Thank god it's not page 3!

I am :)

So what's on page 32 of the current issue of SFX then?

Paula: like calling Charlie a Scot, perhaps?

I just stuck my head in to the London branch of Forbidden Planet, and asked after :The Atrocity Archives:. I was met with a grin, the opening of a cardboard box, a hastily applied price sticker, and the first copy they sold. :-)

My copy of 'The Atrocity Archive' came in. I enjoyed the new story as much as the main story. (Which was a huge amount. I even bugged Paul Fraser at Spectrum to send me a pdf of the final part.) The introduction and addendums were good fun too - and all wrapped up in an attractive package. I reckon this book deserves to win awards - and a major paperback release.

"...legendary Russian science fiction writer Issac Asimov..." is what they actually wrote. He's almost as well known a writer as J. R. R. Tolkein, or Ursula Leguin, after all.

But, he was born in Petrovich, so there's certainly a sense in which it's technically correct to refer to him as "Russian," though "famous Brooklynite science fiction writer" would be my own preference.

I may be wrong, but I THINK Asimov came to the US as a very young child and was raised as fiercely and proudly American. By his Russian parents. So calling him a Russian writer is like calling ... I don't know, y'all figure it out. He was an American Science Fiction Writer, plus a writer of many informative books about just about anything he could get his mind around. We have many of his reference books in our house. Then again, we have many books in our house. But it's big enough, I think.

Danny: you ask the publishers. In the case of Golden Gryphon, that'd be email to gryphon (at) goldengryphon.com. In the case of Ace, you'd email one of the editorial or marketing contacts there, and in the case of Tor, you'd try to ping Moshe Feder or David Hartwell or one of their marketing folks. I don't have enough copies for reviewers -- after the obligatory three or four for family members, any time I try to sell foreign rights I need at least one copy for the translator, if not two (one for translator and one for publisher).

I've been reading the blog long enough, time to try one of the books... But who do I ask for review copies?

I love the way that in the same article it says in one place that the award ceremony will be held in Glasgow and 2005 and in the five star Sheraton Hotel in Boston in September.

Anyway, at least they are reporting it, even if it does have a 'few' inaccuracies.

No, not Isaac Asimov, "Issac" Asimov, his little known brother who was left behind in Russia when the rest of the Asimov family emigrated.

Funny, having read several of Isaac Asimov's autobiographies, I never thought of him being particularly Russian, more American and especially "Brooklyn"!

Dude, you forgot Terry Pratchett.

Oh well, guess I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed it comes out in paperback one way or another. If I was a working type then I wouldn't hesitate to buy the hardback, but as I'm just a lazy student type I'm afraid my budget just won't stretch :) But at least I can look forward to the paperback of singularity sky which comes out in June I believe.

I e-mailed Paul Fraser a couple of months back and he said it was very unlikely that there would be any more Spectrum in the near future, essentially because he lost quite a lot of money on issue, and this amount of money increased with every issue.

But he did say that he did have some material for later issues so it might be possible there will be some Spectrum in the not too distant future, but in the light of Charlie's info on him going to California that seems increasingly unlikely.

I fear the prognosis for Spectrum SF is not good. Editor Paul Fraser is a helicopter pilot by day; thus, on the one hand he brought a fussy attention to detail to the job that was very welcome indeed, but on the other hand he was likely to be called off to fly a chopper out to a North Sea oil rig just before a deadline. Last I heard, work had taken him to California, making the task of producing a magazine in Scotland unfeasible. Spectrum also suffered from distribution problems that didn't help.

(What I hope is that as and when Paul can't work as a pilot any more -- I believe there's a mandatory age limit -- he'll consider running an SF magazine a good retirement option.)

Apparently GG do indeed do paperbacks, but not usually and not as their main product. I'm told that if Atrocity Archives sells really well they might reprint in hardcover or do a paperback edition; I'm torn between hoping that it does, and hoping that they don't (so I can sell paperback rights to a bigger publisher, along with a sequel or two).