Enough about you...

Re having temporary difficulties. (Don't try to adjust your set.)
Well, the fact of the matter is that not one person contributed a penny, though the donation button is right there. The idea was to make the thing self-sustaining. I hope all you writers in that first issue realize how you failed me...(I'M KIDDING! Play along for the folks at home, okay?)

But seriously, I think I underestimated how "shocking" these stories would be to Mr. & Mrs. Casual Lit Reader. News of the first issue made it to many on arts and cultural boards and various groups who ostensibly take an interest in grassroots lit. Maybe there was one too many zombies, or not enough tea towel moments -- I don't know. (I think I'll try to get Mike Diana (don't Google him yourself -- the result could be upsetting, take my word for it) to illustrate the next issue -- that should show them what shocking really is.)

So the upshot is things are temporarily on hold for Whirligigzine. I know this is where editor/publishers usually say something like "I know I made mistakes" and go on to enumerate them while groveling a bit while maintaining their basic nobility. But actually, I didn't make any mistakes -- the current situation is merely a result of our time, when reading fiction of any type is so far down on most people's to-do list as to be without consequence in their lives. Checked off undone.

For the writers who think I have gone to Cancun on all the money I made off their work -- no. The closest I can get to anything like that is sticking a little umbrella in my bottle of Corona as I cool off on my porch. I'll try to raise some funds in various (completely legal) ways and in the meantime perhaps fill the zine with my own stuff. Why not -- I have to get it out there somehow. And in something more than a damn blog.

In my superhero writer dreams I imagine myself as Genre Buster Man.(!) (I'm sure there are critics out there who are in possession of literary Kryptonite to deal with the likes of me. "Bring it on," says GBM!) In any event, I'm going to stick to my guns when it comes to publishing other writers. You deserve to be paid. If I temporarily can't pay you then I won't publish you. Period.

(And yes, I've got a long delayed poetry issue coming out before Whirligigzine makes a change. I'll be in touch about that.)

Current Music: Dancing Bear -- The Mamas And Papas