04.01.06

The Infinite Matrix is pleased to announce a joint operating agreement with the Port of Dubai, and has resumed publication pending the arrival of a large cash investment. "Dubai has a much better record of securing websites than the Bush administration," said Infinite Matrix editor Eileen Gunn, "and we are looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship."

Like Dubai, the Infinite Matrix has in recent years instituted free economic zones, and now derives less than 6% of its revenues from oil. "We are hoping," says Gunn, "that Infinite Matrix Media City and Infinite Matrix Knowledge Village, strategically located in Seattle, Washington, an intergalactic hub of commerce and corporate willfulness, will provide reliable revenue streams to fund a flood of politically aggressive and technologically relevant fiction that will awaken the American left." Infinite Matrix house typographer John D. Berry is enroute to Dubai and will give a full report, at least on typographic issues, upon his return.

Media and knowledge in this new issue include:

Fiction
Andy Hooper's Look Away, an original story that juxtaposes two irrational American ideals: baseball and the flag.

James Patrick Kelly's Burn, the Hugo-nominated novella, in several file formats suitable for downloading to handhelds.

Patrick O'Leary's unorthodox poem, The Yugoslavian Poetry Maker.

Ellen Klages's spicy Take-away.

And Mary Turzillo's rhapsody to Digital Love.

Music
Tenea Johnson's evocative jazz poem Silence is our first foray into audio files. We couldn't resist.

News and wit
And of course David Langford is on board with The Runcible Ansible.

Eileen Gunn is the editor and publisher of The Infinite Matrix, and a member of the board of directors of the Clarion West Writer's Workshop. She also writes short stories. Her recent collection, Stable Strategies and Others, was short-listed for the Philip K. Dick Award, the James Tiptree, Jr, Award, and the World Fantasy Award. One of the stories in the collection, "Coming to Terms," won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story, 2004, and another, "Nirvana High," written with Leslie What, is nominated for the Nebula for 2005 (to be awarded in May, 2006).

Find out more (and read both stories) at EileenGunn.com. Her cryptic personal site, Imaginary Friends was a Cool Site of the Day way back in 1997. Its amiable and equally aged companion, The Difference Dictionary, offers clues to Gibson and Sterling's The Difference Engine.