"Tsundoku" (n.) is the condition of acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one's home without reading them.
So Reverse Tsundoku must be reading materials without acquiring them or letting the pile up in your home, something i managed successfully in my youth (not so much nowadays).
I'm sure I've mentioned on here before that one of the formative experiences of my fantasy life was my habit of reading Dragon Magazine on the shelves of the Asda store in New Craighall, Edinburgh. While my Mum dragged my brother up and down the aisles I was allowed to hand about the magazine section and read the mags. One week a Magazine caught my eye, Dragon. From what I can tell from browsing the interwebs it must have been October '87 and it was issue 126.
What I thought i'd do for you dear leader is leave a collection of the magazines I remembered reading in those heady days and leave copies of the eye catching fantasy covers for you to coo over in these slow days between Christmas and new year. Have fun!
Oh. And don't touch the links under the pictures unless you have some time on your hands ;)
It's quite sad that you can no longer find such fringe hobby publications on the shelves of mainstream stores,even though there are more people interested in fantasy and sci-fi now than there were then. In part it would be because this sort of hobby magazine has moved online, but I can't help thinking that the ruthless consolidation in the print industry into much fewer hands must also be to blame.
ReplyDeleteI'm always amazed how so many different car/train/fishing magazines manage to keep themselves in business and on the shelf.
DeleteSome of those covers are great. They vary in quality a lot, but when they're good they do really take me back to being 12 and reading my friend's D&D manuals. The one of the archer fighting the huge skeleton and the dinosaur sitting in the snow have aged very well. They bring back the sense of something really exciting being about to happen. Good find!
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the several page spreads of whfb adds about in dragon at the time. Love the first one, good times.
ReplyDeleteWow! Those covers really take me back. This was when I played a ton of D&D as a kid (12-13 years old). I had each of those issues shown - what great artwork. Seems like yesterday that I was picking up my copies at the Waldenbooks bookstore in my local shopping mall.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the memory jog - thinking I should hit ebay for a few issues :)
Funny how this art work has such a lasting impression on the psyche...
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely Christmas present you've given us, WP. I didn't know you could find such good copies of Dragon on the web.
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays to you and your whole family of Whiskey Priests!
I DID acquire piles of these using my allowance (and still have 'em'), but I think the first mag I bought off the shelf was issue 26... damn I'm old...
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