An occasional series in which I post the covers of digest magazines I like or that have some other meaning to me. In this case, although I had read a lot of science fiction by 1966, the August issue of GALAXY that year was the first science fiction magazine I remember buying. I picked it up at Lester's Pharmacy, and I recall that it had the second part of a serial by Frank Herbert, "Heisenberg's Eyes" in it, as well as a novelette by Keith Laumer. However, I don't remember a thing about either of those stories, or any of the others in the issue, which included work by James Blish, R.A. Lafferty, and George H. Smith. I must have enjoyed it, though, because I bought other issues of GALAXY when I found them, which wasn't often because distribution of all the fiction digests was pretty spotty in the town where I grew up.
2 comments:
Great idea for Monday morning, James! My first SF magazine that I bought at Hoscheck's Deli was the February 1956 issue of GALAXY. I still have it and I'm thinking of framing it since it has led to me obtaining a houseful of digests and pulps.
Back then in 1956, newsstands were everywhere and distribution was excellent. In the Trenton, NJ area, I was able to buy all the SF and crime digests off the stands. Now of course, it is a very different and depressing story.
I don't remember what the first SF Digest magazine I bought was, but it was probably Astounding. I did eventually start buying every issue that was released each month, along with about ten comic books a month. We had good distribution. I quit buying around 1980, however. Since then I've haunted thrift stores for back issues that I missed after quitting. This has ended up with me purchasing a couple thousand duplicates that I use for trade. I'm missing a whole lot of issues from the 1990s to current. Although my eyesight is took poor to read them today, I still collect for the covers and to fill holes in my collection. Galaxy had some wonderful cover art.
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