This morning on Slashdot I read that the March 2009 issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction will be the last monthly issue published. From now on, the magazine will be a little longer, and will only come out every two months.
You can read Gordon Van Gelder's explanation for the change in format here.
But the Slashdot article I read, titled Difficult Times for SF Magazines, was actually announcing that Realms of Fantasy has folded.
It's no news that speculative fiction genre magazines haven't been selling well. I've seen theories for the decline from editors and fans blaming everything from the economy to the short attention span of the TV-internet generation. But I think an even bigger problem is that many magazines have misunderstood their audience.
Spec fiction fans are usually technophiles. They're excited about the future, the latest technologies, the coolest new ways of reading books, watching movies, and experiencing their favorite fictional worlds.
Mass market genre fiction magazines seem to think, for some reason, that their readers want to walk into a brick and mortar store, pick up a dead tree magazine off a rack, and purchase it. Or that they possibly want to wait for their magazine to show up in their mailbox, slightly dirty and dog-eared- and often after it is already available for sale in bookstores. Old-fashioned distribution is simply not cool enough for people with their eyes on the future!
Asimov's Science Fiction isn't folding or going bimonthly. Their homepage offers me a free podcast of a story read by the author. Their special e-Asimov page lets me know that I can get their magazine as a Fictionwise eBook, or on the Kindle. Oh, and the free podcast pointed out that their favorite authors have plenty of short story content on audible.com that I can enjoy on my iPod.
F&SF had to go bimonthly. F&SF is not available on the Kindle. There are links to eReader, Fictionwise, and Audible on the F&SF home page- but the links are at the very bottom of the page, and I didn't even see that the links existed until I got a comment on this post from the magazine's editor pointing out my error. Maybe it was just me who missed those links, but there's no doubt the Asimov's webpage draws more attention to their electronic formats at the top of their page.
The folding Realms of Fantasy isn't even on Fictionwise- at least, when I searched for the magazine on Fictionwise, the results yielded nothing but an erotica novel. Realms of Fantasy is not available on Kindle.
Perhaps the problem of folding and shrinking magazines isn't the state of the economy or an unwillingness of spec fiction fans to read. Perhaps magazines are offering content in an outdated format inappropriate to their audience, and could do a better job marketing toward their technophile target fans.
Showing posts with label "Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction". Show all posts
Monday, February 02, 2009
Friday, October 26, 2007
How to earn $40 for reading science fiction and fantasy
Today I got a surprise check in the mail. I had completely forgotten that, a few weeks ago when I had jury duty, the county was obliged to pay me for a day of warming a bucket seat chair and reading The New Yorker and the July 2007 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Hey, if you thought it was likely you'd leave your reading material behind on a park bench or subway car, you'd take an old issue with you, too.
My big civic participation day began by watching a video, taking an hour to fill out a form I had already filled out at home, then doing a lot of waiting. I read about a new stamp commemorating jury duty in The New Yorker, feted by a shindig whose celebrity attendants had never served. Then I opened up F&SF and started the first story- "Daughters of Prime" by Lawrence C. Connolly.
It was awful. I found myself reading the same sentences over and over again. I couldn't concentrate. The story just didn't interest me. Was I really that nervous about hearing my name called? Had the juror's video dramatizing trial by drowning in the middle ages dulled my appetite for fiction?
Next came the book columns, De Lint's "Books to Look For" and "Books" by Elizabeth Hand. I was reasonable engaged, enthused about checking out one or two books. So, I could still read, just not fiction.
I turned the page and landed right in "Stars Seen Through Stone" by Lucius Shepard, and I was reminded what speculative fiction is supposed to be: fun, engaging, the kind of story that made me turn pages and even laugh out loud, much to the disconcertment of the jurors on either side of me.
I went back to look at why one of these stories couldn't hold my attention, while the other was so thoroughly engaging.
Connolly's "Daughter of Prime" was all about time: how long would the protagonist live before her successor took over her work? The big mysterious engine running the heart of the story was, in essence, about time. Had the protagonist been expected to arrive on this foreign planet for generations? The problem was, I really didn't care about the protagnist's fate or the fate of the natives on the planet. I just didn't know enough about them to care.
Shepard's story was all about a community. Black William, PA was a small town with an intriguing past. Shepard built the town using solid geography- I could almost draw a map showing where the library, pub, mill, spooky statue, and Chinese restaurant were located. There wasn't space in the story to know everyone in town, but we did get to know the protagonist, his ex-girlfriend, his best friend, and a creepy outsider staying at the protagonist's house. The story was so realistic, that when weird stuff began to happen, it actually gave me the chills.
Or maybe it was just the A/C in the juror's waiting room.
My big civic participation day began by watching a video, taking an hour to fill out a form I had already filled out at home, then doing a lot of waiting. I read about a new stamp commemorating jury duty in The New Yorker, feted by a shindig whose celebrity attendants had never served. Then I opened up F&SF and started the first story- "Daughters of Prime" by Lawrence C. Connolly.
It was awful. I found myself reading the same sentences over and over again. I couldn't concentrate. The story just didn't interest me. Was I really that nervous about hearing my name called? Had the juror's video dramatizing trial by drowning in the middle ages dulled my appetite for fiction?
Next came the book columns, De Lint's "Books to Look For" and "Books" by Elizabeth Hand. I was reasonable engaged, enthused about checking out one or two books. So, I could still read, just not fiction.
I turned the page and landed right in "Stars Seen Through Stone" by Lucius Shepard, and I was reminded what speculative fiction is supposed to be: fun, engaging, the kind of story that made me turn pages and even laugh out loud, much to the disconcertment of the jurors on either side of me.
I went back to look at why one of these stories couldn't hold my attention, while the other was so thoroughly engaging.
Connolly's "Daughter of Prime" was all about time: how long would the protagonist live before her successor took over her work? The big mysterious engine running the heart of the story was, in essence, about time. Had the protagonist been expected to arrive on this foreign planet for generations? The problem was, I really didn't care about the protagnist's fate or the fate of the natives on the planet. I just didn't know enough about them to care.
Shepard's story was all about a community. Black William, PA was a small town with an intriguing past. Shepard built the town using solid geography- I could almost draw a map showing where the library, pub, mill, spooky statue, and Chinese restaurant were located. There wasn't space in the story to know everyone in town, but we did get to know the protagonist, his ex-girlfriend, his best friend, and a creepy outsider staying at the protagonist's house. The story was so realistic, that when weird stuff began to happen, it actually gave me the chills.
Or maybe it was just the A/C in the juror's waiting room.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
See the Other Side
In my post today on the Friggin' Write blog, I give a very positive review to a story in the first person, present tense! For those who read my March 2nd rant on the overused combination of the first person and present tense in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, you'll be interested to read how much I enjoyed the offending combination as used by Tatyana Tolstaya in her literary short story, "See the Other Side." Since the story was published in The New Yorker, you can read and enjoy it online for free here.
So, first person, present tense in The New Yorker is cool, but I throw a fit when I read it in F&SF? My complaint with F&SF is that they're printing too many (at times exclusively) of this type of story. More specifically, I was pretty upset by how badly M. Rickert's "Memoir of a Deer Woman" used the present tense.
Tolstaya's translated story flows beautifully in the present tense. The protagonist's present tense journey is the frame for a story that goes back decades in time. Memories of actions and emotions in the past are crucial to the plot of the story, and the author's use of present tense for the present time in the story avoids time line confusion. The tense choice gracefully avoids a lot of awkward past perfect tense (past perfect = "he had already written", "she had already called"). The fact that the author is a middle-aged Russian woman and the protagonist is a middle-aged Russian woman makes the choice of the first person, I, natural and genuine. Far from detracting from a lovely story, the use of the first person, present tense made "See the Other Side" more engaging and warm.
So, first person, present tense in The New Yorker is cool, but I throw a fit when I read it in F&SF? My complaint with F&SF is that they're printing too many (at times exclusively) of this type of story. More specifically, I was pretty upset by how badly M. Rickert's "Memoir of a Deer Woman" used the present tense.
Tolstaya's translated story flows beautifully in the present tense. The protagonist's present tense journey is the frame for a story that goes back decades in time. Memories of actions and emotions in the past are crucial to the plot of the story, and the author's use of present tense for the present time in the story avoids time line confusion. The tense choice gracefully avoids a lot of awkward past perfect tense (past perfect = "he had already written", "she had already called"). The fact that the author is a middle-aged Russian woman and the protagonist is a middle-aged Russian woman makes the choice of the first person, I, natural and genuine. Far from detracting from a lovely story, the use of the first person, present tense made "See the Other Side" more engaging and warm.
Friday, March 02, 2007
"Memoir of a Deer Woman" Far Cry from a "Blessing"
I have been noticing a trend in Fantasy & Science Fiction toward short story narrative in the present tense. The classic short story is written in the third person and in the past tense. Writers sometimes make a conscious choice to alter this- choosing the first person "I" voice, and/or choosing the present tense instead of the past to best tell their story. I've mentioned instances in Fantasy & Science Fiction in which these changes have worked well, such as when Carol Emshwiller published "Killer" in the October/November double issue. (see the post).
Two out of the two short stories in the March issue of F&SF are in the present tense. This is getting silly- present tense is an artistically selected deviation, not a norm. What's worse, M. Rickert's "Memoir of a Deer Woman" is so awkward in the present tense ("Her husband takes him out") that she must often write in the future tense ("He'll accept this as reasonable") and the conditional ("she would look at forever"). I'm all for trying out new ways of writing, but come on. We're not far from reading a story like this:
Susan will take her purse off the counter and walk out the door. She might forget her cell phone on the counter, and the global positioning device embedded in the phone could potentially make her show up as being at home when she is actually at the office. If a horrible disaster strikes and her husband is desperately trying to locate her, this might create problems.
That's not the kind of story I want to read. Do you see how the use of the future and conditional takes all the tension and drama out of the story?
To make matters worse, the protagonist of Rickert's story is a would-be writer with writer's block. She goes to hang out with other would-be writers with writer's block by attending a writers' group. It takes an enormous amount of magic to make a story about writing enjoyable, and "Memoir of a Deer Woman" didn't have it.
The first two-thirds of the story are from the viewpoint of the protagonist, then she drops out of the tale and the rest of the story kaleidoscopes through perspectives of her husband, random people we've never met before, and a member of the writers' group. This kind of kaleidoscopic perspective is best used for special effect in novels, not in very short stories. The tale ends through the eyes of the member of the writers' group. She is philosophizing on the nature of words, what they mean as symbols, in and of themselves. Rickert follows this philosophizing by telling us life is an "exquisite blessing." The connotation of the word "blessing" is religious. Nothing in the previous nine pages of story had religious overtones. This inappropriate use of a word in a story all about words destroyed the effect Rickert was trying to create.
The conceit of the story was fine. I liked the way the magical transformation was compared to suffering from cancer, and the idea of the words cut from the memoirs could have been cool. Rickert does an excellent job of establishing the setting in very few words.
Two out of the two short stories in the March issue of F&SF are in the present tense. This is getting silly- present tense is an artistically selected deviation, not a norm. What's worse, M. Rickert's "Memoir of a Deer Woman" is so awkward in the present tense ("Her husband takes him out") that she must often write in the future tense ("He'll accept this as reasonable") and the conditional ("she would look at forever"). I'm all for trying out new ways of writing, but come on. We're not far from reading a story like this:
Susan will take her purse off the counter and walk out the door. She might forget her cell phone on the counter, and the global positioning device embedded in the phone could potentially make her show up as being at home when she is actually at the office. If a horrible disaster strikes and her husband is desperately trying to locate her, this might create problems.
That's not the kind of story I want to read. Do you see how the use of the future and conditional takes all the tension and drama out of the story?
To make matters worse, the protagonist of Rickert's story is a would-be writer with writer's block. She goes to hang out with other would-be writers with writer's block by attending a writers' group. It takes an enormous amount of magic to make a story about writing enjoyable, and "Memoir of a Deer Woman" didn't have it.
The first two-thirds of the story are from the viewpoint of the protagonist, then she drops out of the tale and the rest of the story kaleidoscopes through perspectives of her husband, random people we've never met before, and a member of the writers' group. This kind of kaleidoscopic perspective is best used for special effect in novels, not in very short stories. The tale ends through the eyes of the member of the writers' group. She is philosophizing on the nature of words, what they mean as symbols, in and of themselves. Rickert follows this philosophizing by telling us life is an "exquisite blessing." The connotation of the word "blessing" is religious. Nothing in the previous nine pages of story had religious overtones. This inappropriate use of a word in a story all about words destroyed the effect Rickert was trying to create.
The conceit of the story was fine. I liked the way the magical transformation was compared to suffering from cancer, and the idea of the words cut from the memoirs could have been cool. Rickert does an excellent job of establishing the setting in very few words.
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