F&SF Magazine Retro Reads

[Hatgirl]

As documented in this thread, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction has decided to stop selling its ebook through multiple vendors and in multiple (and DRM-free) formats, and instead sell exclusively through Amazon's Kindle store.

I started getting F&SF from Fictionwise last year when I got my Sony Reader, so I am quite annoyed that I will be not be able to get future issues in DRM-Free EPUB format. So, in an act of defiance, I am going to... buy backissues of F&SF at Fictionwise

As I said in the other thread:

Look, F&SF are obviously in deep financial trouble. I don't want them to go out of business, so I'm not going to boycott the magazine and I'm not going to pirate their work instead of paying for it. But equally, I am not going to pay for the privilege of tricking Amazon's georestriction, cracking the DRM and format shifting from mobi to epub in order to get the magazine onto my Sony Reader.

But for the moment, at least, Fictionwise still has issues of F&SF back to 2002. That's 8 years of magazine that I haven't read yet! So buying back issues is how I'm going to protest. I get to read new issues, F&SF gets money but realises that some people choose DRM-free over DRM-locked.

So I've started this Retro Read thread for F&SF back issues. First up: Jan 2002.

I feel the magazine was worth the $3.95 cover price.

Oh, you wanted more of a review than that?

This is an interesting issue - it contains an editorial written just 4 days after September 11th. You can read the editorial itself, and all the other non-fiction articles, here.

The two items people will probably be most interested in are a short story by Harlan Ellison, Never Send to Know for Whom the Lettuce Wilts (A man tries to find out why his fortune cookie just said "Tuesday". Very odd, but I liked it) and another by Gene Wolfe, The Waif (still not entirely sure what this was actually about).

Also in the issue: The Star Watch by James Stoddard (Short Story set in Stoddard's Evenmere universe. I liked this, will be hunting down the 2 books Stoddard wrote in the same series), Tachycardia by Paul Park (Heart attack as timetravel method? Interesting concept, but a bit of a dull story), Death in Love by R. Garcia y Robertson (Greek gods and pirates. Very odd, and I liked it a lot. It seems there are 2 more short stories set in the same series in future issues of F&SF. Looking forward to them) and Great Heart Rising by Lawrence C. Connolly (a hostage situation with a difference. Liked this one a lot, ooh seems the author has published a lot of short stories).

Anyone else read this issue? Or want to recommend another of the F&SF backissues available at Fictionwise?

[jgaiser]

What a good idea... Just picked up the Jan 2002 issue.

[Anke Wehner]

They have money troubles, and make it harder for people to get the magazine? Weird.

I really don't like how Amazon's attempts at building a monopoly are seeming to work, with people and companies thinking epub is negligible (naturally, since I don't have a Kindle).

[Donnageddon]

*5 Hatgirl.

A reasonable, and effective response to DRM exclusivity.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Hatgirl

...
and another by Gene Wolfe, The Waif (still not entirely sure what this was actually about).
...

I'm pretty sure that's an entirely normal reaction to most anything by Gene Wolfe.(*)

Cheers,
Marc
(* Note, I do love me some Gene Wolfe fiction, but/because my head gets screwed around turnwise for kilometres afterwards)

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

I'm pretty sure that's an entirely normal reaction to most anything by Gene Wolfe.(*)

Cheers,
Marc
(* Note, I do love me some Gene Wolfe fiction, but/because my head gets screwed around turnwise for kilometres afterwards)

LOL! No kidding. I felt that way about There are Doors.

And to be honest a little bit for The Book of the New Sun also. Maybe I'll get it better the 3rd time I read it.

[Hatgirl]

Finished the Feb 2002 issue yesterday.

Well worth the $3.95 cover price!

The stories were all of a solidly high quality. I enjoyed every one of them. In this issue was The Man on the Persian Carpet by Kate Wilhelm (Palm-reading and timetravel.), Death and Suffrage by Dale Bailey (Zombies and politics, and you can read it for free here!), Afterlife by Jack Williamson (A poor colony planet finds a new religion), Foodstuff by Steven Utley (Timetravel to the Paleozoic Era. One of Utley's "Silurian Tales" series. I must track down the rest of them...), Black Dust by Graham Joyce (A spooky story about coal miners in England), Forkpoints by Sheila Finch (Interactive theatre), Shoes by Robert Sheckley (Smart Shoes. My favourite of the lot!)

Most of the non-fiction articles are available here.