Support Talebones!

Talebones, in case you've never heard of it, is a lovely little magazine put out by Patrick and Honna Swenson. They've published two of my stories, "The King of Memphis" and "A Whole Man," and they've published a host of other talented folks besides. And they're in trouble:

Dear Family, Friends, Peers, Acquaintances:

Talebones has been a part of our lives for almost 11 years now. We have enjoyed every minute of putting all 33 issues together for our readers. It has truly been a labor of love. Most of the time that labor has cost us money, and now, because the amount of money we can put into the magazine has dwindled and, for whatever reason, subscriptions and renewals have not been as strong as we had hoped over the past year, we figure we may have to close down the magazine.

A couple of days ago, it was actually a final decision. "That's it, there's no way can we keep going." There were tears. A few VIPs we mentioned it to asked us to reconsider. So we took a step back and decided: We will issue renewal notices as usual, but put an extra strong plea in there about this. And then we will send a more detailed email to everyone in our email address book who might have an interest. Based on what renewals come in over the next month, based on the response to this email, we will see if Talebones can continue on past 2006. Issue #33 is already in its final preparation stage. With our decision to make this final stab at keeping things going came the decision to at least have an issue #34, to be published in November of December. We will make a determination then if it is to be the last or not.

If you've subscribed to our magazine before, if you've never subscribed, but maybe sent us stories (or had stories published by us), or have wished us well with our little venture, we hope you'll consider helping out. . . . At this point, even a single issue copy of our upcoming issue #33 will help. (We’ve put the order form/info up on our website early.) We have Paypal ready to go if you'd like to go that route. Or you can send money order or check payable to Talebones to our physical address at 5203 Quincy Ave SE; Auburn, WA 98092. Or you can ignore this, delete this, or, do whatever you like. It won't change the way we feel about ANY of you. We just thought we'd do something we’ve never done in over a decade of publishing the magazine: beg!

That's our sermon. Thanks for your support. Regardless of what happens to the magazine, never fear: Talebones and Fairwood Press will continue to have a presence in the SF world.

Patrick & Honna Swenson
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Talebones Magazine
Fairwood Press, Inc

Help them out if you can, folks; you'll be helping yourself to some great stories as well!