A review by michaeldrakich
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September/October 2016 by C.C. Finlay
2.0
Normally, when reading a collection of short stories, I go through, rate each story, average them out, and come up with my rating. I usually add a comment or two about each as I go. There are a number of good ones here and if I used my regular system I probably would have come to a three and a half star average. But today I am rating the magazine as a book.
Here's my reason. Have you ever heard the expression, "Misery loves company"? I sincerely wonder at the state of mind of the acquisition manager for this magazine. With the exception of a couple of stories, all the rest feature miserable protagonists who end the story that way. Reading through them all I thought, "What a downer!". Are there no happy ending fantasy and science fiction short stories being written anymore? Or, at least, ones that finish without the protagonist either committing suicide or on the path to do so? Pitiful.
Then there's the issue of what constitutes fantasy and science fiction. There are a couple of stories I would define as supernatural. Wikipedia defines supernatural as this. "Elements of supernatural fiction can be found in writing from the genre of science fiction. Amongst academics, readers and collectors, however, supernatural fiction is often classed as a discrete genre defined by the elimination of "horror", "fantasy", and elements important to other genres." It can be argued both ways, but the overall consensus is that supernatural is not fantasy or science fiction but is best categorized as horror where ghost stories traditionally lie. I would prefer the magazine stick to what most truly consider fantasy and science fiction.
Lastly, too many stories (most in this collection) suffer from an overabundance of political correctness by catering to the LGBTQ community. Hey, I recognize people of such persuasion their rights, but let's keep things in perspective. They make up barely more than 5% of society, not 95%. Is it criminal to want to read about characters that are mainstream? I will probably get criticized for this by those who consider themselves social justice warriors. Too bad. It won't change my opinion of how political correctness is ruining the genres.
I still have several other issues in my TBR pile. After this one, I am loathed to pick up the next.
Here's my reason. Have you ever heard the expression, "Misery loves company"? I sincerely wonder at the state of mind of the acquisition manager for this magazine. With the exception of a couple of stories, all the rest feature miserable protagonists who end the story that way. Reading through them all I thought, "What a downer!". Are there no happy ending fantasy and science fiction short stories being written anymore? Or, at least, ones that finish without the protagonist either committing suicide or on the path to do so? Pitiful.
Then there's the issue of what constitutes fantasy and science fiction. There are a couple of stories I would define as supernatural. Wikipedia defines supernatural as this. "Elements of supernatural fiction can be found in writing from the genre of science fiction. Amongst academics, readers and collectors, however, supernatural fiction is often classed as a discrete genre defined by the elimination of "horror", "fantasy", and elements important to other genres." It can be argued both ways, but the overall consensus is that supernatural is not fantasy or science fiction but is best categorized as horror where ghost stories traditionally lie. I would prefer the magazine stick to what most truly consider fantasy and science fiction.
Lastly, too many stories (most in this collection) suffer from an overabundance of political correctness by catering to the LGBTQ community. Hey, I recognize people of such persuasion their rights, but let's keep things in perspective. They make up barely more than 5% of society, not 95%. Is it criminal to want to read about characters that are mainstream? I will probably get criticized for this by those who consider themselves social justice warriors. Too bad. It won't change my opinion of how political correctness is ruining the genres.
I still have several other issues in my TBR pile. After this one, I am loathed to pick up the next.