Issue 1 has been reviewed on The Fix, the website for short fiction review. Reviewer Jason Sanford says very nice things about us, and I couldn't be more pleased!

I looked for a good copyable portion to stick in this leader article, but had a hard time finding a sort of summarizing sentence, so if you're curious, I'm afraid you'll just have to head over to The Fix and read the review yourself.

Finally. Have just returned from supervising the shipping of all subscriber and author issues of #1 -- please keep an eye on your mail box!

Sadly, the USPS has been taken over by the mob. Shipping prices have risen again, I was told, and I've had to adjust our subscription rate accordingly. All orders that have already been placed for one- or two- year subscriptions will be honoured, of course.

I do apologise for this -- it just rankles me that UK/European orders pay as much (or more) to get the magazine to them as for the magazine itself. I guess a small consolation is that the exchange rate for US dollars is pretty favourable these days...?

To subscribers and single issue buyers:

Please hang in there. I plan on camping out at the printer's doorstep -- I have been called to verify a couple of details about the magazine (including, yes, that I want them as soon as possible).

Please be prepared to post my bail.

Yours,

the editor.

Sums it up rather well.

I have been remiss, and I apologize, in keeping you up to date with news, mostly because I keep hoping to tell you Issue 1 has shipped.

What I'm waiting for is the printer, of course, and I've been told for several days that it will be "any day now." Which, I suppose, is true -- we just need to work on clarification of which day, in fact, "any" day is.

My apologies again, and it looks like we'll still be Issue 1-less for another weekend. Be sure you will be advised as soon as I get them in my hot little hands, and issues will be mailed out immediately -- I've already got shipping envelopes pre-addressed and etc.

In the meantime, author Gene Stewart has given us another fine review, this time of the book, No Country for Old Men -- do check it out in our reviews section.

Thanks for your patience, and feel free again to play on the forum -- all I've been doing lately on there is deleting bots.

Happy April Fools!

I do NOT have any jokes for you. Just an update. I had of course hoped to have the magazine out a couple of weeks ago, but all in all I can't worry too much about the relatively minor delays -- the cheques have all been sent (if there's an author in the house who hasn't received theirs for issue one yet, please let me know), the ads are all in, (still lots of room for ads in issue 2, if anyone's interested...), and yes, the magazine is finally off to the printers. We should be getting copies within the next week, maybe two.

I still owe a couple of authors an email, please hang in there -- now that issue one is more or less in the bag, I will be emailing folks about issue 2, and getting back to anyone who hasn't heard anything yet.

In case you haven't been to the Forums yet and so haven't seen the latest news, here is the Table of Contents for issue 1.

Who We Need Here is Mister Thomas Edison — Gary K. Wolf
His Soul Goes Marching On — Kevin G. Summers
Hard Lines — Phillip K. Lentz
Timberbeasts — Joel A. Sutherland
Before Chaos and the Glare — Rita Oakes
Candles for the Dead — Silvia Moreno-Garcia