F&SF

I subscribed to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for quite a few years. Then, sometime in the late '90s, I realized that not a single story in the magazine entertained me. And, even worse, I realized that I didn't understand about half of them. So I let my subscription lapse.

A while back, James Reasoner (http://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com/) mentioned that he'd been reading the latest issue and that he liked Brad Denton's story called "Sergeant Chip." OK, I thought, if James likes it, it must be OK. (And I like Denton's work a lot. His serial killer novel, Blackburn, is a classic. It's unlike any other serial killer novel you're ever likely to read.)

So while I was at Armadillocon, I bought a copy of the magazine, and last night I read "Sergeant Chip." I'm glad I did. It's a rip-snorting war adventure story that wouldn't have been out of place in the SF digests of the 1950s, though of course it has a modern sensibility. If the other stores in the magazine come up to this standard, I might even consider subscribing again.

I also picked up some copies of recent issues of Asimov's SF or whatever they're calling it these days. I'll be reading some stories in those mags, too, in the hopes . . . .