The Marine Quarterly

[KINGFISHER 9]

Has anyone subscribed to The Marine Quarterly? I see the first edition is just out and wondered if it was any good ... there's a website to check for contents. I thought the annual sub at £40 was a bit steep and wondered if anyone with the first ed reckons it's good value ... or not?

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Just getting this one to the top again .... somebody must have subscribed surely?

 

[Richard Shead]

Just getting this one to the top again .... somebody must have subscribed surely?

Interesting, I have not seen or head of it before but will have a good dig around to see whos behind it..

Come to think of it, are you not in publishing?

 

[snooks]

Has anyone subscribed to The Marine Quarterly? I see the first edition is just out and wondered if it was any good ... there's a website to check for contents. I thought the annual sub at £40 was a bit steep and wondered if anyone with the first ed reckons it's good value ... or not?

It's always fun trying to find subscribers for 13 top quality issues of Yachting Monthly at the bargain price of [Richard can fill this bit in], but they want £40 for 4 issues if the name is anything to go by (but look as us Yachting Monthly and it comes out every 4 weeks, hey ho) anyway £10 an issue?

It doesn't even have any photographs, just "illustrated with charts, woodcuts and line drawings." it sounds like a 70's copy of YM I was looking at today, but without the photographs

I'll keep my wallet in my pocket and swipe books from YM's library though reading a book is easier on the tube than on my bike!

 

[samsonioni]

An editor writes

I don't know if it's legitimate in web world to defend my new journal online, but here goes anyway.

The Marine Quarterly publishes articles about the sea. They deal with fisheries, conservation, shipping, sailing, adventure, wildlife, oceanography, the future of the Navy and the odd spot of fiction, as well as some stuff about boats. It goes to places where yachting magazines do not go, because it is not specifically about yachting. It is about the sea, and the parts of the land that are close to the sea, about which we are badly underinformed although we live on an island. And it does it with writers who are good, going on excellent. Take a look at the website, and the views (embarrassingly enthusiastic, and auditably genuine) of people who have already subscribed.

As for photographs, the MQ is aimed at people for whom words make the best pictures.

And the cost. Well, £40 a year is certainly a lot. Other things you can get for £40 are three cinema tickets, half a tankful of gas or a small handful of shackles. We were under pressure from various people to charge £39.95, because it looks better. But we didn't, because it isn't. On the same principle we do not accept advertising, because it is always possible that advertisers may have views about the stuff in the magazine, and these views are of no interest to editors.

Snooks, before you condemn us unseen it would be a civil move to get YM (for whom it appears you may work) to subscribe. Then you can swipe it out of the library and have a look for yourself.

best

Sam Llewellyn

Editor, The Marine Quarterly

www.marinequarterly.com

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

I had an inkling that Samsonioni was Sam Llewellyn before I got to the bottom of the page! ... I used to work for the firm that published you at one time ... we spent a couple of days in Cornwall and a posh lunch in Exeter as I remember.
I was pondering your magazine or probably book is a better word ... it looks like a nautical Reader's Digest to me ... I like the idea. I already subscribe to YW,YM,PBO and CB (best one!) ... and Sailing Today (wash my mouth out with soap!) ... yours looks like a refreshing change ... if I have to read another article about 'man overboard' or 'how to fit a curved door cupboard in the forepeak' I think I might consider taking up golf instead!
I'll send in my sub and report back on here ... as you say to comment on something you haven't seen is just silly ... it may well turn out to be better value than the rest put together!

(Tim Daniel ... not Frank Thompson! ... pen name for here!)

 

[Ceejay]

Snooks
I gave up my YM sub because I just couldn't find time to get through 13 copies a year. I also gave up Sailing Today for the same reason. I remember when YM was a good read, but as has been said before, and I agree, it has lost the plot in more recent times and become a bit ordinary.
This new quarterly publication looks as though it may indeed be a good read, so I may just give it a go, and I probably will find time to read it at 4 issues a year.
CJ

 

[Deleted member 36384]

.... 'how to fit a curved door cupboard in the forepeak' .....

Cor, let me at it, what issue?

The Marine Quarterly might be a good read and I would be tempted to try an issue but not a quarterly subscription. The web site did not make it that tempting. Didn't like the spring issue cover; yes I know its a shallow comment.

However, like frankthompson, I like to read about boat stuff and find the current stable too repetitive and getting boring. Classic boat, maybe try that now.

 

[Mark-1]

And it does it with writers who are good, going on excellent.

Sounds similar to Nautical Quarterly, mentioned by Reese Palley on a podcast somewhere. Their USP was also quality writing. I'm glad someone's doing it.

YM's pretty good to, of course, and it has the advantage that it's there on the shelf at Tescos while SHMBO wheels the trolly round. Sometimes it's so good I even buy it when she gets to the checkout.

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Cor, let me at it, what issue?

___________________________________________________

One of them did this a couple of months ago ... I forget which one but probably PBO ... pages and pages with I don't know how many photographs ... a curved door cupboard which took up so much space it was laughable ... it curved outwards. Full marks to the enthusiast who built it but really you'd want it on board about as much as a wheelbarrow!

 

[Resolution]

For those of you whom the world has passed by, Sam LLewellyn used to write readable and racy novels about sailing. Titles like Riptide, Blood Knot and Dead Reckoning give a fair indication of what was on offer. Latterly, his "The Shadow of the Sands" was an entertaining extention of The Riddle of the Sands. If he is behind the MQ it's probably worth giving it a go.

Usual disclaimers, no commercial connection.

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

I've done my sub ... will report back.

 

[snooks]

Hi Sam,

Please don't be offended by my tongue in cheek remarks, I'm a photographer (I took your headshot for PBO some years ago at a London Boatshow) so in contrast to your readership, for me photographs are my words, it's about the only language I consider myself fluent in so when I saw your publication wasn't speaking my language I felt that it wasn't for me. This may or may not be the case.

Your publication does sound interesting, and certainly a departure from alot of publications already out there. Is it only available through subscription?

Personally I don't often find the time to read books, when I'm on my boat I usually have my hands full fixing her, and in my day to day life I'm kept busy by my lovely wife, 3 cats and a garden. I cycle to work so I don't get a chance to read on a train, and I already have quite backlog of books I would like to read. I do however read Yachting Monthly and PBO as ther are both of interest to me on a personal and professional level.

I wish you the best of luck with MQ, and apologise if you thought my remarks were harsh, they were intended to be light hearted.

 

[samsonioni]

Tim and Snooks

Excellent to read both your views. Tim, the postman will drop the first issue on your doormat early next week; I look forward to your verdict. Snooks, that is very decent of you. I greatly hope that when you do eventually see the MQ you will like it in spite of the sea of print that rolls between its covers. (It is indeed a subscription-only job).

Perhaps we will all collide in a non-electronic way one of these days, and have a small lotion and a large discussion of these and other matters.

all best

Sam

www.marinequarterly.com

 

[Twister_Ken]

Sam,

Is it possible to buy one on a suck-it-and-see basis, rather than subscribing for the whole year?

Sort of similar, and a thoroughly entertaining read if a) you like London and b) you are interested in writing and humour is Smoke, a London Peculiar.

You can still buy individual copies of Smoke, although I subscribed.

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Thank you Sam .... and if you ever manage to unstick your keel from the mud in Mudd and get down to the dreaded Solent (aka Hyde Park Corner) give us a shout and we'll manage a small tincture as you suggest ............ or anyone else Port Solent way come to that!

 

[Tim Good]

I've done my sub ... will report back.

Kingfisher. Verdict?

 

[Twister_Ken]

I've subscribed for a while. Really look forward to it. Takes much longer to read than any of the comics, so on a 'per minute' basis it's pretty good value. I have the latest on the desk, and have so far resisted the temptation to read anything, but the contents list includes stuff you won't see in anything from IPC, like...

Flight Lieutenant Culley Hunts a Zeppelin
Carrier Command
The Black Flag (about oyster dredging)
On the Origins of Fishing Vessels
Highway to Hell (about seamen on the London River and their 'entertainments' ashore).
Mission to Seafarers (bringing comfort to Hull's sailors)
The Good Old Days (Mike Peyton remembers)
In the Kelp Forests (diving)

All told 112 A5 pages. No ads, no pix, 100% words demanding to be read.

Incidentally, it's almost worth subscribing for the final book review, written by Ray Doggett, Master of the Tobacco Trader and a man with a grievance because his trade of cigarette smuggling has fallen on hard times. This edition he considers 'A lot of books about sail training and that: various publishers, terrible dear.'

 

[Eyore]

I am a subscriber on my second year and while its an expensive purchase relatively speaking its certainly not a publication you would ever dream of throwing away after reading. I think its an interesting and well produced journal which is essential reading for anyone with a love of the sea. I ration myself to one chapter a night in bed to make it last as long as possible.

 

[Annyann]

Like Eyore I have just subscribed for a second year having received the first year as a gift from a daughter. Being in my sixties I seem to value my time (which unlike my boat seems to whizz along with increasing speed each year) more and more and if I never see another glossy review for a half million pound yacht or a review of the holding power of the latest fashion in anchors, I will be a happy man. Yes £40 seems a lot, but I don't want to have to subscribe to and read 15 publications to find a few hours of decent reading pleasure. Sailing Today which I will not be renewing struggles to keep my interest for an hour. Classic boat is considerably better as is YM, but in both cases, text struggles with advertising and leaves the reader with only curtailed versions of what QM allows the author to develop. I enjoy QM's broad span which on more than one occasion has lead me to areas I had not previously explored. Like my modest collection of highland malts, and for about the cost of a single bottle, QM is an indulgence which I choose not to be without. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.