Customer Reviews

Fantasy & Science Fiction, Extended Edition

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was an avid reader and subscriber to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction for over a decade, until I bought a Kindle. As many Kindle users have also found, once you start reading on this device you never want to go back to paper. Enough about the Kindle, though, since the magazine itself is what is important.

I feel that the magazine itself is a gem. It contains many short stories per issue that for me are the perfect size to read just before falling to sleep or while waiting in a doctors office. I have found the editorial quality to be top notch, so I'm rarely disappointed with a story, and even in those rare times where one doesn't excite me, I still consider the value of the magazine to worth the price.

I also find the mix of fantasy versus science fiction to be about where I'd like. I have found that I don't enjoy a magazine that is purely science fiction nearly as much as I would have thought, so the fantasy breaks it up enough to keep me interested. The stories range so much, from silly to deeply thought provoking that there is something for everybody.

I just picked up the newest issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction at Hastings a couple of weeks ago and it has some great stories in it. I especially liked The Ants of Flanders by Robert Reed, Bronsky's Dates with Death by Peter David, and especially The Ramshead Algorithm by KJ Kabza! If you're a fan of quality science fiction you should subscribe!

It is with sad and heavy heart I am ending my sub to this edition of F&SF. I found out from Amazon support that you can only keep the last 7 issues of magazines. Sure, you can click that 'keep it longer' button, BUT if you ever buy another Kindle, it won't work on it. The issue is ONLY good on the Kindle you bought it on. Think about it, the Kindle you own now won't last forever. One day it will go bad, or you will want to upgrade to a new one. Worse, you can't read magazines or blogs on your Kindle app, such as Kindle for PC. Also you can forget about backing up the files on your PC for transfer to a new Kindle later. Now this might be fine for a current events magazine like Time, but we SF reads like to SAVE our magazines. Good SF is forever, and not everything gets re-printed. All the above applies to ALL the SF mags here on Amazon, Analog, Asimov's, Clarke's, and F&SF. If you want to keep your magazines, buy a paper copy. Way to screw up, Amazon.

Please add bookmarks to magazines for the kindle fire. The magazine and its novella's are awesome, but without bookmarking, they have to be read in one sitting or without changing applications. Otherwise, the magazine resets to the index page the next time you reopen it. Yay, for flipping thru 85 pages to find where you left off. No, not really. It sucks. Please fix this and I will resubscribe.

This magazine is a great resource for any avid SF/Fantasy reader. For those who feel they were misled (which they weren't), how can you possibly complain about one dollar per month? ONE DOLLAR! That's two dollars per issue. Or just get the digest, which is in fact free.

F&SF was in our college library, back to to the sixties. I think I've read almost every issue since. Very few human endeavors maintain this level of quality and charm over such a span of time. I don't know how the Kindle service will be, but this is purely awesome and even though I'm a not wealthy student at the moment, I'm subscribing (and paying for it).

Nothing is perfect of course, but F&SF almost always treats the reader as a person...that's the best way I can put it. Yes, that sensibility fails from time to time, but...when they're good, they're very very good. Even if you generally grab the Nebula winners, you can miss the people who only do a few really beautiful stories. The ratio of "oh wow that was lovely" to "ok" is, for me, pretty darn good.

If you love fantasy or science fiction, you have to try out this magazine. It comes full of great stories every 2 months. This month my favorite story was Bronsky's Dates with Death by Peter David, though they were all great. Sometimes I feel like just sitting down and reading though a story rather than getting myself tied up with a novel when things are crazy at work. This magazine is the perfect way to do that.

You might as well try out the 14 day trial, you don't have anything to loose.

I've been reading F&SF for 20+ years. I'm so glad to be able to get it on my Kindle.

Consistently high quality short stories with a great variety of styles. I highly recommend Fantasy & Science Fiction either paper or electronic.

Good to have it on the Kindle. I have compared it to the standard paper edition, however, and there is no differenc in the content. So why is it 'extended'?

This is one of the most difficult magazines to find in stores and probably my all time favorite. If you enjoy new sci fi, you won't be disappointed with this one. Very worth subscribing to.