Impressions of Analog Magazine

Title:  Analog Science Fiction And Fact - October 2014.
Publisher:  Dell Publishing.
Page:  112.
Price:  $4.99 (US).

Impressions and Overview:

I liked the science related articles.  They had direct bearings on how one writes science fiction.  I've pondered over issues like the number of technological civilizations throughout the universe.  Or where human is the first technological civilization in the cosmos to arise.  So, I enjoyed the scientific articles.

But the short stories left me cold.  I didn't enjoy any of this month's stories.  I don't know if that's me or whether I the selection of stories were weak.  I have a particular bent in my reading.  I like hard science-fiction.  I also like military sci-fi and space opera, too.  Part of my problem it's been over 25 years since I read any science fiction short stories.  The last time I read anything was as a sophomore in high school.

I read for pleasure when I rode the bus.  I seem to remember reading a lot of Author C. Clarke and Asimov at the time.  My tastes later grew into high fantasy with Steven Donaldson and David Eddings.  I read more fantasy with Glen Cook's Black Company series in when I got into my twenties.

However, my reading was consumed by military history in my late twenties.  I stopped reading fiction by then.  Things remained that way throughout my thirties.  I read more military histories during this time than anything else.  About the time I went back to writing, I made a concerted effort to read on the craft of writing...

I wrote a military sci-fi novella.  I thought I knew my material.  And it read like a "Hammer's Slammers"/Honor Harrington novel.  I wanted to branch out into other speculative genres.  So I took the advice of Steven King and I started actively reading again.  Reading fiction.  All sorts of stuff...

Analog Magazine is supposed to be some of the best short story sci-fi available.  Though I'm hoping for more interesting stories.  I've made an effort not to write all military sci-fi.  My novels aren't military sci-fi.  But this is the sub-genera I keep coming back to.  That doesn't bode well for me as a writer.  Though I did subscribe to Analog for a year.  I need exposure to different materials so my writing doesn't go stale...