Interzone #281 (May-June 2019)

A rather light-weight issue with stories that probably appeal to those who prefer a more 'literary' style of SF than what I would normally read. The stories that I found interesting were by James Warner, Andy Dudak and Malcolm Devlin.

• "The Realitarians" by James Warner: a woman accomplice to a Russian gangster suddenly discovers cats talking to her. But her world really turns upside down when one of her assigned tasks goes wrong, and she becomes the target of a hunt.

• "Float" by Kai Hudson: a girl who has lived most of her life in space goes to Earth and pines for a way to ease the weight she feels in this short short story.

• "Harmony" by Andy Dudak: a spy sent to infiltrate a city slowly falls under the spell of music that is constantly played to pacify and 'instruct' the inhabitants. Soon, his starts to second guess whether his actions are due to him following his duty or due to the music.

• "A Dreamer Arrives in the Occupied City" by Malcolm Devlin: in a city where dreaming isn't allowed by its unknown alien masters, a dreamer arrives. Left unsaid is what might eventually happen to the city's inhabitants if the dreamer is left to remind them of what dreams are for.

• "Scolex" by Matt Thompson: one man makes a desperate journey to Korea, for he is carrying illegal substances inside him that threaten to kill him unless neutralized within the required time. But his trip becomes a battle to stay alive as the authorities chase him, and he starts changing under the substance's influence. But will it kill him in the end?

• "Café Corona" by Georgina Bruce: a short short piece involving sitting at a café and watching the world dissolve and change around you.

• "Our Fathers Find Their Graves in Our Short Memories" by Rebecca Campbell: on searching through a digital repository of posts and news as the world ends.