tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post3823986855274184091..comments2024-03-27T22:39:08.396-04:00Comments on Sweet Freedom: some extremely unimpressive fiction-magazine covers:Todd Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-53219785549962491542018-02-27T18:23:41.533-05:002018-02-27T18:23:41.533-05:00Well, a few of those that JJ Pierce published were...Well, a few of those that JJ Pierce published were pretty aggressively ugly, but I'd say the covers of the Hank Stine issues were the least of that brief run's problems...as overly busy as they were. Unless you refer to the E. J. Gold sort-of revival of GALAXY...Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-59683949135021777342018-02-26T17:36:25.575-05:002018-02-26T17:36:25.575-05:00I thought we could count on something from the end...I thought we could count on something from the end of Galaxy's run. In fact, you could probably have got the covers for the entire post there.Paul Fraserhttp://sfmagazines.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-5388643442896147702013-06-04T04:56:28.392-04:002013-06-04T04:56:28.392-04:00Thank you, Todd. I didn't know JDM had written...Thank you, Todd. I didn't know JDM had written sf and fantasy novels. Prashant C. Trikannadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16079354501998741758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-4597730622350261012013-06-02T04:19:34.490-04:002013-06-02T04:19:34.490-04:00Frankly, Two Complete Science-Adventure Books as a...Frankly, <i>Two Complete Science-Adventure Books</i> as a title form is almost enough to land that magazine on this page by itself...though several have come close, I suspect that's still the most clumsy and (to a neophyte reader) puzzling title any sf magazine has sported so far. The zap diagonal cover format crowded any good work the genius Frank Kelly Freas or the better than competent Allen Anderson could do to illustrate the likes of John (aka Killian Houston) Brunner's "The Wanton of Argus"...(and, as I didn't quite write before, I suspect that Poul Anderson story in with the MacDonald novel to be solid work, at least, as well). Undersung writer Jerome Bixby edited that magazine for a brief while, while also helping Malcolm Reiss make the last years of <i>Planet Stories</i> as impressive as one could ask for...Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-60687003153394190482013-06-02T04:04:17.054-04:002013-06-02T04:04:17.054-04:00And The Paris Review and Botteghe Oscure are prese...And <i>The Paris Review</i> and <i>Botteghe Oscure</i> are present to demonstrate that even the eclectic little magazines can come up with (in the first case) excessively cute notions that don't come off (a child's crayon drawing! How sweet and self-indulgent!) or (in the second case) be simply arrogantly self-satisfied...just because one's magazine has very little newsstand circulation doesn't mean that differentiating issue 20 from issue 3 with more than simply Roman numerals on the cover might not help lots of different folks...Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-73927853519828205722013-06-02T03:52:44.907-04:002013-06-02T03:52:44.907-04:00In most cases here, the covers are either an aberr...In most cases here, the covers are either an aberration or sadly suggestive of a consistent lack of taste or attention (or, less frequently, lack of better resources, including time) displayed by the editors or publishers...though I've never understood <i>F&SF</i> honcho Edward Ferman's fondness for Ron Walotsky paintings...I guess bits of this not too atypical airbrushed example are OKish. I haven't read the Poul Anderson story that shares an issue with JDMcD's <i>Ballroom in the Skies</i>, but I've been meaning to get to that novel, and his other major sf novel <i>Wine of the Dreamers</i> for quite some time...his fantasy novel <i>The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything</i> is fine work.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-83974827390263098122013-06-02T03:40:29.884-04:002013-06-02T03:40:29.884-04:00Todd, I have never actually seen or read any of th...Todd, I have never actually seen or read any of these magazines in physical form so I have a mixed opinion about these covers. The DOC SAVAGE SCIENCE DETECTIVE is probably the worst of the lot. I'd like to read the story "Ballroom of the Skies" by JDM on the SCIENCE-ADVENTURE BOOKS cover. How come a literary magazine like THE PARIS REVIEW makes the grade here? Well, long as the contents inside make up for the covers.Prashant C. Trikannadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16079354501998741758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-47589570395008308642013-06-02T03:24:13.229-04:002013-06-02T03:24:13.229-04:00I particularly relish imagining how Clamp-hands th...I particularly relish imagining how Clamp-hands the Robot ties and re-ties his hawk to his arm...but perhaps some other sinister robot does that for him. That, of course, and the over-concretization of the metaphor on the DOC SAVAGE cover...but, lo! It foretold show removal in US airports!Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-15955320144148777602013-06-02T01:20:51.475-04:002013-06-02T01:20:51.475-04:00My eyes! They burn!My eyes! They burn!Jerry Househttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-42269747932980297292013-06-01T22:35:20.472-04:002013-06-01T22:35:20.472-04:00And there are so many others one could choose...bu...And there are so many others one could choose...but these seemed to cover most of the range of what's wrong with those that are Wrong... Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-91021669665408680062013-06-01T21:19:38.494-04:002013-06-01T21:19:38.494-04:00Ugo to the extreme.Ugo to the extreme.Ed Gormanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06126267358266480356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-54553490339251763222013-06-01T20:22:15.978-04:002013-06-01T20:22:15.978-04:00And, oddly enough, that HITCHCOCK'S is one of ...And, oddly enough, that HITCHCOCK'S is one of the first fiction magazines I did actively collect (as opposed to parental gifts or hand-me-downs), actually one of the two first (bought the August '68 issue at the same time at a college book fair when I was twelve).Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-83456608384715840292013-06-01T20:06:24.235-04:002013-06-01T20:06:24.235-04:00These covers are enough to make me swear off the c...These covers are enough to make me swear off the collecting of magazines! But I guess it's too late since I've been at it since 1956. Walker Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16089880902426182100noreply@blogger.com