fantasy & science fiction

Pre-internet, one of my biggest frustrations earlier was not having access to the various magazines and periodicals in the US, simply because the bookstores and magazine stores here do not carry them: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov's, Realms of Fantasy, down to the small press stuff like Lady Churchhill's Rosebud Wristlet and many others. So whenever Nikki and I would go abroad, we'd raid all the Borders and Barnes & Nobles and newstands (and porn stores too, naturally - you gotta love New York). Once in a blue moon, a battered copy of F&FS or Asimov's will surface at the Booksale here, and of course I'd lunge at it. The copy may be old but the stories are new, to me at least.

Since I started ordering books from Amazon, it was just a matter of time before the obvious struck me. Why not subscribe to all these previously inaccesible magazines? So I did, beginning with F&FS and Realms of Fantasy. My first copy of F&FS arrived in the mail today - and took me by surprise since I did not expect to get anything for a few months yet. The August issue, resplendent in purple, has new stories by Robert Reed, Christopher Rowe, Terry Bisson and other authors - plus regular columns by Paul di Filippo and Lucius Shepard. It's heaven, it really is.

And a potential market (everything starts with a small dream, yes?).