From: kludge@panix.com   
      
   So, given the worries about F&SF, I picked up the latest copy at my local   
   Barnes and Noble, along with the latest Asimov's.  Both seem to be   
   published now by Must Read Magazines.  There were two copies of F&SF at   
   the store and both were pretty ripped up, so I got the better of the two.   
      
   I haven't got a copy of any SF magazine since the Covid shutdown and I   
   was shocked at how poor the physical quality was.  The paper on the   
   covers is much thinner and poorly-made than in previous years, and the   
   printing was very uneven with some streaks of very light printing and some   
   streaks of very heavy printing, like a badly-worn and poorly-adjusted   
   web press.  Nothing was illegible but some pages took some studying.   
      
   The contents?  I will give the new editors credit for trying to be inclusive.   
   Almost all the fiction authors were bipoc folks, and there was a very   
   good article reviewing a survey made of minority authors.  None of the   
   stories were terrible, but every one that I read made me think that it   
   could have been made into a better story by a good editor.  There were   
   stories that were too long, stories that had some clumsy parts, and   
   stories with some problems with their technology.  Nothing that could not   
   have been fixed up very quickly by John Campbell, but there was no   
   John Campbell with his red pencil there to do it.   
      
   So... I wish them luck, and I might consider subscribing just to see what   
   happens, but this is a magazine that feels like it has some problems.   
   Not insurmountable ones, but time is running out.   
   --scott   
      
   --   
   "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)