What does this change in size do to those of us who in the spirit of the Ark of the Covenant, have built a snug and cozy shelter made of gold and precious stones for our Asimov's and now find that the new Asimov's won't fit in the damn box?

That's a workable size. I was afraid we'd get 8x11.

Sadly, from my perspective, this suggests the fiction may remain one wide column rather than two.

The change takes effect with our December issue. As we say in the October/November next issue box: " The reason for the change is nothing to be alarmed by. Paper and production costs have presented [us] with a choice: increase subscription rates and single-issue costs to retain the old format, or adopt a slightly different size and return our current prices."

The new size is called an L trim (5 7/8" x 8 5/8"). The page count will be reduced from 144 to 112. Since the new pages are larger than the old pages, the actual volume lost is about 8 pages or 4,000 words. I've made some minor changes that reduce any further word loss.

My December editorial provides a brief history of SF magazine sizes.

E.,

Sheila and Brian hired me earlier this year to oversee a revolutionary redesign of the magazine.

I did some research and determined that the following changes were best:

First, we're moving to Rolling Stone (pre-shrink) format - that's 10 x 11 3/4 - megamag.

Second, we'll be cycling in contemporary romance stories - to beef up sales. Approximately one-third of the fiction will be by Jude Devereaux and Linda Howard (they'll alternate each month).

Third, we've re-tasked Robert Silverberg. His new job is to read all these romance stories and "science fictionalize" them - throw in things like flying baby carriages, love-lorn, all-too-human chambermaid robots, and bizarre time-space anomalies that allow desperate lovers to "turn back the clock" and reclaim the joy they thought they'd lost forever. Wonderful, thought-provoking stuff like that!

Fourth, hard science fiction will still be published, though less frequently. However, all stories will be detechnofied so as to be understandable by our new romantic audience. I've developed a program - Bowdlerizer Mark IV - for this purpose.

Fifth, the new title of the magazine will be Isaac's Out of this World Love Emporium.

Anyway. Those are the bigger changes.

I know you'll like them,

No wait - I mean you'll love them!

All the best,

John

And when will this format change occur?