Edited by Andy Cox, published by TTA Press

Glossy A4 size quarterly, colour cover, £3.00

ISSN 1352-3783

Why should 'extraordinary new fiction' be so gloomy? Admittedly, an idyllic childhood is hardly the best source material for a writer; what we want is conflict -- but we also like triumph over disaster, and while these are the staples of more conventional fiction, they have their place in 'dark fantasy' too.

Cynically, I've always taken dark fantasy to mean horror without the cliches, just as I've taken magic realism to mean fantasy without elves and dragons. For further arguments see TTA Press's 'literature of the fantastic' discussion on their Shadowlink website (http://members.aol.com/ttaldyer/soc.html).

The Third Alternative is a British quarterly of 'extraordinary new fiction,' as it proclaims on the cover. It's glossy and professional, but do I detect a predominant style in the fiction presented here?

The seven stories in issue 17 are all, to a greater or lesser degree, dark fantasy -- in the terms of my cynical definition. The downbeat tone of the stories reflects the demeanour of the magazine as a whole; the regular columns by Wayne Edwards, Rick Cadger and Mat Coward are printed white on black, as is the letters page.

High quality production counts for little if the content isn't up to much, but that can't be said of TTA. The stories here, as in previous issues, are consistently well written, and even if some of them are obscure, or unsatisfactorily resolved, the actual reading is enjoyable.

The non-fiction is of a similar calibre. In this issue we have profiles of Christopher Priest and Kurt Vonnegut, and an analysis of the films of David Lynch (part of a series on 'slipstream cinema').

The fiction starts with Conrad Williams' "The Aspect," an elegantly evoked story of a young woman who begins to see horrible distortions in people and things around her. She longs for the security of her schooldays and seeks out her favourite teacher. But even when she finds her the hallucinations (if that's what they are) continue. The ending is inconsequential, which is a pity for such a well-written story.

Roberta Murphy's "Owl Noises" is a period piece, concerning a woman who has married a man whose previous wife died (or was murdered -- possibly by them both, in complicity) and now the woman's sister seems to be taking her place. Is there madness here, and if so whose? It's well written, atmospheric and assured, and the slight obscurity of it probably ensures its place in TTA.

Another female protagonist, in Joel Lane's "Prison Ships," struggles in her new relationship. She escapes to her sister's New Year's Eve party. She's appalled by the condition of the blighted estate, the apathy, the violent crime. At the party she's tricked into a lockup, but escapes with violence -- now she's one of them. Well written, engaging and again a typical TTA story.

In "The Doll Thief" by Steve Rasnic Tem, a man has become a connoisseur of dolls by stealing them, mainly from places where they've been forgotten or discarded. It seems he's recreating his lost daughters. A weird story, but well written.

Alexander Glass has recently had a string of stories in Interzone. In "A Bottleful of Shadows," his first appearance in TTA, Glass tells of a man employed to watch a woman, something to do with 'photographs'. At one point in the story he manages to grab the photographs and examine them, but they appear to be only solid blocks of colour. It turns out that the woman, and the mysterious Dane who employed the protagonist to watch her, are of a kind who live black-and-white lives, and are seriously affected in two quite different ways by their encounters with colour. An interesting variant on the vampire/sunlight theme, this story rises above the mechanical exposition of a speculative idea by its attention to detail, subtle foreshadowing and solid characterisation.

Jason Frowley's "Billy the Kid, Quite Naked" is a relationship story, beautifully told, with what appears to be heavy metaphor, but the surrealism is undermined by citation of actual research -- thus 'explaining' the protagonist's condition.

In "Flight Is For Those Who Have Not Yet Crossed Over" Jeff VanderMeer, a stalwart of the independent press, brings his superb prose to a story of a prison guard in a South-American police-state. Obscure, as VanderMeer often is, the surrealism is self-mocking. The guard sees what he thinks is a miracle, but is it just a dream- realisation of his deepest wishes?

Is there a typical TTA story? That's hard to say, but all seven of these have a surrealist streak, are to some extent downbeat in tone, and all are well written. With each issue, editor Andy Cox continues to improve his magazine. For extraordinary new fiction The Third Alternative is a good place to look.

Copyright © 1998 Paul S. Jenkins

Note: This review originally appeared in the Usenet Newsgroup rec.arts.sf.reviews.