I coulda been a subscriber

[resonant]

Wow, so my second issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction arrived this week, and, wow, this one has more than one actual good story in it. The first issue I got was so very bad (with the exception of Kelly Link's "Magic for Beginners") that I was beginning to think somebody ought to be paying actual money to my betas, since they were obviously better editors than the editors of F&SF.

But our local library is so very lame when it comes to speculative fiction -- they can't even keep up to date on the Year's Best collections, never mind buy a reasonable selection of new novels each year -- that it's amazingly wonderful and inspiring just to have new stories to read arriving at my house once a month.

(And then the museum bookstore had the last six months' worth of Locus, so I bought the whole bunch, but they're so full of nonfictional stuff that I feel I ought to digest and understand. They make me tired just to look at them.)

And now I have the occasional paycheck coming in, and I want to subscribe to everything.

What spec-fic periodicals do y'all like?

Comments

[lalejandra.livejournal.com]

I read F&SF, Locus, Asimov's, and. Um. Something else. But that's because I have to.

I tend to dislike the larger magazines that are mostly-fiction based, because they have, you know, a quota to meet, slots to fill, etc., which means that most of the fiction they do seems (to me) to be "just okay" rather than "spectacular".

What I really like is scifi.com's fiction, which is here (http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/); it's edited by Ellen Datlow (http://www.datlow.com/), who is one of the most amazing people I know, and a fantastic editor with a good eye.

I also recommend Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet (http://www.lcrw.net/lcrw/), a twice-yearly zine from Kelly Link and Gavin Grant.

Hm, and Trunk Stories, another zine, if you can find it, is pretty darn good, edited by an old bud of mine with a slightly wacky vision. Ditto Electric Velocipede (http://www.electricvelocipede.com/).

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

1. Why do you have to?

2. I just sent a check to Lady Churchill's last week!

[lalejandra.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm an idiot, I've sent you an email.

[destina.livejournal.com]

I read, um. *thinks* Asimov's, F&SF, Realms of Fantasy, LCRW, Flesh and Blood...um. Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine...um. My mind is a blank.

Also, online I read the prozines ChiZine, Strange Horizons, and SCI FICTION, as well as a few semi-pro zines like Ideomancer, Fortean Bureau and Lenox Ave. Free stuff, some of it of fantastic quality. Can't beat it.

LOCUS is really a fantastic magazine, if you're truly interested in the business end of going pro. Lots of insight into the market. Yes, it's tiring, but you'll get used to it. *g*

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I actually sent a story to Lenox Avenue, adn they didn't buy it, but they sent me a very nice personal note. So they're on my list of wonderful people.

Have bookmarked a whole bunch of these.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

well, my dad prefers analog, which has a reputation for being more hard-sf slanted than f&sf. i've read a couple of issues cover-to-cover that i enjoyed more or less all the way, but i wouldn't vouch for the quality being higher overall.

asimov's is also reputedly more in the hard-sf end. i don't think i've ever read an issue, but they have a place in my heart because they accepted one of my dad's poems. :)

(i loved locus, but it filled me with the same sense of anxiety: i was always like, i'm not keeping up with the field! i felt inadequate because i wasn't reading the books that they reviewed!)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_swallow/]

Another (now pointless) mention of love (love, love!) for LCRW.

[pxr5.livejournal.com]

I used to like Omni, but that folded, and Ellen moved onto Sci Fiction. I still occasionally pick up Interzone, and The Third Alternative (http://www.ttapress.com/ (http://www.ttapress.com/).) I'm a lifetime subscriber to Locus, but haven't been anywhere near as happy with it these days as I used to be (mainly, 'cause Charlie is starting to get on my nerves ;-) ).

Otherwise, I'm not much of a short fic reader anymore :-(

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

Analog and Asimov's. Analog is probably the best fiction magazine I've read, in the sense that most issues are good enough to read cover-to-cover. But Asimov's seems to have had more stand-out stories; I mean, ones that I really *loved*. Just, it also has more crap.

When I subscribe to these, which is not all the time, I keep every issue. (And, um. I make a little annotation of what I thought of each story, on the contents and on the first page of the story. But, you know, that's just my obsessiveness rearing its ugly head; it's a wonder (and a blessing) that I haven't starting rec'ing profic, really.) That's not true of the other fiction magazines I've read. (F&SF is very hit-or-miss, and for me, it's much more likely to miss than hit.)

Disclaimer: I'm a hard SF girl. I like fantasy, but it was an acquired taste.

Further comment: you do get Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction every year, right? Because if I could (god forbid) only have one SF short-story source, that's the one I'd pick - he's not perfect, but he's much better at picking the good stuff than the other anthologists. (Approach anything concerning the Beatles with wariness, though, and remember that when he says "grim" or "gritty," he means DARKFIC OMG.) Plus, you get that really spiffy Year in Review thing, which is almost better, just for the thoroughness with which he documents trends and events in the field. I've collected the whole back set, and am kicking myself because I bought a few in softcover.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

you do get Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction every year, right?

Um, when the library gets it, which is not with any sort of consistency. I really need to set up an eBay search or something. Likewise with the year's best fantasy collections, which I always enjoy ... when I can find them ...

The Year In Review section usually ends up adding fifty new titles to my "to read" list. And then the library won't have any of them, either.

Damn it. Sf/f is apparently just not the right hobby for people with no money.

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

Um, when the library gets it, which is not with any sort of consistency. I really need to set up an eBay search or something.

I generally buy mine from half.com; it's not like there's any urgency about getting them, and that way I can get the hardcover for substantially less than the paperback costs new. That's also how I backfilled, because I discovered the series when they were somewhere around number 18. Of course, the listings are sometimes weird because it's a book serial, but given that hardcovers in decent shape cost two or three bucks plus four dollars in shipping, I'm willing to do some extra clicking and searching.

The Year In Review section usually ends up adding fifty new titles to my "to read" list. And then the library won't have any of them, either.

Yeah. I try to do all my new fiction reading via the library - there's the money issue, and then there's also the book storage issue, which at one point had become so critical that it looked like it was going to be a choice between the books and us in terms of who got shelter. (I have since weeded the collection half to death. Yeah, it hurt, but it was a good hurt, you know? Except totally not. Actually, it was like ripping off a band-aid, and than moving one inch to the left and doing it again, over every inch of my body.) But libraries are really touch and go with SF, especially since it's generally marginal stuff and thus gets the axe relatively quickly when the library budget dies. Plus, old school librarians never want to buy paperbacks, and a lot of the best SF comes in paperback originals, so...

My suggestion for that one: marry a librarian. In your case, yes, this might be technically illegal, what with the bigamy and all, but you'll be in a really good position to make your opinions known on local branch book buying. Isn't that worth a bit of jail time?

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I suspect that I could talk the spouse into a little polygamy if the person in question were a librarian. Especially one who enjoyed doing yard work.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

I had to cut print publications from my budget, so these days I get my fix online: Strange Horizons (http://www.strangehorizons.com), Reflection's Edge (http://www.reflectionsedge.com), Lamhfada (http://www.lamhfada.com/bp/), Ideomancer (http://www.ideomancer.com/), and Shadows of Saturn (http://www.shadowsofsaturn.com/). I also find Emerald City (http://www.emcit.com/) and The Internet Review of Science Fiction (http://www.irosf.com/) useful for nonfiction and reviews.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Several of these are new to me. Lamhfada in particular looks right up my alley. Thanks!