The SF Site Featured Review: Space and Time, Spring 2004

Space and Time, Spring 2004

Space and Time
Space and Time is published twice a year. Single issue pirce is $5.00 + $1.25 handling charge. Subscriptions are available for 2 issues/$10, 4 issues/$20 (Canadian rates 2 issues/$11, 4 issues/$22; all other countries 2 issues/$13, 4 issues/$26). Outside US please use US dollar postal money order or check payable against any US bank.

Space and Time
138 West 70th Street (4B),
New York, NY
10023-4468.

Space and Time

A review by Rich Horton

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Space and Time is one of the more remarkable small press fiction magazines for its longevity: this issue is #98! Gordon Linzner has been publishing (and usually also editing) this magazine since 1966. While the list of authors he has published is not surprisingly dominated by obscure names, Linzner has also made some interesting discoveries. He published fiction by the likes of Stephen Barnes, Darrell Schweitzer, Eric Vinicoff & Marcia Martin, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Charles de Lint, Mark Tiedemann, John Stith, Richard Chwedyk, Stephen Dedman, Mary Soon Lee, Richard Parks, and Jeffrey Ford, for example. In Ford's case, Linzner's publishing company, Space and Time Books, put out his (very obscure) first novel, Vanitas. This is, I think, a record of long term effort and support for which he sholud be very proud. (Linzner remains Editor-in-Chief, but the Fiction Editor is now long-time contributor Gerard Houarner, the Poetry Editor is Linda D. Addison, and the Features Editor is Faith L. Justice.)

The current issues offers nine stories and as many poems. (No other features -- no editorial, no reviews, no non-fiction. Though there is copious black and white artwork.) In a very general sense, the stories are typical of the better semi-professional magazines -- in nearly every case one can see why they may not have made the cut at the top magazines, but they are generally decent work, with a spark in every case that kept me reading. The poems seem typical of SF poetry, with a bias towards horror -- not entirely to my taste. ("Maine Morning", by David Napolin, a nice short lyric, not SFnal, was my favorite.)

Of the stories, these stood out. Paul E. Martens's "In His Footsteps" is a successfully funny story about the son of God. No, not Jesus. Keith's father is a scientist who discovered how to become God. For Keith, being an underachieving English major son of a great scientist who is also God is quite a burden. M. Christian's "The Rich Man's Ghost" is an nice use of Japanese imagery to describe financial cyberspace, telling a story of a rich man who is haunted by a "ghost" in the virtual world. "A Catamount Inside the Paling," by Douglas Empringham, is an effective story of an old witch enchanting a nobleman, perhaps not in his best interests. Fortunately, his page and her two wards are just alert enough to save the day -- half unsuspecting. Harley Stroh's "The Devil's Last Dance," the longest story here at some 10,000 words, is a frustrating example of the plusses and minuses of semi-pro fiction. This tale of a Spanish-like milieu, on the brink of a revolution which will topple the decadent aristocrats, is absorbing reading. It tells of an aging "true-blood" master of the Danse, the intricate social art of the aristocracy, and how he is unwillingly drawn to a nouveau riche young woman. But the two cannot quite overcome their pride... I read the story with interest, thought the ideas interesting and the characters involving, but in the end I felt it a near miss -- the pacing is a bit off, the plot just doesn't quite cohere. Still, promising work, and in some ways the most exciting story here. Finally, Brian Plante's "Irrational Space" is a nice, ambiguous, story of the disembodied pilot of a ship travelling through i-space to a distant planet.

In all, this is a worthy effort. No stories here are classics, but the magazine is full of readable stuff, and plenty of promising work.

Rich Horton is an eclectic reader in and out of the SF and fantasy genres. He's been reading SF since before the Golden Age (that is, since before he was 13). Born in Naperville, IL, he lives and works (as a Software Engineer for the proverbial Major Aerospace Company) in St. Louis area and is a regular contributor to Tangent. Stop by his website at http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton.