Interzone #272 (September-October 2017)

An above average issue of Interzone. With only four stories on offer, they had better be worth reading. The stories are not instant classics but still worth paying attention too.

• "Blessings Erupt" by Aliya Whiteley: a story set in a future recovering after a war and extreme pollution by plastics. In this world, a group of unusual people are found who have the ability to consume plastics from the environment and become part of the environmental recovery programme. But the ability comes at a huge personal cost.

• "The Music of Ghosts" by Paul Jessup: set on a generational starship on a journey to a new planet after the Earth was lost in an unstated disaster, the story concerns memories: of those lost in the disaster, of those lost on the starship after a plague strikes and the effort to recover at least a shadow of those lost during and after the journey itself.

• "Ghosts of a Neon God" by T.R. Napper: in a future Melbourne, Australia under the domination of a foreign power, two petty criminals make a living stealing and selling small items to get by. But life changes when they run into a woman who pleads for help but is ignored. The plea would be noted by the authorities, who then have reason to find and eliminate them. The story feels incomplete and acts like it should be a part of a bigger story.

• "The Goddess of the Highway" by Erica L. Satifka: an interesting piece about a future where, after the release of some mysterious substance, people's intelligence has been lowered and the only way to regain it is via 'plates' attached to people's heads, leading to a caste system where plastic plated ones are for the lowest intelligent, with the top occupied by gold and platinum plates. The story starts with a driver with a plastic plate who apparently hallucinates about a highway goddess meeting a platinum plated girl who is rebelling and wants to end the caste system, with help from a mysterious organisation with whom they are trying to contact.