Doing Research

Today I stopped by our neighborhood newsstand to pick up some bridal magazines to do some research for a story I’m working on. I know people go on and on about how online is it these days, but Google and Bing assume you want to see certain things when you punch in your search terms, and the newsstand doesn’t assume anything. You have these magazines all there before – and you can choose whichever one you want without one of them shouting at you in loud font and colors or blinking across the screen. The artistry of the pics is different, the point of view, the perspective. It’s just better if what you’re looking for is a variety of styles or bits of information that haven’t been fed to you based on assumptions made by the cookies planted on your computer.

So, I pick up three of the bridal magazines (one says it’s the Fashion Issue! Oooh!), marginally wondering what the guy at the register will think of me as I buy them, when I stop short because I see the January/February double issue of Analog (www.analogsf.com/2011_12/index.shtml ). Not only that, but hidden a couple of tiers back is the MARCH issue of Analog. It’s hard to find SF/F mags out on the newsstands these days. Not like the old days when you could find Omni just out and about on your way to the coffeeshop. *sigh* I miss Omni.

So, then I start to wonder what the guy at the register will think of some middle-aged, overweight chick buying bridal fashion mags and and scifi mags both in one go. I figure he probably figures (if he figures at all) that it’s for my kids. People always assume I have kids, and I let them.

But then I get distracted again because I’m actually looking at the Analogs in hand. They’re much more thin than they used to be, even the double issue. It’s sad. They used to be nice, thick mags that you knew were packed with stories, articles, reviews all having to do with science fiction. Analog was one of the heavyweights, along with Asimov’s (www.asimovs.com/2011_01/index.shtml ) and Fantasy & Science Fiction (www.sfsite.com/fsf/ ). In many ways, they still are the heavyweights and the diehards. It’s hard to get a story published by them unless you’re a name already. (I have tried several times, and I know others have as well. For the record, all three magazines rejected The G.O.D. Factor (sdpbookstore.com/storybook.htm#godfactor ).)

But something else I noticed, besides how thin and shoddy they felt, was that neither issue had female authors listed on the front covers. I don’t know if this means they aren’t getting any good submissions from women or if women just aren’t submitting to them, but it was discouraging and started punching all my old buttons where I wonder if I should start submitting stories under R.V. Olivier instead of Rachel V. Olivier because the scifi/fantasy world, no matter how much the insiders talk about how it’s come a long way, still seems to be ruled by the OWGs (old white guys).

I know, that’s not really true. The scifi/fantasy world has come a long way. I mean, we might have Stephenie Meyers as an ongoing embarrassment, but we also have Octavia Butler and Elizabeth Moon and Marion Zimmer Bradley and Joanna Russ, etc., etc., etc.

And, since I haven’t looked at an Analog in a long time, it could be these are just “one ofs”. So, I keep staring at them, wondering if it would be worth it to get them, these two issues of Analog. Do I really want to read a magazine that doesn’t want me? But who knows? Things change. I could enjoy the stories, even if Robert J. Sawyer (one of the listed authors) does normally give me a headache. I could learn something. It’s research. It keeps me abreast of my field. And it’s not like the bridal mags want me either. I mean, I’m not seeing any plus size brides on those magazine covers.

I shrug. I add the Analogs to the pile of bridal mags and plunk down the money and ask for the receipt. After all, it is research.

Once upon a time, I would have been embarrassed to even be found looking at a bridal mag. That’s so much fooffera that I have no need of and think is absolutely unnecessary. However, I would have rushed out to not only get the Analog, but go to the back of the mag and find the subscription form so I could look forward to a new issue every month.

These days, though, I’m thinkin’ the bridal research will be the more fun of the two.