Adventures In Writing

Just Trying To Help Out

I found this on Rinda Elliott's THE WRITE SNARK wordpress blog(http://relliott4.wordpress.com/) and thought I would help out. Apex is a science-fiction/horror magazine that has come out of nowhere and been gaining favorable reviews. Apparently the editor needs a little help. I read his letter. I was moved. So I print it here in the hopes that it helps make a difference.

And, yes, I'm subscribing.

From Rinda:

Now, for some difficult news. You all know how much I like Apex Digest. Great writing, wonderful editor who has become a friend of mine — every issue has had stories that stuck in my mind long after I finished them. I caught this post on his blog today and I’m sharing because it had to be a difficult post.

So, if you like sci-fi or horror and have had thoughts of checking out Apex, now would be a great time to giving them a try. And if any of you are familiar with the magazine and think it’s great, spread the word.
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This is my own personal horror story. In it, I play the guy whose pride won’t let him ask for help when he sees that he needs it. I might have waited too late, even now. Hubris can be a complicated personality trait. It’s one that I’m struggling with at the moment.

See, I’m having to come out to the public that Apex needs help. That I need help. Like, within two weeks.

Those who know me that my hubris is a personality flaw.

But this damn magazine means too much to me.

The story starts out well. A nice guy, me, starts a science-fiction and horror magazine. He loves it. He puts his own money into it. To his delight, the critics respond well to the stories. It goes into Barnes and Nobles. It starts breaking even. Who cares if he has a small debt from starting it? He’s paying that back and things are golden. He is proud of his magazine.

You see where this is going, don’t you? The word “pride” is your cue that things are about to go south.

This nice guy loses his job. He has four months of unemployment, but he keeps putting the magazine out. That small debt starts to get bigger. But he keeps his writers and artists paid and delivers the magazine on time. The printer is understanding and lets him slide on payments.
If the nice guy had asked for help then, he wouldn’t have needed to slide on payments. But he has a lot of pride and thinks he could tough it out. Then the nice guy gets a new job, which proves his point. He starts paying down the debt to his printer.

If this weren’t a horror story that would be the happy ending. There would be butterflies and fuzzy kittens. But this is a horror story.

We never see the printer’s POV, so we don’t know why the email is sent. All the nice guy knows is that the printer wants all of the money and wants it now. He doesn’t have it.

At the moment, I don’t know how this story will end.

All of Apex’s distributors rightfully expect their copies of the magazine within the next couple of weeks. Apex subscribers rightfully expect their copies within the next couple of weeks.

If I fail to get Apex #7 out to the distributors and subscribers, the story ends. I’ve begged and borrowed as much as I can. Now I’m dropping my pride and admitting that I need help publicly. I need 200 new subscribers to create the revenue required to pay off the debt to the printer.

Tell me how my story ends. You have the power. It’s sort of like one of those cool “choose your adventure” books from childhood.

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