tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post113573925095827994..comments2024-03-28T16:17:20.965-05:00Comments on Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: If -- Worlds of Science Fiction, January 1954mybillcriderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350478005243505108noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-31210219533087842212010-10-18T19:09:18.742-05:002010-10-18T19:09:18.742-05:00I read all I could get, too. Which wasn't alw...I read all I could get, too. Which wasn't always many in the little town of Mexia, Texas.mybillcriderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02350478005243505108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-27484662070399141362010-10-18T18:25:44.010-05:002010-10-18T18:25:44.010-05:00I came to the digests in the late '50s early &...I came to the digests in the late '50s early '60s. IF was always my favorite of the lot, but I read all I could get my hands on.lastromantic49https://www.blogger.com/profile/15352300459560808405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-61402865383876577652010-10-18T12:07:13.528-05:002010-10-18T12:07:13.528-05:00Mention of Robert Guin in the mileu of Galaxy/If s...Mention of Robert Guin in the mileu of Galaxy/If springboarded thoughts to the writings of Wyman Guin (Norman Menasco) which are oop, seem to be pretty much<br />forgotten, and deserve revival.<br /><br />And despite my great fondness for Evan Hunter, Richard Marsten, and Ed McBain, I also found "Tomorrow and Tomorrow"an unfinishable misfire,clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00781954514326735701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-1136292994689570602006-01-03T06:56:00.000-06:002006-01-03T06:56:00.000-06:00Thanks for the great comment, Todd. It's tough to...Thanks for the great comment, Todd. It's tough to find those digests on the stands around here. Most stores just don't seem to carry them, so subbing is the way I get mine. And the mail serove really does tear them up now and then.mybillcriderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02350478005243505108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-1136258049647765692006-01-02T21:14:00.000-06:002006-01-02T21:14:00.000-06:00Well, Bill, IF was pretty well-respected in the 19...Well, Bill, IF was pretty well-respected in the 1950s, and this was one of the issues from the period where Larry Shaw, formerly of the Futurians and eventually of Lancer Books, was essentially the editor, although publisher Jim Quinn kept that title for himself. You know, I haven't finished that Hunter story...there's just something about it that doesn't convince me (the new slang doesn't help), and in putting down "Malice" I haven't picked it up again to read the others, aside from the Knight I've read elsewhere more than once--I agree that that's a classic, one of Knight's best. But IF got off to a bad start--I read some of the first, 1952, issue, edited by Paul Fairman, as one of the first old digests I picked up via mail order as a kid in his sfnal golden age of 13, and it's a pretty dismal affair...even the Sturgeon story is Extremely minor, and an undistinguished novella by Howard Browne takes up a good chunk of the issue (as with the Palmer and Hamling publications hatched while they were at Ziff-Davis, IF was being treated as a new colony for ZD talent. But Quinn had the good sense to get rid of Fairman pretty quickly, and Shaw for a few years and Damon Knight very briefly were on the editorial staff and did some solid work for the magazine...and then Quinn, in the post ANC collapse and post Sputnik fallout, decided to sell the title to the Galaxy group/Robert Guin, and Quinn contented himself with crossword puzzle magazines mostly for the next decade or so. Meanwhile, Frederik Pohl, ghost-editing for HL Gold and then on his own ticket, built it rather accidentally into the Hugo-winner it was in the latter '60s and probably George Kelley's fondest memories of it. Guin selling the Galaxy group to the Award Books/UPD people did it no favors, though both Ejler Jakobssen and particular James Baen published some interesting work before the folding/merger with GALAXY at the end of 1974. One abortive revival since, as I recall.<BR/><BR/>And if you and Ed have a B&N or other store with a good newsstand nearby, you can still step over to the racks and see F&SF, ASIMOV'S, ANALOG, and this semi-pro APEX hanging with EQMM and AHMM (though I hardly ever see HITCHCOCK'S on newsstands around here any longer)...the digests might not be in quite as large numbers as previously, but they still await you...or at least me, particularly when the Post Office has chewed up my subscriber copies...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-1135796697167338022005-12-28T13:04:00.000-06:002005-12-28T13:04:00.000-06:00IF was one of my favorite SF digests especially af...IF was one of my favorite SF digests especially after Fredrick Pohl became the editor.<BR/><BR/>George KelleyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com