Wednesday, August 13, 2008

now don't that just figure?

(thanks to Spontaneous Derivation for the heads up)


So, back in July I was fortunate enough to be able to receive a blogger's review copy of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I wasn't horribly impressed, but it was cool that I got a chance to read the magazine since it isn't something I subscribe to and I sure haven't seen it on a local newsstand. I'm sure if I went to one of our two specialty stores in the area (Uncle Hugos and Dreamhaven), I'd be able to purchase a single issue, but that would take me out of my way and I'm lazy.

Why am I writing now?

There's a new offer out for the Oct / Nov issue. Mr. Van Gelder also requests that folks who received the July issue sit out this one, and I think that's perfectly fair and reasonable. I don't want to monopolize the publication and keep getting free swag to review. Well, that's not true. I do want to get a subscription for free just for blogging about it, but let's be fair here to F&SF. I (and everyone else who received the July issue for free) should sit this one out.

One of my complaints about the July issue was that it was just "average" and not outstanding and with little star quality. I wanted something enticing, and in the comments to the post Mr. Van Gelder explained why an All Star issue wouldn't be fair to the reader considering subscribing (and hey, it should be a representative issue).

So, who's in the Oct / Nov issue on offer?

Carol Emshwiller.

Michael Swanwick.

Robert Reed.

M. Rickert.

Stephen King.


Now don't that just figure?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the notice! I emailed them and I'm hoping that I'll get a copy, since they didn't mention the offer is US only.

Tia Nevitt said...

I signed up for a copy this time. We'll see!

Joe said...

Best of luck!

Unknown said...

Oh man! All authors I like a lot.

That's totally not fair.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the hat tip!

Yes, when I saw the double issue offer, I was like, "Okay, THIS is the ring I should throw my hat in."

But yes, it will undoubtedly not give the most balanced view of the magazine, but it may give F&SF some valuable feedback as to what works and what doesn't work.

This'll be interesting. I'll probably start gathering up links to the previous promotion to see how things compare when I do my review (which I may do as a week-long thing).