Amazing Stories?

[eris404]

I know it's a bit early, but I was wondering if anyone has gotten Amazing Stories issue 604 yet. I'm thinking about subscribing, but I wanted some reviews of the magazine first. How is the writing? Did you enjoy the articles/stories/reviews overall? Would you recommend subscribing?

 

[takyris]

I know it's a bit early, but I was wondering if anyone has gotten Amazing Stories issue 604 yet.

Nope.

I'm thinking about subscribing, but I wanted some reviews of the magazine first. How is the writing?

Wonderful. Superb. A triumph of the human spirit! I laughed, I cried, it was better than CATS.

Did you enjoy the articles/stories/reviews overall?

While I can't speak for the articles or reviews, I found the stories to be just absolutely top-notch in all respects. What impressed me most was the assurance with which the writers worked their art. You could tell that they were so confident, so sure, that they would never feel compelled to pimp their work under false pretenses.

Would you recommend subscribing?

Most definitely. In fact, I'd send a letter to the editors saying that I'd subscribe for life provided that they continued to publish the writers from issue 604 on a regular -- perhaps even constant -- basis.

(see other Amazing Stories post in this forum...)

 

[CarlZog]

While I can't speak for the articles or reviews, I found the stories to be just absolutely top-notch in all respects. What impressed me most was the assurance with which the writers worked their art. You could tell that they were so confident, so sure, that they would never feel compelled to pimp their work under false pretenses.

Wow! With writers like that, who wouldn't subscribe for life right away?

Actually, I haven't seen #604 yet. I will be getting it -- if only for one particular author -- but I do have to say I was pretty disappointed with 603. There were only four very short stories in #603. More than half the book is previews and reviews of other people's books, movies, and comics.

This is not "Amazing Stories", this is "Entertainment Weekly" for Geeks. There's nothing wrong with that; it could be a very successful formula, but it's sure not what I was expecting from the resurrection of a magazine with AS's heritage.

zog

 

[takyris]

Wow! With writers like that, who wouldn't subscribe for life right away?

Actually, I haven't seen #604 yet. I will be getting it -- if only for one particular author -- but I do have to say I was pretty disappointed with 603. There were only four very short stories in #603. More than half the book is previews and reviews of other people's books, movies, and comics.

I saw that as well, and while I'd love for it to be all fiction, I can kinda understand why they made that choice. You look at the big'uns, fiction-wise, today, and even they don't have quite as much fiction as they used to. F&SF has a bunch of reviews, as well as articles and a little column piece that appears to be a collection of in-jokes I find tiresome. Realms has articles that range from movie reviews to mythology discussions to interviews with a particular artist. Even Asimov's has a lot of space dedicated to stuff that ain't fiction.

Don't get me wrong. I'd love more room for gifted and talented writers like those geniuses in #604 . But it seems like there's not really a market for that these days, or at least it's hard to convince a publisher that there is one.

This is not "Amazing Stories", this is "Entertainment Weekly" for Geeks. There's nothing wrong with that; it could be a very successful formula, but it's sure not what I was expecting from the resurrection of a magazine with AS's heritage.

I think that's fair -- although I'm actually looking forward to "Entertainment Weekly for Geeks". I liked hearing them talk about how their movie coverage was going to be discussions with the writers and directors, not the actors (unless the actor was also the director/writer). While I'm bummed that it takes room away from the fiction, it is nice to have a magazine that covers all aspects of current SF/F entertainment, and that does so with an eye toward accessibility (I think that a lot of the current big magazines have moved toward ivory-tower fiction -- stuff that's very well crafted and deep and literate but not actually entertaining anymore to the average reader -- and I'm really glad that Amazing Stories doesn't seem to be doing that).

I dunno. Two issues is tough to draw a standard from. I suspect you're right in that it's going to be three to five stories per issue, and that's not as good as "All Fiction" by a long stretch, but better than "No Fiction" by a long stretch, too. And I can with some surety say that it's open to relative newcomers in the field, whereas the previous incarnation pretty quickly went to big-name-only status.

So we'll see.

 

[CarlZog]

But it seems like there's not really a market for that these days, or at least it's hard to convince a publisher that there is one.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid you're right. Someone else told me they're at least hopeful that this may attract movie-goers, comics fans and gamers back to reading short fiction.

I think that a lot of the current big magazines have moved toward ivory-tower fiction -- stuff that's very well crafted and deep and literate but not actually entertaining anymore to the average reader -- and
I'm really glad that Amazing Stories doesn't seem to be doing that.

I dunno. Two issues is tough to draw a standard from.

You're definitely right about the other magazines, which is part of the reason I was so looking forward to Amazing Stories coming back in the first place.

And since I haven't even seen two issues yet, I'll keep my fingers crossed for good fiction, if not a lot of it!

By the way, Takyris, which piece is yours?

zog

 

[takyris]

Unfortunately, I'm afraid you're right. Someone else told me they're at least hopeful that this may attract movie-goers, comics fans and gamers back to reading short fiction.

See, in some ways, I can see that. It seems to have been the improvement of special effects and the financial coolness of the FX/SF field that has pulled a lot of talented writers and a ton of talented readers away from magazines and into theaters or cable networks. If using movie stuff to lure them back to reading works, then I'm all in favor of it.

I also agree with you, though, that diluting the message can be bad. When Dragon ran fiction, people were really unhappy, arguing that it was taking up good game-material space. There are already a ton of entertainment magazines out there (although I'm really hoping that what they talked about in terms of focusing on the storytelling of each medium turns out to be true), and I don't think there are nearly enough fiction magazines dedicated to end-user fiction*.

* by which I mean fiction that readers who aren't writers or lifelong SF-reader fans are going to enjoy. You look at the average issue of F&SF these days, and you've got one golden-age, fairly dull story by someone too famous for Gordon Van Gelder to pass up, one short weird thing Gordon found amusing, a mid-length story that could be SF or F depending on how you look at it and that probably uses quantum physics (and its little cousin, alternate universe theory) as some kind of massively strained metaphor, and a social fiction piece that's more than likely depressing as heck because the writer felt that after a long day at work, you really needed to read a story about how the Internet is going to make coming generations cold and distant and inhuman.

Most short fiction isn't entertaining anymore for anyone except writers and elite fans who are deeply versed in the literature. That's not globally true by any stretch -- I still enjoy many of the stories in F&SF, Realms, and other places -- but I think that ivory tower syndrome is real in the short fiction market, if only because the pressure to publish fun stuff with fight scenes or explosions has been taken off the short fiction market and put into the TV, Video Game, and Movie markets.

(And I speak only as somebody submitting fiction these days -- I have no hard data whatsoever. IMO only.)

So even if Amazing Stories only gives us 3-5 stories an issue, if they're 3-5 fun stories, they've got my blessing. Well, if they're fun, or if they're mine. Either way, that gets my blessing**.

** Er, I mean, of course my stories are always fun. Don't be silly. I don't ever write melodramatic moody garbage.

And since I haven't even seen two issues yet, I'll keep my fingers crossed for good fiction, if not a lot of it!

You and me both.

By the way, Takyris, which piece is yours?

It's called "Injure the Corners". It's, well, a fantasy story involving a talking sword. That was one of the big things that raised my hopes for Amazing Stories as a magazine that wasn't afraid to publish fun stuff -- because, well, if you're gonna publish fiction involving magical talking swords and assorted other goofy stuff, you're probably not all that worried about impressing the ivory-tower crowd. You're more worried about giving the average reader a good time -- and I consider that a very good thing for a magazine to do.

And "Release the Knot", the sequel, will be in some upcoming issue as well, most likely early next year.