Crank! is dead! Let's get that right out front. The magazine ceased publication after the release of issue #8. That was in, uh, the spring of 1998. It was fun, since I got to publish some great stories and have a (usually) good time while I was at it, but the financial drain was too great. Four years later IÕm still paying for it. And my personal and professional life changed dramatically, leaving my priorities altered. Right now I have almost no professional contact with the science fiction world.
However, Crank! leaves behind an excellent anthology that you can still buy in trade paperback. It includes stories by James Blaylock, Karen Joy Fowler, R. A. Lafferty, Ursula K. Le Guin, Jonathan Lethem, Gene Wolfe, and others. In a fit of imaginative fervor, it was titled The Best of Crank!.
IÕm also dedicating part of this space to information about R. A. Lafferty, and Lafferty-related projects as they come up. So that part is small now but will be continually updated as new stuff comes in.
What am I doing now? you may be wondering. Or may not, but IÕm going to tell you anyway. I worked for Holtzbrink for a few years, first at Tor and then moving up to St. MartinÕs Press, but got laid off in 2001 thanks to the recession. So now IÕm working freelance, providing Òeditorial services,Ó which practically speaking right now is mostly copyediting and proofreading. Which is not very exciting work but thereÕs no commuting, no editorial or marketing meetings, no agent lunches, or any of that other crap.
I'm also taking clarinet lessons in my spare time.
revised July 22, 2003