Not Your Usual Subscriptions

Weekend Assignment #85: What magazines do you subscribe to and why? This assumes you currently subscribe to a magazine or two, of course, but I'm reasonably confident most of us do. If you don't have any current subscriptions, however, you can list some of your most recent subscriptions or magazines you want to subscribe to.

Extra Credit: What was your first magazine subscription?

All my subscriptions to mass market magazines have lapsed. TV Guide?  There's no point any more.  On the rare occasions when I watch anything other than House, Bones or a DVD, I can always look stuff up online or on the tv itself.  Newsweek?  I let Mom's subscription die, a year or two after she did, 'cause I wasn't getting around to reading it.  Reader's Digest?  Ditto.  MacAddict?  John would snarf the CD-ROMs and stick them in a desk drawer. I would usually read the Letters section, and that was that.  When was the last time I fired up the Mac?  It's been a while, that's for sure.

Here are the two magazines I do subscribe to. 

Mâvarin Monthly is kind of muckraking and sensationalistic, but its reporters are extremely good at finding out what's really going on at the Palace and elsewhere. Somewhat complicit in the old regime prior to the Restoration, the Monthly has been making the most of its freedom of the press since the Awers' fall from power.  I mostly read it for the newsmakers' interviews, but I also enjoy the magazine's lively arts section. 

For a different perspective, I also read The Citadel, which is published out of Mâton.  It's definitely biased, which isn't too surprising, considering it's government-controlled.  Nevertheless, it's interesting, and a good way to understand the politics and culture of the mages' island nation.

The Journal of Contemporary Time Travel is not as fluff-oriented as its cover would indicate.  There are some serious articles in here about the Laws of Time (both physical and legislative), dealing with paradox, and other stuff the serious time traveler needs to know.  This one, too, I often read for the interviews, especially the ones that are more about theory, and less  about "My Lunch with Genghis Khan."  The biggest problem with this one is figuring out when the subscription expires.

Extra Credit:  I remember that I used to get Jack & Jill magazine back in second grade or so, plus Weekly Reader at school; but that was not something I did for myself, obviously.  I think my first subscription that I paid for was TV Guide, but it may have been National Wildlife. 

Karen

Tags: Weekend Assignment, Magazines, Fiction, Time Travel, Mâvarin