Black Mosaic: Andy J Campbell

Jackie Cornish has seen the hundreds of televisions abandoned in the School Caretaker's garden - if she could nick one, maybe she wouldn't feel so left out with her mates? She might also be able to keep out of the way of her horrific mother. But Jackie disturbs the creepy caretaker and is invited into his amazing house where he plays strange binary games - of life, death and parallel existence.

Double Topping: Simon Carreck

A mysterious time-traveller, trapped in a sequence of escape he is forced to endlessly repeat, accidentally interferes in a National Dragon Darts Competition which the wilful young entrant Emmaline, with her reluctant dragon Corncurd, is determined to win. This comical tale mixes the centuries to hilarious effect.

What does your mother do when you get hooked on video-games? Especially when they're the kind of games that spill over into your real life? It's the future - it's virtual - but it's real for Rhino - and his Mum.

UFOs Over the Pentagon: Monica Cafferkey

Ever wondered why there are so many conspiracy theories? What's the difference between the USA's rules of disclosure and the political forces keeping secrets in the the UK? Monica Cafferkey takes us on a whirlwind tour of current theories of information and disinformation which foul up the channels on both sides of the Atlantic.

Gatecrashers: Kevin Murphy

Kev meets the beautiful Danielle, love of his life, the same night that he meets American Bob - a strange guy who seems to know the names of Beatle's hits before they've been released - several years before. Kev is drawn into a long trawl through Liverpool's night life in the grip of his obsession with American Bob, until he finally learns the secret of how to invite himself to the party.

Lots of Love, Big Sister: Guy Russell

Neil is looking for love, but he needs advice. In Big Sister, a computerised correspondence course for the love-lorn, he seems to have found the perfect agony aunt. Following her guidelines Neil embarks on a search for the perfect partner, but is his success what Big Sister really wants?

Just a Bag of Organs: John Moy

Medical research has brought us to the point when organ replacement is commonplace. The only trouble is, they give us cancer. Nick Romani, top flight surgeon, is experimenting on full body replication - that way people will have enough spares of their own organs to prolong their lifespan immeasurably. Now he needs a volunteer to perfect the techniques, and guess who insists on counting five under the anaesthetic....

Stars and Sleeping Pills: Donna Louise Taylor

In a post-holocaust world when there's nothing to do but fight his way across the city for anti-radiation treatment and dream of the horrific death of his parents, a lonely boy finds a friend in equally lonely and tragic Arty, whose antique shop is a treasure-trove of the pre- nuclear age. But up on the top shelf there's a book which tells him more than Arty wants him to know.

The Fringe Effect: Steve Sneyd

John Brunner and Brian Aldiss are two of Britain's foremost Science Fiction writers and in this exacting and entertaining article, never before published in the UK, Steve Sneyd analyses the poetic devices used in some of their work including Brunner's masterly 'anthology of paranoia' in The Web of Everywhere and Aldiss's largely satirical song sequences in the truly space-operatic The Eighty Minute Hour.

Deloria's Husband: Linette Voller

What can you do in the fallout shelter when your husband won't eat the meals, so handily produced by the Vac-Pac machine from waste products? Deloria nags her silent husband constantly, determined to keep to the routine she has so patiently established. The light on the door has been red for 22 years - but one day comes the moment Deloria dreads.

Fragment: Mike Richmond

Bullied at school, bullied on the street by Fat Boy; the final humiliation comes when he's bullied by third formers on his way to play football. Isolated and abandoned, what can any kid do but dream his way out? A chilling study in abuse.

Reason: Neale Grant

Ben shares a flat with Martin, Emma and Chris where they live the quintessential student life. Only Ben is mortally sick of them, his university course, his low-life status, of everything. Entries into his computer diary chart his plans for a future where everyone will know his name. But on the chosen day, things don't go quite according to plan....

Review of Flights From The Iron Moon: Eileen Shaw

Eileen Shaw reviews Steve Sneyd's round-up of Poetry zines, Flights From The Iron Moon. Renowned poet and SF reviewer Steve Sneyd has written the definitive chronicle of SF poetry. This is the third in his comprehensive survey of the zine scene and covers the decade 1980-1989.