One Last Urging On Behalf Of Locus

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Once more unto the fundraiser, dear friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our Locus dead... 

The Locus fundraiser is into its last days, and if you haven't made a contribution, however pittance-y, I urge you to do so.

Why? Well... Fifty years ago, the center of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, was made up of three magazines: Analog, F&SF, and Asimov's. Everyone who was serious about genre had a subscription to one or more, or at least knew second-hand the highlights of what was going on in them. As a result, there was a lot of productive influence-swapping between writers and artists who ostensibly had very little in common. As well as producing in everybody a sense that we are all one big, metaphoric family.

Those magazines still exist but they don't have the importance they once did. There are so many other outlets for genre fiction that it's entirely possible for an intelligent reader to have no special feeling for any of them.

As that happened, Locus moved into that center. It is where we go to learn what is happening in our intermingled triune of genres, and to discover books and writers that will become important to us and which we would never have discovered otherwise.

Without Locus, your favorite genre, authors, and books will continue on as before. But the richness, the interconnectedness, the family feel will diminish. I do not say that it will dwindle and depart into the West. But we will all be the poorer for the loss.

Also, there are some pretty neat nifty perks remaining, for those who need to buy a present for that beloved nerd-who-has-everything. Especially if that happens to be yourself.

You can find the fundraiser here. But hurry! There's less than two days left.

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