I shouldn't post this late on a Sunday night, but I'll certainly be reposting as time goes on. I figured that my close-knit LJ community should be among the first to know.

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 (I thought I was out...but they dragged me back in!). 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.

Subscribers...I'll be contacting you about your options. You can certainly beat me to the punch and email me (or send a note to my LJ inbox) and I'll get right to you. Some subscribers will have one or two issues left, some four, some even more. I'm not taking in any more subscriptions (the subscription option is gone from the website), but in the meantime, anyone, subscriber or not, can consider buying the last two issues individually, and even consider picking up some back issues. This will be extremely helpful, as it will not be an easy road financially getting subscriptions paid back and getting #39 out without any subscription money coming in.

Please do respost this or parts of it, wherever you will, amongst the writing/SF community.

Well there it is. It's been a good run. A little rest, and I'll run again, but down a completely different road. Cuz, you know. I've got miles to go...

~Patrick