My Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine Collection

My Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine Collection.

Here is my collection.

Introduction

I made a post on my first science fiction book on 07-28-17. That book was The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I believe that I received the book in 1977. I either joined the Science Fiction Book Club first and then bought the January 1980 issue of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine or bought the magazine first and then joined the club from the offer that was printed on the back of each issue of the magazine. This post is about my 35-year history with the magazine covering from 1980 to 2014.

The summary of my experience is as follows. I purchased the January 1980 issue and started a new subscription in April 1980 that lasted until July of 1982. I did not like the direction that the new editor was taking the magazine, so I did not renew my subscription at that time. At some point, I purchased five back issues at a used bookstore. The store had back issues for 1978 and 1979 but I did not purchase them because I did not have the money at that time. I intended to go back at a later date, but when I returned the issues were gone. I wish that I had gone back earlier and had added them to my collection.

Asimov’s subscription renewal

In April 1985 I started a subscription that I continued to renew until it expired in March 2014. There were three issues that I had not received in the mail and did not obtain a copy. In 2014, I had not read the magazine for three years and didn’t intend to do so in the future so I did not renew my subscription. It was also too expensive to buy if I was not reading the issues. It took me five or six hours to read each issue and I felt like I did not have the time to read them anymore.

Now that I have made the time to read at least an hour a day, I will have the time to read the issues I have not read yet. Getting involved with goodreads.com changed my perspective on reading, but that is another post that I wrote on 06-30-17. My collection totals 363 issues of which I have read 331 issues. There were 420 issues released from Spring 1977 to March 2014, so I do not have 57 issues in that time frame. Having researched this post, I think that I will attempt to read the 32 remaining issues that I own but have not read.

Stories I have Liked

I wrote down the stories that I liked and in the order that I liked them from the first issue to the February 2003 issue. After that, I put sticky notes on each issue with my ratings from the March 2003 issue to the January 2011 issue. The unread issues are from February 2011 to March 2014.

The size of the issues changed over the years. From the first issue to the May 1998 issue the magazine was the small digest size of 5 by 7 3/8. From the June 1998 issue to the October/November 2008 issue the size was increased to 5 3/8 by 8 1/2. In the December 2008 issue, the size increased again to 5 7/8 by 8 5/8.

In the rest of this post, I will make notes for each year from 1977 to 2014.

Issues in the 1970’s

1977: 3 issues labeled summer, fall, and winter. I bought these issues for 39 cents each at a used bookstore in Parma, Ohio (I do not recall the name). The store did not have a copy of Issue #1 which would have been labeled spring. 4 issues were printed this year.

1978: 0 issues, I wish I have bought the issues I found at that used bookstore. 6 issues were printed this year

1979: 0 issues, I wish I have bought the issues I found at that used bookstore. 12 issues were printed this year.

Issues in the 1980’s

1980: 12 issues, I bought the January issue at a newsstand and started a subscription which began with the April issue. I bought the February and March issues from the Parma bookstore for 39 cents each. 12 issues were printed this year.

1981: 13 issues, the issues were dated with the day so there were two issues in August.

1982: 7 issues, the July issue was where the subscription lapsed.

1983: 0 issues

1984: 0 issues

1985: 10 issues, subscription renewed with April issue to November 1985, then renewed in December to August 1986. All the issues were labeled as having 192 pages.

1986: 13 issues, in March, renewed to August 1988.

1987: 12 issues, because I did not receive the September issue with the story by Orson Scott Card called “Carthage City”.

1988: 13 issues, May renewed to June 1990, June renewed to May 1991, and November renewed to May 1993

1989: 13 issues.

Issues in the 1990’s

1990: 13 issues, February adjustment to January 1993, August adjustment to February 1991, and November adjustment to Winter 1992. November was the first double issue with 320 pages.

1991: 13 issues, April and November were both double issues. The March issue was the last issue that was labeled 192 pages.

1992: 13 issues, August adjustment to August 1994

1993: 13 issues, I received the cover of the mid-December issue without the inside so they shipped me a copy of the issue.

1994: 13 issues, June renewal to March 1996

1995: 13 issues, December renewal to November 1997

1996: 11 issues, the mid-December issue was discontinued and the October/November issue was a double issue, so only 11 total issues were released starting in 1996.

1997: 11 issues

1998: 10 issues, the June issue was missing, which was the first issue that the size of the magazine was increased. March renewal to March 2000

1999: 11 issues

Issues in the 2000’s

2000: 11 issues, January renewal to March 2002

2001: 11 issues

2002: 11 issues, January renewal to March 2005

2003: 11 issues

2004: 10 issues, now the April/May and October/November issues are doubles which means there are only 10 total issues per year.

2005: 10 issues, February renewal to March 2008

2006: 9 issues, the September issue was missing.

2007: 10 issues

2008: 10 issues, January renewal to March 2011, The December 2008 issue was increased in size again.

2009: 10 issues

Issues in the 2010’s

2010: 10 issues, December renewal to March 2014

2011: 10 issues

2012: 10 issues

2013: 10 issues

2014: 3 issues, March 2014 was my last issue.

Conclusion

That ends my collection. I enjoyed reading the stories for many years. I plan to write another post about my favorite stories that I have read in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

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