Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
So many suggestions made me feel completely overwhelmed! I ended up playing it safe; I got my friend's son a subscription to Fantasy & Science Fiction, along with The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology. (I've at least heard of most of the authors in that anthology, and even read a few!) I figure this way I'm giving him both current and classic examples of the genres, and perhaps helping him discover new authors.
Thank you all so much!
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Playing it safe is a smart move!
You can see all the disparate opinions in this thread ("X, Y, and Z are the best books ever written!" "X and Y are both tripe, not worth reading, but Z is good.") so it's hard to know what someone will really like unless you know them well or have examples of things they've loved. (And even then it's hard. I loved both Abercrombie's trilogy and Mieville's books and would have recommended one to someone who liked the other, but I guess that wouldn't have worked out so well in some cases.
)
Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine is itself a classic, and the anthology you picked has a lot of authors that any f&sf fan needs to be introduced to as early as possible. (I can't believe I didn't mention Zelazny earlier!
) Many famous authors have gotten some of their first stories published there, and it's often considered to be the best fantasy/sci-fi magazine currently being published. I would have been ecstatic if someone had gifted me a subscription (still would be, hah).