Conference noted::sf

    My present fvorite is Isaac Asimov's, although I never read his editorials.
    He's got a terrific editor in Gardner Dozois, and a steadily higher 
    proportion of Hugos and Nebulas are coming from there.  I don't much
    care for fantasy, so Fantasy and Science Fiction rarely has much of 
    interest for me.  It probably has the best columnists, though. 
    Analog, on the other hand, is TOO technophilic, and
    its social philosophizing is often juvenile.  These three seem to be
    the only ones on a regular schedule, sadly enough.
    /jlr    

     I've got every issue of Omni.  On the plus side it has lots of 
     interesting non-fiction, good interviews, and good graphics on slick 
     paper.  On the minus side it has only two or three stories per issue 
     of uneven quality, snobbish editorials, lousy cartoons, lots of ads 
     directed to those of my generation with excess income.  It's sort of a 
     yuppie Analog for 80's.  It's an interesting diversion but I wouldn't
     recommend it for real science fiction fans.

     Mike

I stick with Analog.  It's still the bastion of hard SF.
I subscribed to Asimov's a couple of years ago, 
but I let it lapse because I found the quality of writing too uneven.
At the time, they were trying to attract new writers by making an author's
kit available.  Most magazines probably have this, but I've never seen
it offered directly in the pages of the magazine.  Asimov's may have improved
of late, but I haven't seen it lately.
I gave up on Omni years ago.  Does Bova still edit it?  I gave up on him
after he left Analog.  The quality of the stories was really spotty,
perhaps just a bit too nouveau for my taste.  I really resented that
they would publish extracts from novels without noting them as such 
at the start of the story (especially Bova's novels).

- tom]

    Re .3:
    
    >I stick with Analog.  It's still the bastion of hard SF.

    ... Couldn't have said it better myself.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    I agree.  Most stories which I recall as memorable were first published
    in Analog.
    
    							Don

    		O.K. the votes are pouring in;
    
    		1 for Asimov's
    		1 (sort of) for Omni
    		3 for Analog
    		1 (if I may) for Interzone, if I could ever find it
    again.	
    
    		I know there are other mags out there -- another "A"
    one like Astonishing or Amazing or Abominable S.F. How about old
    favorites? "If" or "Venture" or "Fantastic" ? C'mon, speak to me!
    I know there's a good thirteen or fourteen fans out there....
    

    _Astounding/Analog_ will probably always be my favorite SF magazine;
    I like "hard" science SF.
    
    Having said that, fond memories:
    
    Sam Mines' old _Startling Stories_ had some good stuff.
    _Imagination_ with its Charles F. Meyers' ripoffs of Thorne Smith
                  stories (the "Toffee" stories) some of which were
                  quite good.
    _Thrilling Wonder Stories_ for its covers, usually of partially
                               clad females.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    
    

I always liked _Fantasy and Science Fiction_ for fairly literate
stories.

On the other hand, _Amazing_ and _Fantastic_ were my bread and
butter as a teenager.  I got into _Analog_ when they serialized
"Dune", but then I had to get out a few years later when John
Campbell got into his ranting-and-raving editorial phase (as in
uncorroborated scientific nonsense stuff like "LSD -- killer
drug -- breaks your chromosomes -- post-mortem reveals brains
rotted away -- water of Death -- etc. etc.", along with warmed
over Social Darwinism).

    These are the only ones currently being published:
    
    AMAZING SCIENCE FICTION
    ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION/SCIENCE FACT
    ISAAC ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE
    THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION
    ROD SERLING'S THE TWILIGHT ZONE MAGAZINE
    
    That's it. *I* do *not* consider OMNI to be a science fiction
    magazine. The percentage of fiction in it is extremely small.
    I consider it a popular science magazine that regularly includes
    science fiction. If the fact that it has at least one sf story
    in each issue makes it an sf magazine, then there are a couple
    of years in which PLAYBOY almost qualifies (I can think of two
    years in which 10 out of the 12 issues of PLAYBOY had sf stories).
    Even THE TWILIGHT ZONE is borderline in the percentage of fiction.
    
    There is one other horror/fantasy magazine, NIGHT CRY, that just
    recent folded. WORLDS OF IF was restarted last year, but as far
    as anyone knows, only one issue was distributed as a freebie at
    the World SF Con in Atlanta.
    
    Then, there is the world of the small press magazines. These are
    irregularly published, usually distributed only by mail (though
    sometimes through specialty shops as well). Almost all of them
    lean more toward the horror/fantasy end of the spectrum. The only
    currently published ones that leans toward science fiction are
    INTERZONE and ABORIGINAL SF.
    
    --- jerry

    Asimov's is my favorite, and I usually pick up F&SF when I see it.
    
    I used to read Analog a lot back in high-scholl and college but
    I gave it up when the inane editorializing began to drip over into 
    the stories themselves.  I seem to recall that the last straw was
    a story that started out fairly well as a time travel story where
    some history buff trvaels back to the civil war to warn General Lee
    about Gettysburg.  Ends with the last paragraph having Lee suddenly
    havign a violent personality shift on the eve of the battle.  He
    starts saying things that the author and the editor seemed to think
    was perfectly natural like "what america really nedds is more science
    being taught in its schools."
    
    This was hardly the first time I had read drivel like this in Analog,
    but I decided it would be the last.  They had in my opinion moved
    from "hard" science fiction into what I like to call "dense" SF.
    I have never read an Analog since.  I occasionaly flip through one
    in the stores, but I've never seen or heard of anything thats made
    me regret this.
    
    --  Barry

    Don't give up on INTERZONE - take out a subscription. Because of
    the monolithic distribution network in the UK, it's impossible to
    run an SF magazine in any other way. There's certainly a market for
    it, but it isn't large enough to satisfy W.H.SMITH's. (At the same
    time that INTERZONE began another group of  started a magazine
    called EXTRO, running more comercial stories, distributed through
    SMITHs. It collapsed after about a year because SMITHs were leaving
    all the copies in their warehouses because they prefer to deal on
    the scale of national newspapers, not special interest magazines.
    Inevitably cash flow problems got the better of them, they couldn't
    pay their printers and went bust, despite the fact that when copies
    did eventually reach the shelves they were selling out faster than
    they could be put up.
    
    Having to rely on subscription means that IZ cannot reach the sort
    of print run  it is potentially capable of. So you'll never have much 
    chance of finding it at your corner shop. Nevertheless, after five
    years it is still growing and still improving, and publishing work
    by BALLARD, ALDISS, M.JOHN HARRISON, BARRY BAYLEY, and americans
    like WILLIAM GIBSON, BRUCE STERLING, JOHN SHIRLEY, THOMAS M. DISCH,
    JOHN SLADEK, as well as many impressive newcomers.
    
    The subscription details are in an earlier note - I can't remember
    what number now. If you have some old copies I don't think the
    informaion has changed.
    
    			Steve HIggins
                                     

    		Steve H.,
    		Could it be... a Ballard fan? That makes 7 in the known
    universe. Or am I presuming? I'd love to talk Ballard with someone.
    Mention a story, and I'll get back to you.
    
    					Brent

re: .7

.
.
.
F&SF because they published you?

8^),
Ray

    Yes, I'm another Ballard fan. His new novel is out, called 'The
    Day of Creation'. I wonder if I can hold out until it comes out
    in paperback.
    
    I've been a fan of Ballard since I read 'The Terminal Beach' at
    school. All my friends were sneering at these stories in which nothing
    happens, while I was hypnotised.
    
    		Steve
                        
    

    		Steve, tell me something about this new novel. I'm caught
    unaware. As I said when I started this commentary, I'm not following 
    the mags these days, so have lost my primary source of info. Did
    you read is semi  autobiographical novel of a few years back? Would
    you recommend it? It's in our local libe and I haven't had a chance
    to check it out yet. Lastly, how's your collection of shorts. According
    to my Ballard checklist I've missed about 6 or 7 shorts. Some were
    oddities like computer printouts and advertisements. Do you know
    of these? 			
                                Brent Higinbotham

    Somewhat belatedly (I'm up to my neck in it at the moment - deadlines
    threaten) here's news on recent Ballard.
    
    Empire of the Sun, JGB's last novel, is a semi-autobiographical
    retelling of his experiences as a child in japanese occupied singapore.
    However, it's very difficult to distinguish from his fringe sf -
    full of deserted old houses, drained swimming pools, crashed aeroplanes
    etc.  It recommend it to anyone who enjoys Ballard.
    
    The new novel is similar in the sense that its ostenisbly mainstream,
    but continues his usual obsessions. I judge this from the cover
    blurb. It concerns a western doctor working in famine struck east
    Africa. Due to local rebellions he loses all his patients and becomes
    obsessed with the dream of bringing water to the land. When a fresh
    spring appears he is convinced it is as aresult of his faith, although
    there are perfectly adequate natural explanations. He takes on a
    messianic role and leads a psycho-symbolic pilgrimage across the
    desert. The usual stuff. I'm looking forward to it.
    
    I think I may have some of the 'adverts' and collages you mention,
    from the small press revival of New Worlds in 1980. Let me know
    what you think you're missing, and if I do have them I can xerox
    them and post them to you. I've no idea how complete my colleion
    actually is as I haven't got a bibliography, I've never been the
    complete-collection-including-laundry-lists type.
    
    		Stevef
    

    		O.K. I'm hooked -- sounds like all the classic elements
    are there. They say Ballard writes the same story over and over
    again, with infinite, tiny permutataions. That may be what keeps
    him so distant to the average SF reader. Like you suggested, his
    work spills over quietly into the mainstream, and the reader may
    be required to have a broader mindset to approach this stuff. You
    gotta be real smart, like us ! But I've loved his ever-so slightly
    off kilter heroes and "psychic landscapes" ever since "The Cloud
    Sculptors of Coral D" caught my eye in Judith Merril's collections
    20 years ago. 
    		I brought in my Starmont Readers Guide to J.G. Ballard
    (a serious and extremely well written resource you might enjoy)
    and here's the stories (etc.) I've yet to read, if you can help:
    	1. Mr.F. is Mr. F	1961
        2. Minus One		1963
     	3. The Air Disaster	1975    	these are my main
                                                  interests.
The following come next:
    	4. How Dr. Christopher Evans Landed on the Moon		1969
	5. Coitus 80		1970		then some adverts -
    
    	6. Homage to Claire Churchill		 	1967
    	7. Does the Angle Between Two Walls ....        1968
    	8. A Neural Interval				1968
    
    	There's a few more but that's enough for now. If I can be of
    any help in return, please let me know.
                                              Brent Higinbotham

    Let me know your adress and I'll send you the stuff I have:
    
    	Mr F. is Mr. F. (which I have in an anthology somewhere)
    
    	How Dr. Christopher Evans... (original magazine appearance)
    + The Dreams of a Computer by Dr. Christopher Evans which might
    help you make sense of this
    
    	Coitus 80 (orig. mag. app.)
    
    Minus One and Does the angle... ring a bell, I'll see if I have
    them. I'll also send the later New Worlds cut-ups I mentioned anyway.
    
    Other things I suspect you might not have are some stories from
    Interzone. You probably saw Memories of the space Age, but did you
    get The Object of the Attack, What I Believe or The Man Who Walked
    on the Moon?
    
    In return? Your Readers Guide sounds interesting - if it's not
    too long a photocopy of it would be appreciated.
    
    Did you see the Ballard issue of Re/Search that came out a couple
    of years ago? A huge compendium of balard stuuf, interviews, some
    reviews and articles, a couple of short stories and other pieces.
    Expensive, but well worth it.
    
    	Best
    
    		Steve

     		Steve,
    	Not rushing you, just checking: did you get my mail?  Haven't
    	heard from you regarding the Ballard stories. Also, I now have
    	some of the Readers Guide pages ready to send.
    
    					Brent

    Could someone please enter the addresses and subscription rates
    for both Locus and SF Chronicle? Between moves and everything being
    packed. I need the info.
    
    Thanks,
    
    Tamzen

    Locus Publications
    P.O. Box 13305
    Oakland, CA 94661


    2nd class, U.S.			12 issues, $24   24 issues, $45
    2nd class, Canada			12 issues, $27   24 issues, $51
    1st class, U.S. or Canada		12 issues, $32   24 issues, $61
    sea mail, overseas			12 issues, $27   24 issues, $51
    air mail, Europe, South America	12 issues, $45   24 issues, $85
    air mail, Australia, Asia, Africa	12 issues, $50   24 issues, $95

    institutional subscriptions are $3 extra per year

    I am looking for subscription information to a magazine that I think is
    published in England...it's called White Dwarf.
    
    Any info would be appreciated (address, rates, frequency, etc)
    
    tnx!
    
    -Jody

Jody -

The Spare Time Shop in marlboro caries white drawf (i believe, they used to 
anyway, and if they don't hobbytown in shoppers world, framingham, probably
does)

The Spare Time Shop (Hobbies??) is located on Rte 20, about two miles East of 
Downtown Marlboro in the Riches shopping plaza (just west of Chez Siam...)

grins,

clark.

ps - wanna go have some mideastern food sometime?? send me mail...

    
    Recently I received a subscription offer for a new mag called "Science
    Fiction Age."  It promises sf/f stories by my favorite authors and new
    authors too, sf/f movie and book reviews, interviews, and a science
    forum featuring scientists and sf authors as well as other goodies. 
    Printed on glossy paper with illustrations by "the premier artists
    working in the field today, including Micheal Whelan, Moebius and many
    others."
    
    I guess I'll give it a shot unless anybody more about it thn what's in
    the flyer.
    
    Rgds,
    HelenZ 

    Does anyone out there have back issues of a magazine titled
    _Ares_?
    
    I believe it was published by TSR in the early 1980s.
    
    If you have issues from 1982-1983, I would be very interested
    in having a look.
    
    Information about the magazine itself is also sought.
    
    Thanks.
    
    	-doug
                                                  

    
    Subscription for Science Fiction Age going out in the mail tommorrow. 
    Anyone interested in hearing about what it's like, when it finally
    arrives?
    
    Helen

    Of course!  Please let us know.
    
    					andrew