In February 2009, my short story “Memory Dust” appeared in Interzone. It was intended to be a full-throttle retro space romp, but somehow failed to attract the same enthusiastic reviews as my two previous stories in the magazine, and looking back now with the benefit of hindsight, I can see areas where it could have been improved. Niall Harrison probably judged it about right in his review on Torque Control.

Obviously, I was disappointed that I’d shot slightly wide of the mark, but took it as a lesson: not every story will be an unqualified success, and just because an editor likes it enough to include it in a magazine, it doesn’t mean the readers will feel the same way. Nevertheless, I enjoyed writing “Memory Dust”, and I had especial fun with passages like this:

The Red Shark was a tough, streamlined wedge with a thick heat shield, and paint scoured to ash by the pitiless fires of hyperspace. He walked up the cargo ramp into her belly without looking back. He’d been stuck on this worthless planet for three long years, growing old and tired and soft. He could hardly wait to get airborne again, to open the throttle and feel the kick of the exhaust, the giddy freedom of the up-and-out.

It may not have been to everyone’s taste, but at least it’s made Blue Tyson’s list of Best New Stories of 2009, and I’ve already submitted new and better stories to Interzone (among other places), which when they appear, I’m sure will get a better reception.

Sam Tomaino reviews Interzone 220 on the SF Revu website:

“Last of all, there is “Memory Dust” by Gareth L. Powell. Caesar is taking a octopus-like creature back to its home planet. He is haunted by a dream of the planet and a black dust falling from the sky. He manages to get the creature back to its home and finds some answers to his questions. This one was pretty interesting.”

Read the full review here

On SF Crowsnest, Gareth D Jones reviews Interzone 220:

“We return to Gareth L. Powell’s galaxy of random jumpers in ‘Memory Dust’, the story of an ageing pilot determined to risk one last trip into space to right a wrong he caused years earlier. The story is imbued with the kind of emotional charge that Powell always manages to build into his characters as they face situations mundane or extraordinary. A possibly sentient octopoid creature and the ruins of an ancient civilisation qualify this as being on the extraordinary side.”

Read the full review here.

Mark Watson reviews my story “Memory Dust” in Interzone 220 at Best SF:

“The third story from Powell in the ‘new’ Interzone, which puts him up for being a ‘regular’. The two previous stories were well-received, with ‘Ack-Ack Macaque’ topping the last reader’s poll, and ‘The Last Reef’ having many plaudits, none of course to match the signal honour of being the first ever story to be featured in Best SF Presents. Continue reading “Best SF Review”

Interzone 220 dropped through my door this morning. The stories look great and there are some excellent illustrations. I particularly like the retro space ship in Daniel Bristow-Bailey‘s accompanying illustration to my story Memory Dust, and the ruined city he’s drawn at the bottom of the precipice…