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Star Trek Magazine 38

^ Do you know who'll be taking over the reigns after you? I'm also sad to see you go; it's been an outstanding magazine the last few years.
 
Disappointed at the move to the quarterly schedule - it was bad enough when the mag was every 2 months (referring to the UK version, folks).

Still, as it's moving into its 17th year in 2012, I'll take anything to keep it alive!

As for the question of print vs digital - the previous 163 issues are all in print, so I guess I want to keep that going (unless Titan can guarantee they'll put out ALL back issues on CD). However, if it ever did go all digital, I'd still get it.

Thanks for your good work on the magazine, Paul; any idea who's taking over?
 
Thanks for your good work on the magazine, Paul; any idea who's taking over?

^ Do you know who'll be taking over the reigns after you? I'm also sad to see you go; it's been an outstanding magazine the last few years.

The Magic Mirror hasn't yet unveiled that information to me.

Glad you've enjoyed the magazine - I'm really proud of what we've achieved, especially the Spaceships & Space Stations Special (#35... whatever number that was in the UK...) and the 2 Ultimate Guides.


P
 
Yeah, the Ultimate Guides were great. Not to sound crude, but I think they'll be permanent additions to my bathroom. That's not a comment on their quality, that's just where I do the majority of my magazine reading.
 
Paul - Even though I own a Nook Color and read a lot of books on it I would still prefer a paper edition. I still collect all my Star Trek books and magazines in print. If it were to go digital only I might not purchase it. One thing I do think though is that anyone who has a subscription to the magazine should be able to get the digital edition at no cost. Why should they have to pay for the same material twice?

Kevin
 
Paul, I'm really sorry to hear that you're moving on from Star Trek Magazine.

As for your question -- I certainly would have liked to have seen a digital version of the magazine. I grew up in areas of Ohio whose bookstores seem to have never carried that magazine, and it would have been great to subscribe digitally.
 
^ Do you know who'll be taking over the reigns after you? I'm also sad to see you go; it's been an outstanding magazine the last few years.

Reins, not reigns, but otherwise I completely agree. It can't have been easy to produce a Star Trek magazine during a period with relatively little happening, but the focus on tie-ins and the use of familiar names from Pocket TrekLit made for a fine magazine, IMHO. And I'm glad that I got to be a tiny part of it (getting thanked for providing a book cover scan or two in the fine print at the back of the mag and getting to write part of the Ultimate Guide).

I'm also tempted to say that it can't have been easy to do a good magazine for Titan, because the other tie-in mags I've read from them have been considerably less enjoyable, but I'll try to stay optimistic about the Trek mag. The schedule reduction doesn't help with that, though.
 
It can't have been easy to produce a Star Trek magazine during a period with relatively little happening, but the focus on tie-ins and the use of familiar names from Pocket TrekLit made for a fine magazine, IMHO. And I'm glad that I got to be a tiny part of it (getting thanked for providing a book cover scan or two in the fine print at the back of the mag and getting to write part of the Ultimate Guide).

The logic behind using the TrekLit writers was that they'd written the characters so therefore hopefully they'd have some insight. For the most part it worked out really well, and I can't say how grateful I am to those people who were able to jump in at the last minute and produce something great when things fell apart - as they always do in this industry.

I'm also tempted to say that it can't have been easy to do a good magazine for Titan, because the other tie-in mags I've read from them have been considerably less enjoyable, but I'll try to stay optimistic about the Trek mag. The schedule reduction doesn't help with that, though.

All I can say is that I was very lucky with the way the system was set up, working with Brian Robb and then Simon Hugo as my Managing/Senior Editor: they understood that I knew the franchise, and had an idea of what the fans wanted. It wasn't a standard Titan mag, certainly, but having contributed as a freelancer to a lot of those, I'd take issue with them being "considerably less enjoyable" - they all have a current franchise to work with (and Trek is the only mag that has continued through a period of drought - Star Wars has Clone Wars ongoing and the latest reissues of the movies; Supernatural has an ongoing series) which means inevitably that the focus is on there.

If we'd had a new TV series running while I was editor, there is no question that the mag would have been different... although I hope it would have been as enjoyable!

P
 
To be honest, my opinion of Titan is largely based on a few magazines from several years ago. More recently, the Torchwood magazine was something of a frustrating read at times, but that's just because there wasn't really enough Torchwood to support an ongoing magazine. The magazine had found its way just as it was (understandably) cancelled.

I'm still inclined to think there's something special about the Star Trek magazine, but I should really take a closer look at some of the other current mags before generalizing.
 
I've read a handful of issues of the Star Wars magazine and I'd say it's pretty equal in quality to the Trek magazine. Like the Trek magazine it also tends to spread the focus pretty equally through all of the different mediums. I've honestly been tempted to subscribe to it too, but I can't really afford to subscribe to anther magazine.
 
I used to read the FARSCAPE and ALIAS magazines regularly, and even wrote for the FARSCAPE mag occassionally.
 
I used to read the FARSCAPE and ALIAS magazines regularly, and even wrote for the FARSCAPE mag occassionally.

Sadly the people behind both of those are long gone... although Brian (who edited Farscape) is my co-editor on Sci-Fi Bulletin.
 
Just to resurrect this briefly - the new issue should have hit newsstands today in the US. Which means it's on its way over to the UK.

What would be very very useful is if UK residents could let me know whether it turns up in their local W.H. Smiths, as I'm a little concerned at reports that the lesser spotted magazine has not been seen in its usual nesting places!

Just putting the finishing touches to my final issue - issue 39 promises to be a good one as well!

Paul
 
Does anyone know when this is going to be on sale in Britain? I've been looking on and off in WH Smiths since the start of the month and had no luck finding it so far.

I might have to take a trip over to my nearest city and see if Forbidden Planet have it yet, if they've stopped stocking it.

Really looking forward to this issue too, as you might imagine! ;)
 
Bought from FP in the end. Not available on the shelves in three WH Smith branches. Been checking since the date 01/12/11 stated in #164. Two varieties of Star Wars magazine, Supernatural, all the other usual suspects. Star Trek? No.

Time to start thinking about a subscription if Smiths are dropping it completely.
 
STM was one of the last holdovers from better days I suppose. Gone are the times when anything with Trek on the cover, sat front and centre among film/sci-fi titles. WH Smiths had been increasingly dropping the number of copies on the shelf, down to a handful tucked away right at the back. Now not at all if my experience is anything to go by. I've always managed to walk into any branch and get one without having them file a copy away in a drawer. Sad that it might come to that. These aren't small stores or service station places here either. One city centre place and two busy shopping centres.
 
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