mazing Stories is the granddaddy of all science fiction magazines, a legendary publication created by the equally legendary editor and publisher Hugo Gernsback. When the first issue of Amazing rolled off the presses in April of 1926, it contained "scientifiction" stories by the likes of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe. It was a defining moment for science fiction, the day when SF became a literary genre in its own right. But the good times weren't to last. Within three years Gernsback was forced into bankruptcy, and Amazing Stories changed owners for the first of what would be many times.
Most recently Amazing Stories has ended up in the hands of Wizards of the Coast, the company that created the collectible card game industry with its hit title Magic: The Gathering. Wizards acquired Amazing from Dungeons & Dragons owner TSR, which published the magazine under the guidance of editor Kim Mohan from 1991 until 1995. Wizards has reinstated Mohan as editor, under the watchful eyes of publisher Wendy Noritake and executive editor Pierce Watters.
The latest incarnation of Amazing seems squarely aimed at the so-called "media tie-in" market, focusing much of its attention on the granddaddy of all lucrative SF franchises, Star Trek. Not only does the cover of this new Amazing boast an image of the starship Enterprise, the first issue also contains two pieces of Star Trek fiction, by Trek authors A.C. Crispin and John Gregory Betancourt. There are also columns devoted to media tie-in novels, computer games and, of course, the film industry, not one of which fails to mention some incarnation of Trek.
To balance out this media slant, Mohan has included fiction by folks such as Orson Scott Card, Ben Bova and Neal Barrett Jr. Cyberpunk guru Bruce Sterling provides a column on just what "amazing" really means, while a letters column with correspondence culled from the 1930s and 1940s incarnations of Amazing round out the issue.
It's amazing...sort of
Mohan's lackluster and somewhat befuddling introductory editorial--it sounds like he's just really glad to have a job--is an unsettling harbinger of things to come. Mohan posits that it's "amazing" that Amazing was brought back to life, even though the magazine has a long history of changing owners, changing editors and even changing names. Amazing? Hardly. The same can be said for this issue.
There is no question that the new version of Amazing is a wonder to look at. Wizards has taken advantage of the publication's full-size glossy format, displaying modern art by talents such as three-time Hugo Award-winner Bob Eggleton. The magazine also features a number of old Amazing covers, including Frank R. Paul's illustration for H.G. Wells' epic story War of the Worlds. This is probably the best Amazing has ever looked, combining sleek, modern layout with a tasteful touch of nostalgia.
Unfortunately, the words aren't as mesmerizing as the pictures. The Star Trek fiction is about as mediocre as it comes, not painful to read but by no means compelling. Trek fans will likely appreciate the Spock/Sarek story by Crispin, which the author uses as a bow to tie up the package of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Sarek." However, the story is remarkable only for that association. Meanwhile, Betancourt's piece (what was its title?) is the very definition of forgettable.
The non-media fiction is a mixed bag, with the most interesting story coming from Orson Scott Card. The catch here is that Card's piece "Gooses" is really an excerpt from his upcoming novel Heartfire, the fifth in the Alvin the Maker series. While the excerpt can stand on its own, it's clearly a chapter rather than a story, and thus not really a satisifying read. Kudos go to Michael Libling for his ribald story "Pheromitey Glad," but Ben Bova, James Alan Gardner, Neal Barrett Jr. and Malcolm Beckett have all turned in work that's closer to average than amazing. The columns fare about as well.
Although Wizards is making an admirable attempt to bridge the gap between "literary" and "media" SF, it's clear they're not there yet. However, first issues are bound to be a bit rough, and hopefully they having amazing plans for the future.
