My favorite issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine contains a letter from a reader suggesting that cable TV offer a Science Fiction Channel. Dr Asimov, in that smug condescending tone that came through all too often in his responses to reader letters,basically told the letter writer that the idea was stupid because there just weren't enough people who wanted to watch SF TV shows and movies to make such a channel profitable : It wouldn't have enough subscribers. This, after the megasuccess of Star Wars,Star Trek (TV and films)and other SF shows and movies....and only a few years before the Sci-Fi Channel.
I respect Dr Asimov for his achievements, but even when I was much younger , his open and oft-stated support for a one world government (constantly brought up in his editorials and responses to LTTE in IASFM) bothered me. (Though I didn't understand why the notion made me uneasy till years later.) And while IASFM under Shawna McCarthy (now editor of Realms of Fantasy) was my favorite SF digest and arguably the best of the 'big three', and while it had a high quality level overall, it did print some "dogs". And these "dogs" were mostly notable for blatant, unsubtle, strident Christianity-bashing. Those stories, with their telegraphed endings, cardboard characters and sloganeering really stood out, precisely because the other stories were so much better. I can only assume that someone (Asimov or McCarthy) chose those poorer stories because they found the bias so attractive that it outweighed the flaws in plotting and characterization...Flaws that were noticeable to a HS student and then to a College fine arts major, and are even more obvious when reread today. But again, that's because most of the other stories in IASFM were so much better.(Some of the 1980s IASFM stories really linger in the mind, years after reading.)
Still, Asimov was so good in so many different fields that it's almost always worth reading what he has to say.
Agreed, wholeheartedly. I am sorry that the Good Doctor left us in 1992....Imagine if he'd had 10 more years to write! I believe L Sprague deCamp is another SF writer who is equally notable for his fine nonfiction works too.
I recall that Isaac was explicit about having nothing to do with the editing of the magazine. He let them use his name, and he contributed the opening essay for each issue. He also tossed in a few answers to the mail. Otherwise, the beauteous Shawna called the shots.