Bad sign for the SF business, as usual. I never liked this web-based magazine much, as its mission statement centered around publishing mindless adventure stories. But still, a bad sign.
I suppose that makes Strange Horizons the leading web magazine, and IGMS second place.
I really hope Analog is the next major magazine to die, but I have a feeling it will be F&SF. Posts: 4600 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote:I suppose that makes Strange Horizons the leading web magazine, and IGMS second place.
Hmm... I don't think there's a doubt that Strange Horizons leads the pack of the online magazines. It was one of the first to emerge, and has an enormously loyal following.
But IGMS in second? I love IGMS, don't get me wrong, but I'd like to hear your reasoning for putting it second. Especially when mags like Clarkesworld and Fantasy have gotten a lot of the critical attention that has gone absent with IGMS.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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It's not my intention to contradict anyone, here, but if I were doing a ranking of online magazines, Clarkesworld always would have been number one. (Well -- not always. There used to be scifiction.) If I'm a writer, I would have to include Baen's near the top, strictly on payscale, but as a reader, I've always said "No thanks" to Baen's. Why? Just don't like it.
Of course, this is terrible news from a business/market/community stand-point. I mean... Crap. What next? We already lost Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. We already lost scifiction. We already lost Realms of Fantasy.
We did gain Beneath Ceaseless Skies amidst all these closings, though. So perhaps hope is not lost. I don't know. I'm vaguely distressed at the state of things.
Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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I guess I don't think of Clarkesworld as "just" an online magazine, because it's also published in chapbook form. It is very good.
I'm not familiar with Fantasy, because I read mainly SF.
quote:I'm curious-- did you buy any issues?
No, the free preview stories (and those fragments of Eric Flint's own writing I forced myself to read) convinced me to stay away.
quote:Why Analog?
Because they tend to publish poorly-written formula stories, in my opinion. There's an occasional gem, but it's definitely not worth subscribing to for someone with my taste in stories. And they seem to enjoy serializing terrible novels.
Sci Fiction was a goldmine, back in the day. I'll always remember Christopher Rowe's "The Voluntary State," one of my favorite short stories.
Posts: 4600 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I like BCS, too. The editor is in both of my critique groups and a friend, so I've been sort of watching it from the start. Interesting model. Interesting editor
I'm not a fan of Analog, and I have tried hard to be. I'm glad Realms is almost back, too.
I dunno -- the whole model is in flux. I think it will settle down and there will be markets and all will be well. Optimism to the end!
Edit to say: I'm only in two critique groups. I'm not a critique groupie.
Posts: 628 | Registered: Nov 1999
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It's been a long, long time since I've read Analog on a regular basis. I had a subscription a few years back but most of the issues went unread. (I've become a person who scans the first few pages of short stories to decide whether or not he feels like reading them.) Most of the stories didn't catch my attention. But I loved it when I was a kid. And Omni! Oh man. Especially Omni.
I have to admit that I love the online magazines like Strange Horizons and Beneath Ceaseless Skies (amongst others) largely because of the lack of commitment involved. I mean on my part, as a reader. I don't have to buy them -- I can just pop over to the websites and read read read.
I can't afford, lately, to keep up with all my magazine subscriptions. So I've let them all lapse except for Cemetery Dance. I will just say that I am a great fan of the short story, as an art form.
Sharpie, tell your friend that some dude on the internet (me) says BCS is ... as good as any fiction magazine currently out there. I was going to say "great" -- but I can't fairly say that. I don't think any of them deserve an unqualified "great". But it's on equal footing with the good ones.
[For the record, but not that it matters, Cemetery Dance is unbelievably good, and is my favorite....But I'm leaving it out because it's sort of a different genre. Sort of. Sort of.]
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