Friday, February 24, 2006

Otto Penzler, Prince among Men

Several years ago, I got a call from my wife, who said that several boxes had been delivered to our door from the Mysterious Bookshop. What, she wanted to know, had I been spending money on? I couldn't remember having ordered anything, so I was eager to see what was in the boxes. Imagine my surprise to discover a bunch of issues of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from the 1950s and 1960s. Otto Penzler had heard that I was collecting those old digests and had sent me the ones he had in the store. It was a big thrill to go through them, look at the covers, and read some of the stores.

Yesterday, another big box from the Mysterious Bookshop arrived at the door. Sure enough, it contained more issues of F&SF, this time from the late '60s and the 1970s. Otto had found them when moving the contents of the bookshop and wanted me to have them. Wotta guy! Many more hours of fun lie ahead for me as I go through these, and I want to thank Otto here for doing me such a good turn.

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