Fiction by:
Lynne Jamneck (8th of November)
Domenico Pisanti (15th of November)
Cedar Sanderson (22nd of November)
Sylvia Hiven (29th of November)
by Joe Vaz
| Let me get going with the Nov issue; our first story this month comes from Lynne Jamneck and it’s a journey into “darkest Africa” at the turn of the last century, where a small group of adventurers go in search of answers in “Into The Black Abyss”. Next up is “Scission” which is about an epic battle between good and evil by Domenico Pisanti as both forces meet for a showdown… over lunch. Our third story for the month is “Mindflow” by Cedar Sanderson, in which a generation ship carries its crew in search of a habitable planet, and we close of the issue with a story of possession and exorcism in “What is Evil, What is Not” by Sylvia Hiven. Our feature interview for the month is with author Steven Amsterdam and we review his book, Things We Didn’t See Coming. Our non-fiction piece for this month takes a look at the South African genre scene written by SL Grey, as well as our usual madness and nonsense in Mark Sykes’s Sixth Sense of Humour, which this month is an homage to homages. | 
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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Jesca Marisa
The biggest thing for any artist, musician or writer is to develop a style that's identifiable as one's own. My most obvious influence is manga and comic book art, but over the years all my references and inspirations have blended together to form a style that's uniquely my own - or at least that's the hope :). I am always thrilled when people are able to identify my work just based on style of drawing. By day I work for advertising, but by night I don tights and cape (read: fluffy duvet) to work on my graphic novels. I enjoy the freedom of writing and illustrating my own stories - it feeds a deep emotional need to create.
Read more »by Lynne Jamneck
I am beginning to grasp an understanding of the mystery that has always surrounded my father. Mother never talked about his work. As children we had asked but never received satisfying answers. Like myself, he had been a student of archeology and anthropology; unlike his daughter, the rules and regulations of the university could not keep him bound. |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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interview by Joe Vaz
My fascination with the occult, coupled with the time period and a healthy dose of Lovecraftianism. My thesis is on Lovecraft and Poe; reading those two on a daily basis will supply a plethora of interesting ideas. |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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Posted in Interviews, Non-Fiction | 
Tags: Interview, Issue 15, Joe Vaz, Lynne Jamneck, Writers Cornered | 
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by Mark Sykes
AT ANY POINT IN a movie I’m watching, it’s always fun to see the director drop in a knowing homage to another movie. It not only tells me a little more about the director’s influences, but also gives me a moment of self-satisfaction if I’m the only one who recognises the reference – then I can patronisingly explain it to whomever I’m watching the movie with, and feel like a smug git for a while. |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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by Domenico Pisanti
He walked into the restaurant, a man in his early fifties; someone who turned heads and for a brief moment reminded all who glanced in his direction of a happier time in their lives. Then it was business as usual. A waiter was already making his way towards the man, who was looking around as though trying to find someone.. |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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interview by Joe Vaz
Stories arrive and arise from many sources. This one had an interesting metamorphosis. It started with a chance remark made by a friend of mine many years ago along the lines of, “imagine two people had to meet up for dinner every few years otherwise the world will end.” I mean, who wouldn’t want to find out more about these two people? |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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Posted in Interviews, Non-Fiction | Tags: Domenico Pisanti, Interview, Issue 15, Joe Vaz, Writers Cornered | Comments Closed
by Cedar Sanderson
Curiosity is what led my predecessors into the wild unknown - curiosity and a driving desire for notoriety. |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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interview by Joe Vaz
I love Lois McMaster Bujold's work. When I read that she'd taken fourteen years to finish her first novel, I thought "I can do that". |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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Posted in Interviews, Non-Fiction | Tags: Cedar Sanderson, Interview, Issue 15, Joe Vaz, Writers Cornered | Comments Closed
review by Joe Vaz
Published by Harvill Secker
“They catch up in two seconds and start bombarding us with apples. Grandpa stays steady through the pounding. We roll up the windows to protect ourselves. Sad, because we haven’t seen apples in a year and now they’re drumming all over us. Unthinkable, that people could keep apples from other people. Grandma leans in close to Grandpa as he squeezes through the traffic, trying to get away.”
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Posted in Reviews | Tags: Issue 15, Joe Vaz, Steven Amsterdam, Things We Didn't See Coming | Comments Closed
interview by Joe Vaz
The move to Australia was a good one for me, and I went there as a pastry cook, really thinking that was what was going to happen, and that I’d end up owning a bakeshop in Melbourne. It turned out that their department of immigration is a lot stuffier than I’d expected, and to work as a pastry chef I had to work at some place that hired a certain number of people and they had to prove that they couldn’t find someone local and I had to be making a certain amount of money, so I ended up working in the sub-basement of a five-star hotel in Melbourne |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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Posted in Interviews, Non-Fiction | Tags: Interview, Issue 15, Joe Vaz, Steven Amsterdam | Comments Closed
by Sylvia Hiven
Indeed, the stench was bad; the odor of stale vomit and human waste lay like a veil in the room. And yes, the man that sat in the bed was a mere skeleton, his hollow cheeks pasty despite the amber light from his bedside lamp. But he had his hands clasped around a crucifix, and while his eyes were dark with fear, there was no sign of the devil in him. |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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interview by Joe Vaz
I like to write about cliché things, only do something opposite to the nature of the concept. |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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Posted in Interviews, Non-Fiction | Tags: Interview, Issue 15, Joe Vaz, Sylvia Hiven, Writers Cornered | Comments Closed
by SL Grey
THE OTHER DAY AT a literary festival event (one of the rare occasions when both halves of S.L. Grey have been trundled out in public in the same room) the panel was asked whether South Africa should have its own genre imprint. The audience was made up of some of South Africa’s very loyal SFFH fans, and we think they expected the answer, ‘Yes, of course, it’s a scandal that there isn’t a dedicated genre imprint in South Africa.’ |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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