Hm

Posted on January 2, 2009 by JE

It looks like F&SF is switching to a bimonthly schedule. (According to Ansible.) Hard to see this as a good thing. (I’m not knocking the decision, which seems like a reasonable response to intense economic pressures. I’m just saying.)

About JE

James Enge is the author of the World-Fantasy-Award-nominated novel Blood of Ambrose (Pyr, April 2009). His latest book is The Wide World's End. His short fiction has appeared in Black Gate, Tales from the Magician's Skull, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and elsewhere.
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9 Responses to Hm

  1. le_trombone says:
    January 3, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    At the very least, assuming no large increase in the number of pages per issue, it will mean fewer stories to be read. Between that and just seeing fewer issues to keep it in the public’s mind, I worry.

  2. davidcapeguy says:
    January 3, 2009 at 8:56 pm

    That is bad news, indeed. I’d like to think that F&SF will make it, but the prospect doesn’t look good. But in a larger sense, I suspect that in ten to twenty years, likely sooner, virtually all print magazines and newspapers will be gone, completely replaced by “Kindle”-style web issues.

    And for writers & readers of short fiction, that may not be a bad thing. We could see a return of weekly fiction magazines on the web. If they could actually get a decent worldwide readership, you might be able to charge a dollar or less per issue and make a go of it.

    • JE says:
      January 3, 2009 at 9:12 pm

      E-text (and small press–micro small) certainly seems to be the future of short fiction. There are good and bad aspects about this (like everything, I guess).

    • le_trombone says:
      January 3, 2009 at 10:37 pm

      I don’t mind that the future will change things, I just want there to be a transition the physical magazine and the electronic magazine without that magazine dying in between. Institutional memory is a difficult thing to maintain (granted, in F&SF’s case, the number of people present is in the single digits).

      I also want it to be a little profitable. Right now Strange Horizons is still working on a donation model.

      • davidcapeguy says:
        January 3, 2009 at 10:50 pm

        Actually, I’m old fashioned enough that I still want the physical magazine. Additionally, I’m still suspicious of electronic print, having the worry that it’ll be creatively dead, much as the major music companies killed popular music over the past 40 years. But I want the writers and editors and publishers to be able to make a profit and to have creative freedom. Both are important.

        • JE says:
          January 5, 2009 at 10:58 pm

          I like a physical book or magazine, too. I can harvest information from a screen, but for an immersive reading experience a hardcopy tends to be better.

          On the other hand, getting physical copies to readers seems to be the most problematic thing about magazines these days.

          Income seems to be the big problem for e-zines. But maybe the PBS or donation model can work, if the net is cast wide enough.

  3. Anonymous says:
    January 4, 2009 at 4:08 am

    This is all because I didn’t renew my subscription, isn’t it? Damn! Why is it always me?

    Excuse me while I write an extra check to Black Gate…

    –Jeff Stehman

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