DargonZine
Volume 13, Number 13 |
Distributed: 12/16/2000
Circulation: 760 |
 |
DargonZine is the publication vehicle of the
Dargon Project, a collaborative group of aspiring fantasy writers on the
Internet. We welcome new readers and writers interested in joining the
project. Please address all correspondence to
<dargon@shore.net>
or visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.dargonzine.org/. Back
issues are available from
ftp.shore.net
in members/dargon/. Issues and public discussion are posted to newsgroup
rec.mag.dargon.
DargonZine 13-13, ISSN 1080-9910, (C) Copyright December, 2000
by the Dargon Project. Editor: Ornoth D.A. Liscomb
<ornoth@shore.net>,
Assistant Editor: Jon Evans
<godling@mnsinc.com>.
All rights reserved. All rights are reassigned to the individual
contributors. Stories and artwork appearing herein may not be reproduced
or redistributed without the explicit permission of their creators, except
in the case of freely reproducing entire issues for further distribution.
Reproduction of issues or any portions thereof for profit is forbidden.
|
Editorial
ixteen years ago I founded FSFnet, a general fantasy and science
fiction ezine and DargonZine's immediate predecessor, with a mass
mailing to 100 friends. In that initial mailing as well as subsequent
Editorials, I regularly found myself begging for submissions. At the
same time, our readership dropped to an all-time low of about 35. In
addition to pleading for submissions, I also spent most of FSFnet's
first year encouraging people to spread the word and drum up new
readers.
Near the end of FSFnet's first year several writers and I started
kicking around the idea of setting all our stories in a common milieu,
and in January of 1986 we printed our first stories set in a place
called Dargon. That year we doubled our output and circulation, and
things haven't slacked off since. This year, our sixteenth, was our most
productive ever. We distributed thirteen issues, featuring a record 37
stories from more than a dozen different writers, three of whom were new
to DargonZine's readers.
Once our collaborative writing group, which we called "the Dargon
Project", got off the ground, things really started to change. All of a
sudden our focused writing group was attracting new writers and
nurturing their productivity, and I found that I didn't have to beg for
submissions anymore. Furthermore, with stories that related to one
another, and the improvement in quality that came with the peer-review
process, readers who really enjoyed the zine weren't so hard to find
anymore, and they spread the word to their friends. It looked like we'd
struck a magic formula: writers, attracted by the opportunity to
interact with other writers and real readers, produced better stories,
which in turn attracted more readers. And like a perpetual-motion
machine, here we are fifteen years later with a writing group and
magazine that are more vital than ever. But the thing that still makes
me wonder is that this has come about with very little pushing for
submissions and virtually no advertising; our success is entirely
because of our writers and our readers. And seeing DargonZine prove
interesting and useful to so many people really makes me proud of what
we've accomplished.
And thing continue to get better. In the past year we introduced
two significant new features for our readers. The Interactive Maps that
are available in the "About Dargon" section of our Web site are a great
way for people to familiarize themselves with the lands where our
stories take place. But I think the biggest enhancement of the year is
the function we've added to our Web site that allows you to rate each
story you read. That feature is your direct line to the author of the
story, and our writers eagerly want your feedback. While we've always
done a great job getting our writers talking to one another and working
together, there's never been very much contact between them and our
readers. The story ratings system is a great way for us to bridge that
gap, giving our writers even more useful feedback, so that they can
learn from you, not just from each other.
Other developments in 2000 may be less obvious, but do improve what
we do. These include filling in more details in our Online Glossary, our
writers' Critiquing FAQ, and the work that has gone into continuing
projects like our Dargon timeline, our new map of the city of Dargon,
and our Web site redesign.
This year has been very productive, and I hope you've enjoyed the
results of our work. Look for more great stories and new features as we
continue into our 17th year online. And thanks for being with us.
This issue features three of our old guard: Brandon Haught, Jon
Evans, and the unavoidable Dafydd.
"Rattler's Imp" is Brandon's third story for DargonZine. His work
to date has consistently been in a darkly humorous, ironic vein, and I'm
sure you'll like this story if you enjoyed his previous efforts:
DargonZine 11-3's "The Gong Farmer", and "The Sanity of Spirit" in
DargonZine 12-8.
Returning for his second story in three years is Jon Evans, who
joined the project back in 1989. Because all our writers have different
points of view, stories about Dargon's religions are usually somewhat
contentious, and "Leave the Ocean to Cirrangill" is no exception. This
short piece certainly won't be the last word written on Dargon's
religions, you can be sure!
On the opposite end of the productivity spectrum from Jon is
Dafydd, who finishes this issue with his 27th story in three years!
Nearly all of those stories are contained within his huge (but episodic)
"Talisman" series, which will continue well into 2001. Dafydd joined the
group in 1986, just after the Dargon Project had begun, and he is
without question one of the reasons why DargonZine has thrived over the
years.
I hope you enjoy this issue, and look forward to our next issue,
DargonZine 14-1, after our usual brief end-of-year break.
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