Editorial – October 2024

Well, this has been a busy month. It has included three conventions, though I have not done a report for Octocon because my presence there was limited to one online panel. I’m on my way to a fourth right now. And in the middle of all that I have produced two new books through Wizard’s Tower. It has been, and continues to be, rather exhausting.

Of course, despite the rather gloomy look at the economics of small presses in this issue, I wouldn’t have it any other way. The point of running Wizard’s Tower is to get good fiction into the hands of readers, and the pay the authors at least something for it.

If you were at BristolCon you will know that there is a lot more coming from Wizard’s Tower over the coming months. Look out for press releases. Much of this is to do with rescuing people left high and dry by the collapse of Grimbold / Kristell Ink.

At least next year should be quieter. I’m not taking books to Eastercon because the whole Brexit nonsense is too complicated. Worldcon is in the USA, and there is no FantasyCon because there is World Fantasy instead. I’ll be at Archipelacon, of course, but that’s the Eurocon and there is no Finncon or Åcon because of it. I’ll have to find some other events to go to instead.

This issue is a little late. I was hoping to get it finished while I was at Bristol Airport waiting for my flight, but the free wifi there was terrible, presumably because they have way too little capacity for the number of users. Also I got bumped from my flight and was 4 hours late arriving in Stockholm, so all I wanted to do when I got to my hotel was sleep. Thankfully Fantastika does not start until late afternoon, so I’m sat here in the hotel getting this done.