True Story

[coalescent]

So I got up yesterday morning, discovered I'd forgotten to replenish my milk supply, and was forced to make a quick trip to the newsagents around the corner. On my way out, I discovered I'd received my first bit of post for over a week - the latest issue of The Third Alternative. So, I picked it out of my postbox and took it with me, reading Justina Robson's guest editorial as I went.

When I got to the newsagent, I discovered a new issue of Q on sale, with free CD. I used to buy Q every month; at the moment, I've cut it down to just the ones with CDs, which I can't resist because they generally do pretty good CDs.

Anyway. I trotted up to the counter with my milk and my Q, put them down in front of the elderly lady behind the till, and waited for her to ring them up. She did so, then attempted to scan The Third Alternative as well.

Me: No, it's alright, I came in with that. You don't sell it.
Her: Oh (catching sight of the cover). Oh. I'll hide it in this bag for you, if you like. [she starts to fill a bag, placing TTA between the pages of Q]
Me: It's a fiction magazine!
Her: Yes, dear.
Me: Science fiction!
Her: Oh, well, dear, we don't want any of that, do we? I mean the moon landings came true and where did that get us?
Me: ...

So I paid and left.

Now, I'd be the first to admit that science fiction magazines do not always have the best taste in covers. Heck, some of them are downright dubious. But look at the covers in question:



That's got to be a close-run thing, at the very least.

Comments

[fba.livejournal.com]

The thing is - the title sounds dodgy too....

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Gee, thanks. :-p

[ajp.livejournal.com]

Me: Science fiction!
Her: Oh, well, dear, we don't want any of that, do we? I mean the moon landings came true and where did that get us?

OK then. There's really no answer to that, is there?

[brassyn.livejournal.com]

Niall's buying porn! hee! ;)

[hawleygriffen.livejournal.com]

Now that I think about it, yeah, it could be taken the wrong way....

budding alternative comedien in the corner shop

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

hum, well. It looks a heck of a lot like ghastly airbrushed undead lesbian tentacle porn to me. Tell me, what was the story that justified that cover?

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

OK, you know how we still mock you for the Rea thing?

How long d'you think it will be before we stop making porn jokes?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Ba-dum *tssh*!

Ahem.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Not really. Also: I realised I have a copy of Fugue for a Darkening Island. Would you like to borrow it?

Re: budding alternative comedien in the corner shop

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Well, I haven't finished the issue yet, but so far there's a frankly disappointing lack of lesbian tentacle porn. If things change, I'll let you know.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I'm really hating you quite a lot now. :-p

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

I'm going to the special hell, right? :D

[ajp.livejournal.com]

I realised I have a copy of Fugue for a Darkening Island. Would you like to borrow it?

Okay, thanks. I have your tape, ready to send now the postmen are back at work...

[scribeoflight.livejournal.com]

Fugue is a brilliant novella. I always think of it alongside The World in Winter by John Christoper, which I read around the same time. There are some intriguing parallels between them.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I haven't actually read either (although I have them both on my shelves, and I have read The Death of Grass, which is excellent). Never enough time...

[scribeoflight.livejournal.com]

The Death of Grass is great. I remember it feeling much more focused than The World in Winter, which feels more spread out, chronologically, and more global in scale.

And I once tried to read a copy of The Death of Grass far to quickly, in the Upper Reading Room of the Bod, because I couldn't find a copy to buy... And I didn't really enjoy it! I only enjoyed it properly when I read the copy I later bought...