Back in November, my wife planned a weekend away in the quiet little town of Morro Bay for my birthday. It's just a quick 30 minute drive to the coast, so it was more like a stay-cation, and it was so peaceful and perfect. We spent Sunday walking up and down the embarcadero and perusing antique and thrift stores. In one of those stores, I found a basket filled with old issues of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine put out by Doubleday books in the 1960s. I picked one up, but got distracted and hadn't opened it until last night.
After dinner, I found my kids both sitting at the kitchen table reading quietly, so I went to the bookshelf in search of something to read that didn't require a long commitment. I opened Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine and flipped to the first story, The Key: "a new novelet by Isaac Asimov".
I had heard Dr. Asimov's name so often over the years and had always planned on getting around to reading some of his work, but had never quite gotten there. It was one of those things where you hear an established name so often, that you already feel like you know it and don't feel excited about it—like how many people who grow up in New York have never visited the statue of liberty, or how I live in an area known as "wine country", and couldn't care less about wine.
Well, I'm so glad I finally cracked open an Asimov story, because The Key was so clever, fun, and inspirational. Fortunately there is another Asimov story at the back of this edition, and I'm also thinking I may need to make another jaunt over to Morro Bay in the near future to pick up a few more copies of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine.
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