Just days after announcing movement on the 38th issue of the magazine, Talebones editor Patrick Swenson has announced that the magazine is closing up shop… sort of.
In his blog, Swenson announces the impending death of the magazine (after issue #39), and its expected resurrection a year or two later as an annual anthology.
“Talebones the magazine is closing up shop. There are many reasons, some of which I’ve mentioned before in earlier attempts to close the magazine… Subscribers are hard to come by. I could throw numbers at you, but why bother? They’re not pretty. Talebones has stayed afloat for the last few years only because of (a) the Save Talebones drive two years ago and (b) other funding from Fairwood Press, the Rainforest retreat, and my pocket.
“But even so, money is not the main reason I’m ending the mag. I need just a little less stress in my life, and more time for other things. My son. My health. My job. My writing.
“And even so, Talebones is not dead. Oh no.
“Talebones #38 will be out within the next month. Issue #39 before the end of the year. (Decisions were made not too long ago on that issue.) I am returning all submissions that come to me, unread, with a note attached regarding the closure. I will take all of 2010 off from Talebones, except for the work/planning needed to put out the long-awaited Best of Talebones anthology. By the end of this year, Talebones will be owned by my book company, Fairwood Press.
“Starting in 2011, Talebones will become an annual anthology. It will be all fiction, no poetry, probably no artwork other than the cover. It will have broader distribution (I hope). Submission guidelines will go up sometime in late 2010, and I will probably do some invites for that first anthology to get a good jump on things. I expect the guidelines to be fairly similar to the magazine guidelines. I also expect that submissions will be accepted during a limited window of time each year, and probably all online. Down the road there might be guest editors and themes. Don’t hold me completely to all these expectations, though.
“So Talebones isn’t really going away. Just entering its chrysalis phase; when it comes out, it will hopefully be changed for the better. There’s no guarantee it will survive that way, either, but I’ve got to give it a try.”
Swenson will be contacting subscribers shortly “about your options”, though he also invites subscriber-initiated contact on his blog.