#47: Ink

Avenue A’s decades old zine spot

The Shop: Ink

Alphabet City, Manhattan: 66 Avenue A

There’s something special about these old-school Lower Manhattan magazine stores. If you’ve been to Casa or Iconic, you know the drill: narrow storefront, floor to ceiling shelves, and magazines on magazines on magazines from every genre and corner of the world. The cluttered storefront of Ink can be overwhelming, with magazines stacked on floors, tucked into corners, and shoved haphazardly under snacks and home goods. Introverts, rehearse your “pardon me’s” and “excuse me’s” in advance because you will need them to squeeze past East village cool kids to get to really any point in the store. Those who brave the stale coffee and cigarette stank will be rewarded with magazine selection vast enough to fill infinite plane rides and/or bathroom trips.

What I got: Asimov’s Science Fiction March/April 2022 Issue

I didn’t realize that print sci-fi anthology magazines like this one still existed— turns out they do, and they rock. I bought this more as a curiosity than an earnest purchase, the unstylish typefaces and disposable feeling newsprint setting my expectations low. While the quality varied from story to story, the better tales in this issue blew me away! The standout for me was “Dollbot Cicily,” Will McIntosh’s story about a down on her luck hacker who wreaks havoc controlling the sex robots of wealthy creeps (it goes poorly). For fans of Asimov-era sci-fi, these stories feel like worthy heirs, embracing the stylistic hallmarks of the genre’s golden age while reaching to more contemporary concerns.