From the Uppercase Beyond Flicker Set
Over the past few weeks, I've had conversations with friends and Beyond supporters alike and we have decided to put Beyond into a long hiatus. Not quite death. Cryogenics could be involved but our dry ice keeps, well, drying and we feel uncomfortable standing over the dear thing with a pillow - especially when it sleeps with that one eye open. The middle one.
We think Beyond could make it just fine. So this should not be construed or misconstrued or strued of any kind that media is dying or magazines are over or people don't like paper or writing or blah, blah, blah, blah.
We hate all the "Something is dead!" that goes on these days because giant media entities that were more about being packages for advertising are in trouble. Their reasons for delivering content or engaging in what was once called journalism died when they decided share price was more important than content. We didn't do any better in the economic boom than we would in the upcoming bust. We generally just chug along doing our own thing, cultivating our own small field while joining the many folks around the world producing beautiful print things because it is fun and worth doing.
We hate all the "Something is dead!" that goes on these days because giant media entities that were more about being packages for advertising are in trouble. Their reasons for delivering content or engaging in what was once called journalism died when they decided share price was more important than content. We didn't do any better in the economic boom than we would in the upcoming bust. We generally just chug along doing our own thing, cultivating our own small field while joining the many folks around the world producing beautiful print things because it is fun and worth doing.
The truth is some of us aren't fine. There are some health issues. And to do this sort of thing, even to do it in a small and slow manner, requires a certain level of energy. There are volunteers and contributors to keep in touch with, email to answer, blogs to publish and now there is twittering and books with faces and spaces with my's - all things that are now necessary in order to build and keep even the smallest of audiences. This can be a little more difficult when spirits are willing but bodies are putting up blockades.
There is a possible move coming up and it seems like a good time to shut things down. We'll be contacting each of our ongoing readers to keep folks absolutely happy. We'll keep selling the Beyonds we have because they are mostly not time dated and still fun and pretty third eye and all.
Look for us again. We're sure we'll be back with special print projects and possibly other magazine forms as we figure out life and health. Oh our little hamster like brains are spinning even as we go.
You can find us over at The Hedge Society (taken from an editorial in Beyond Issue 14: Possible Worlds) where we will continue highlighting the work of illustrators, film makers, writers, designers, and whatever else that grabs us politely and impolitely. Right now we're on a handmade calendar kick but come the New Year we'll be featuring a lot of the folks who sent us illustrator cards and content throughout the Beyond years. We have many, many Beyond-y things we've gathered and will happily share them with you. Come follow our twitter, our blog, and join the fun. You'll also be the first to know when we get back on the publishing wagon.
Thanks to the many of you who have helped out with Beyond over the years. We wink at you with our middle eye. We say, hurray for paper arts and we'll be back.
