember, my tastes tending towards the fantastical rather than the realistic. After all, isn't that the point of a story, to be taken to a different place?
Science Fiction and fantasy is where I have lived and dreamed since I first read Grimm's Stories. My teenage years were spent absorbing every word I could find by the likes of Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Wyndham, Bradbury, McCaffrey, LeGuin, Moorcock, Ballard, Priest.
I loved the early stuff from the 30s and 40s with writers such as E E Smith, Olaf Stapledon and the many other writers who earned their keeping bashing away at typewriters in dark, dust attics.
And my enjoyment in SF continues unabated with the writings of Stephen Baxter, Charles Stross, Ken MacLeod, Eric Brown, Peter Hamilton.
And many more. Many, many more.
I've written on and off over the years, dabbling in SF as a teenager when I had some stories published in fanzines. I have recently returned to the words with greater relish, and have released a couple of small collection of tales based on my adopted home town of Edinburgh.
I was shortlisted for a short crime story competition for Bloody Scotland, and the story is available, along with its fellow shortlistees, as an ebook published by Blasted Heath.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 27, 2019
In Pull up a Log Iain Maloney reflects on his time as Shoreline’s reviews editor.
In the fiction we have Do Not Pass GO by Helen Jackson, a light-hearted time-travelling story which tells how the board game “Property Is Best!” became “Monopoly” and conquered the world.
This is followed by Aeaea by Robert Gordon where day by day a man’s consciousness passes between bodies working on a production line of some sort. The workers are overseen by robots. He knows little of his past but occasional dreams let him know he had one. He instigates a revolution but there is still time for an ending which, despite some foreshadowing, is still a deus ex machina.
In Jammers by Anton Rose a young Max is recruited into a gang which remotely hi-jacks self-driving cars in order to rob their passengers. His junkie mother is disgusted by his new-found occupation.
Paradise Bird by J S Richardson features an exotic alien – a male – from an almost forgotten far-flung outpost of humanity come to visit the Habs on the fringe of the asteroid belt and charm one of the hermaphroditic inhabitants.
In Sand and Rust by W G White the entirety of human civilisation wanders through a relentless desert landscape in a caravan guided by a machine called The Chaperone. The caravan’s First Rider has to induct his replacement before entering The Chaperone, never to re-emerge. I did wonder how, in the midst of all this desert, the people in the caravan obtained food.
Sleeping Fire by Elvira Hills is a tale of haves and have nots, the desert people left without regeneration technology, those in Rejensy exploiting them to secure their own longevity. New recruit Resa determines to redress things. The pacing here is a little too breathless at times and the action sequence borders on cliché.
The Beachcomber Presents graphic strip literally depicts people living in social bubbles, escaping their confines to find the richness outside.
SF Caledonia: Crossing the Starfield by Chris Kelso relates how he stumbled on a copy of Starfield, the first ever anthology of Scottish Science Fiction, in a Glasgow second-hand bookshop. He goes on to wonder how it has been so forgotten (not by those of a certain age, mate) and to eulogise the contents.
The Square Fella by Duncan Lunan is one of the stories from that collection and describes the first manned rocket mission out of the bowl of the world in which its protagonist lives.
There is a page introducing a flash fiction competition for SoI readers on the subject of the Moon followed by an interview with Ada Palmer conducted by Eris Young.
Ruth E J Booth’s Noise and Sparks column Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Genre discusses the ongoing disparagement of SF by some academics.
Reviews sees Eris Young finding new depth in Ada Palmer’s Terra Incognita trilogy as books 2 and 3 Seven Surrenders and The Will to Battle roll on, Steve Ironside confesses to not being armoured enough to cope with the rhythm and narrative of Hal Duncan’s A Scruffian Survival Guide, Katy Lennon delights in the intricacies of M John Harrison’s You Should Come with Me Nowf, Georgina Merryg appreciates the gorgeous writing and unpredictable story line of Sarah Maria Griffin’s Spare and Found Parts, Callum McSorley feels the mix of action thriller and political drama in Null States by Malka Older doesn’t quite mesh, Lucy Powellh describes Eric Brown’s Binary System as a colourful romp. MultiVerse has poems by Caroline Haker, Ken Poyner and Elizabeth Dulemba (whose three very short pieces are illustrated.) Replacing Parabolic Puzzles we have Spot the Difference by Tsu.
In the fiction we have Do Not Pass GO by Helen Jackson, a light-hearted time-travelling story which tells how the board game “Property Is Best!” became “Monopoly” and conquered the world.
This is followed by Aeaea by Robert Gordon where day by day a man’s consciousness passes between bodies working on a production line of some sort. The workers are overseen by robots. He knows little of his past but occasional dreams let him know he had one. He instigates a revolution but there is still time for an ending which, despite some foreshadowing, is still a deus ex machina.
In Jammers by Anton Rose a young Max is recruited into a gang which remotely hi-jacks self-driving cars in order to rob their passengers. His junkie mother is disgusted by his new-found occupation.
Paradise Bird by J S Richardson features an exotic alien – a male – from an almost forgotten far-flung outpost of humanity come to visit the Habs on the fringe of the asteroid belt and charm one of the hermaphroditic inhabitants.
In Sand and Rust by W G White the entirety of human civilisation wanders through a relentless desert landscape in a caravan guided by a machine called The Chaperone. The caravan’s First Rider has to induct his replacement before entering The Chaperone, never to re-emerge. I did wonder how, in the midst of all this desert, the people in the caravan obtained food.
Sleeping Fire by Elvira Hills is a tale of haves and have nots, the desert people left without regeneration technology, those in Rejensy exploiting them to secure their own longevity. New recruit Resa determines to redress things. The pacing here is a little too breathless at times and the action sequence borders on cliché.
The Beachcomber Presents graphic strip literally depicts people living in social bubbles, escaping their confines to find the richness outside.
SF Caledonia: Crossing the Starfield by Chris Kelso relates how he stumbled on a copy of Starfield, the first ever anthology of Scottish Science Fiction, in a Glasgow second-hand bookshop. He goes on to wonder how it has been so forgotten (not by those of a certain age, mate) and to eulogise the contents.
The Square Fella by Duncan Lunan is one of the stories from that collection and describes the first manned rocket mission out of the bowl of the world in which its protagonist lives.
There is a page introducing a flash fiction competition for SoI readers on the subject of the Moon followed by an interview with Ada Palmer conducted by Eris Young.
Ruth E J Booth’s Noise and Sparks column Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Genre discusses the ongoing disparagement of SF by some academics.
Reviews sees Eris Young finding new depth in Ada Palmer’s Terra Incognita trilogy as books 2 and 3 Seven Surrenders and The Will to Battle roll on, Steve Ironside confesses to not being armoured enough to cope with the rhythm and narrative of Hal Duncan’s A Scruffian Survival Guide, Katy Lennon delights in the intricacies of M John Harrison’s You Should Come with Me Nowf, Georgina Merryg appreciates the gorgeous writing and unpredictable story line of Sarah Maria Griffin’s Spare and Found Parts, Callum McSorley feels the mix of action thriller and political drama in Null States by Malka Older doesn’t quite mesh, Lucy Powellh describes Eric Brown’s Binary System as a colourful romp. MultiVerse has poems by Caroline Haker, Ken Poyner and Elizabeth Dulemba (whose three very short pieces are illustrated.) Replacing Parabolic Puzzles we have Spot the Difference by Tsu.
September 12, 2018
Not a bad issue. Not many of the stories "connected" with me, but I did find a couple rather decent.
J S Richardson's – "Paradise Bird" & W G White's – "Sand and Rust", I thought were both rather good all things considered.
Richardson's story was a little short for my tastes, but I really enjoyed the far future world building of it and what happens when humanity "seeds" the galaxy end up coming back toward Earth after spending hundreds of years apart.
White's story I enjoyed for the somewhat familiar trope of having a group of people who virtually worship an old piece of tech that leads them astray in a big way. I thought the main character in this, Enoch, was specifically enjoyable, since we could really get a good feel of disappointment from him towards the end.
Overall, not a bad issue at all would pick up another in the future.
J S Richardson's – "Paradise Bird" & W G White's – "Sand and Rust", I thought were both rather good all things considered.
Richardson's story was a little short for my tastes, but I really enjoyed the far future world building of it and what happens when humanity "seeds" the galaxy end up coming back toward Earth after spending hundreds of years apart.
White's story I enjoyed for the somewhat familiar trope of having a group of people who virtually worship an old piece of tech that leads them astray in a big way. I thought the main character in this, Enoch, was specifically enjoyable, since we could really get a good feel of disappointment from him towards the end.
Overall, not a bad issue at all would pick up another in the future.
Read
June 26, 2018Loved this!
I won't give it a rating, because it includes one of my stories, but the other content is worthy of five stars. There are entertaining and thought-provoking stories from Robert Gordon, Anton Rose, JS Richardson, WG White, Elva Hills and Duncan Lunan plus a wealth of interviews, reviews, poetry, and other goodies (Eris Young's Ada Palmer interview stands out).
The artwork is great throughout -- special mention to Jackie Duckworth Art for the gorgeous illustration for my story and Siobhan McDonald for the cover art.
I won't give it a rating, because it includes one of my stories, but the other content is worthy of five stars. There are entertaining and thought-provoking stories from Robert Gordon, Anton Rose, JS Richardson, WG White, Elva Hills and Duncan Lunan plus a wealth of interviews, reviews, poetry, and other goodies (Eris Young's Ada Palmer interview stands out).
The artwork is great throughout -- special mention to Jackie Duckworth Art for the gorgeous illustration for my story and Siobhan McDonald for the cover art.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews