Today I had kind of a depressing task to perform: sending out forty-odd response letters to Futurismic submitters notifying them that we’re no longer buying fiction. For those of you who haven’t seen the news, Paul posted it here yesterday. We did our best to keep things going, but it just wasn’t in the cards.
Futurismic has had its ups and downs as a fiction market in the past — including one extended, unplanned hiatus — but usually when we’ve shut down operations it’s merely been to take a vacation, recharge our batteries, and publish accumulated inventory. This one feels different. It’s not necessarily permanent, but it’s definitely indefinite. It feels more like removing my editorial hat than simply setting it aside for a while.
I’m trying to look on the bright side of things, though. Maybe it’s time for a break. I think we published a lot of great stuff over the past six years, and I’m proud of the work we’ve done. I’m looking forward to being able to commit more time to my own writing. And who knows, maybe in time Futurismic will come back with a new and better format.
But at the moment, still processing things, it seems like the end of an era, and I’m feeling a little bummed.
Hang in there. You did great work on it. And when one door closes, another one opens, right?
I’m trying to look at it that way, yeah — thanks for the encouragement!