G.ZEEP@MIT-EECS (06/12/85)
From: Wang Zeep <G.ZEEP%MIT-EECS@MIT-MC.ARPA> More mag. reviews (in order of personal preference) Non-Fiction: 1) SF Chronicle: Andy Porter does a great job of capturing the fannish and the pro side of science fiction. Plus, it's done in Boston and I get my copies faster than LOCUS. 2) LOCUS: Has gone mostly professional. Con reports, yes, but now there are as many items about editors and agents as writers and fans. I love the color (when Brown gets a deep-pockets advertiser) and it is more of a magazine of record than SFC. SFC is more fun. 3) SF Quarterly: Richard Geis's obnoxious and entertaining view of SF and fandom. It has to be read to be believed, as (I am told) Geis also puts out sf soft-porn. Great columns, less news than (1) or (2). Orson Scott Card has a fantastic column in the Summer 1985 issue. Others include Lee Pelton's Private Heat (I've only seen one copy, which was great) and Omni, which is cursed by a desire for the 3000 word thrill and gut-reaction story, and pseudo-science articles (good puzzles, though). Fiction: 1) F&SF: The closest thing to literature that we have. Ferman is a real editor, the stories are good and unpredictable, and the Ellison column is more fun than wrapping hamsters in duct tape. Consistently good. 2) IASFM: More fantasy and not-quite SF than under Scithers, but still an entertaining read. Shawna McCarthy is a more adventurous editor than Ferman and she often publishes bizaared science articles. Columns are OK, but inferior to F&SF. Fiction is usually lighter than F&SF, and sometimes better. 3) Amazing: Just like the old IASFM -- Scithers is nothing, if not consistent. Probably the best place for new writers -- low pay rates and lousy circulation make this a second-class market for a pro. (Three new writers in one ish a month or two ago.) 4) Analog: Clearly the worst pro magazine around. Mostly mediocre puzzle stories, and lame technical articles (real gee whiz stuff). Every month I play "spot the errors." Technical problems have included: misapplication of thermodynamics, law of conservation of angular momentum, Jewish tradition, and probability theory. (in just three months) Some of the stories are OK for initial thrills -- good magazine for your favorite adolescent male with acne. Outside SF: (this is especially for beginning writers) For computers, read BYTE. None of the other micro mags get any deeper than how to write games and utilities, and BYTE doesn't get all that deep. Try IEEE Software (boring mostly). Science News is a favorite of many hard SF writers who don't have graduate degrees in 6 fields. Personally, I think it is very shallow, but then it provides a good overview every week of all the nifty discoveries in the world. New Scientist is fantastic, but expensive. [Flame off] Have fun, wz -------
mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (06/13/85)
Yet another magazine review: _Fantasy Review_ has gone through a number of title changes (not to mention logos), but it's mission remains the same: to review nearly EVERYTHING published in fantasy (in which they include SF). While it does eventually get around to reviewing most everything, it has a tremendous backlog; twice a year they publish "All-Review Issues" to try and catch up. Everything is reviewed on a equal basis, which means that a lot of space is used to tell you not to buy books that you probably wouldn't read anyway. On the plus side, there are occaisional good articles; the editorials, however, are awful. What this mag needs is good editor. Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoe