Lets just say the last 4 months haven’t been ideal in the electronic land of ticon. First we were randomly trashed by the beige hats of hackerdom, then our webhost* deleted everything.

It’s a new year, and we’d like to put 2009 behind us, but not before graciously and gratefully acknowledging the efforts of those who contributed last year, many wonderful folk whose efforts sadly didn’t receive the attention they so richly deserved. We’re sorry, and will do our best to make sure it won’t happen again.

It’s going to be a busy few months at Ticonderoga. We’ve got a whole lot of great fiction and reviews to put up here at ticon4, as well as the expected publication of 3 new books. You’ll hear more about them shortly.

Please, grant us a little patience as we iron out a few teething issues, and take the time to have a look around at the wonders this site offers.

Many thanks!

* the web host was 3ix, thoroughly not recommended, and we’re no longer hosting through them.

The publishing industry looks set for lean times, from the top down. Large, advertising-driven magazines are in the frontline, but I doubt any player, right down to the smallest and most irregular indie press will not feel it at some point.

In January Realms of Fantasy announced its demise, and Wheatland Press announced a hiatus. Even without a crystal ball, I can comfortably predict that these won’t be the only casualties this year.

It’s up to all of us; me, you, the person at the office, the person on the train, to join the fight.

I killed Realms of Fantasy. I never bought an issue, read an issue, advertised in an issue or encouraged anyone to check it out. While I wasn’t the only killer, I must take some responsibility for this.

We can all make a difference. We don’t have to buy everything, but we can talk about the presses doing the good stuff, let people know what great books and magazines are around. I’m not asking everyone to save every publisher single handedly, just that each one of us do a bit.

Each day, each week, each month.

Don’t shift the blame. How many publishers are we going to kill this year?

In revamping ticon, one of the things we’ve had to cut back on is feedback to unsuccessful writers.

In previous years, we would sometimes give 500 word responses to stories, to give writers some guidance on how to improve their writing.

Giving feedback isn’t an easy process. Good, constructive criticism is a skill that not everyone has, and even those who can do it, many find the process tiring. It can take a lot out of the critic: being balanced, getting the story’s strengths and weaknesses across, and also making sure that the feedback reads as criticism of the story, not the writer.

It can make a 100 metre dive into a glass of water seem easy.

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Welcome back to the glamorous and sexy world of publishing!

The hiatus, from March 2007 to now, has been entirely because of me. Without boring with details, in this time I’ve been diagnosed with a fairly common and rather debilitating illness, and started treatment, and had some ups and downs. I can’t rule out future breaks in transmission, but I’m happy to say, right now, that ticon4 is back.

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Ticon4 launches 29 December 2008.

Please come back at 4 minutes to midnight, UTC +0900.