This past Thursday we were allowed to really go into the archive and explore at our leisure. Much like the first time we visited the archive upon entrance we were lead into a much too small room filled to the brim with books and stacks of boxes. visually speaking the room is nothing extraordinary. It is just like any other room, what differentiates the room from another in the library is whats contained with in the shelf’s of the archive.Rows upon rows of the history that is science fiction. When I think about science fiction the first thing to come to mind isn’t magazines from 60s but rather movies and books. It strange to think of a world were science fiction was basically only limited to the pages of magazines and yet when we enter that room on the second floor of the library that is exactly what we are exposed to, the history genre that was just starting to blossom.
Unlike our last encounter in the archive this one differed vastly because we were able to really see what the archive held. No longer were we limited to just the titles of these important science fiction magazines. We were able to really see what the archive held and choose what interested us specifically. One of the most striking things about all the magazines in particular was the cover art on each magazine that brought focus to a particular tale held in the confines of the pages within the magazine.
The particular magazine I had browsed through was one of Isaac Asimov’s science fiction magazine released in October of 1984. What drew me most to this particular issue was the way the cover and how the colors suggested more of a fantastical color scheme rather then that of one usually provided to science fiction. Along with this came the striking difference of what the cover actually held, to faces mirroring each other done in sharp line and geometrical shapes.
It’s strange to see images such as these in our everyday texts. This cover in particular captured my attention but along the rows in the archive this cover is just one of many extraordinary works of art made to capture a readers interest’s and convey a deeper meaning to those who witness it.
The stories bond with in the magazine were also captivating in which they told stories of space travel along with the desires of the people with in them.When I first started going through the magazine what stood out most was the way it was sectioned. Filled with short stories that told of a desire for a new time, but still through it an annoyance persisted, ads. Pages devoted to advertasiments that tried to mirror the magazine. Told in ways of stories that would your attention and placed throughout the magazine in a way that reminded me of commercial breaks on television.
Persisting on I got to a story set in space in a futuristic world one can only dream about the story was “Moon Madness” and even though the story took place in a futuristic setting that is yet to be allowed to us still past tales persisted. The story was a boy who was lured to the moon but was being kidnapped for the purposes of money. To me even though the story took place years into the future what captivated me was the way the story told of old wants and desires, to be rich, to get revenge and to live forever. Although the setting evoloved the way people thought and acted in the story didn’t.
