In time-honored tradition, for our December episode we go hurtling back in time to review a science fiction magazine from the past. Get your flares, platform shoes and ghettoblasters ready as we head back to...November 1974.

We're picking on Analog magazine, just because we've never reviewed it before. And it's only the longest-continuously-running SF magazine in existence. It started in 1930 as Astounding Stories, was renamed Analog in the 1960s, and continues under that name to this day. As we join it in 1974, it's in the early years of the editorship of Ben Bova, and is beginning to modernise.

If you'd like to browse through the issue with us, you can download it as a PDF from this link.

And don't forget the shownotes, which you can find at 101sf.blogspot.com

It occurred to us that although we have discussed many specific books on the show, we've never devoted an episode to the idea of the book - those papery, texty things that Stephen King has described as "uniquely portable magic".

So in this episode, we address the various ways in which books can be enjoyed and consumed, and discuss ten (or eleven) questions on the subject of books.

We also have a book-adjacent quiz, and our usual round up of recommendations of past, present and future SF.

For links and shownotes, check out our web page: https://101sf.blogspot.com/2024/11/uniquely-portable-magic-episode-48.html

It's fifty years since the TV series of Planet of the Apes debuted, enlivening the childhood of millions around the planet of the humans. Phil and Colin enjoyed the show as kids, but now undertake a celebratory rewatch, reviewing the adventures of Virdon (the blond one), Burke (the dark-haired one), and Galen (the hairy one).

We also have a Planet of the Apes quiz, and our usual round up of recommendations of past, present and future SF.

For full show notes, check out our blog at 101sf.blogspot.com