Editorials are difficult for me. I always seem to have plenty I want to say until I put pen to paper then can never think of a thing. This time however, I do have a few things to talk about:
THE COURIER PUBLICATION SCHEDULE
Most of our old subscribers know this but I will reiterate for the newer subscriber. The Courier Publishing Co. is NOT a full time business for its members - all who work on THE COURIER do so as part of their hobby and in the hope that eventually they will realize enough from their effort to help pay for their hobby. None take a salary from THE COURIER and all have responsible, time consuming jobs which pay for their livelihood.
The articles are written in England, Ecuador, Australia, and from all over the world and from all over the States. They are edited in Massachusetts, typset in Vermont, each issue is pasted up in New York and finally it is printed and mailed in Massachusetts. All of the above will probably cause you to wonder how we get each issue out at all, never mind in a reasonably timely fashion. You can understand why I get a bit irascible, when dispite over best efforts, we are a few weeks late - and are showered with post cards demanding the latest issue!
Please, save your postage. We make every attempt, within the constraints deliniated above, to be on time give or take a few weeks. Also, please allow for the three weeks delivery of third class printed matter by the post office.
FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS
This does not mean Canadians! Please be aware that when you pay surface rate ($10.50), each issue is sent, literally, by boat and takes a minimum of 60-90 days. Air Mail ($17.50) takes about three to four weeks including third class mail within your country.
SEEKING A REPLY
Please, if you want an answer to ANY inquiry- send a STAMPED, self addressed envelope (or use a POSTAL REPLY COUPON if a foreign subscriber). This does not pertain to Editors, of course. Ditto if you are sending in an Article. We cannot reply to queries of any kind with out the S.A.S.E and such queries will be ignored!
VOLLEY FIRE
THE COURIER wants to be YOUR magazine. To reach this goal we must have a larger response to volley fire. Each reader, and certainly each subscriber, should at least rate the articles as requested by volley fire. One does not have to answer ALL the questions - just the ratings. I assure you that each and every response is tallied and your interests will be catered to IF we hear about them. Do not suffer in silence -
WRITE ARTICLES
THE COURIER is written, for the most part, by its readers. That is what differentiates it from the competition with their staff stable of writers. This is intentional - we feel that there are plenty of good insights and ideas out there that will enhance this hobby for all of us and a staff of writers promulgating their own particular brand of gaming is not the way to get these ideas to the readers.
So sit down and write out the game or rule idea you have been chewing on. Don't worry about being Shakespeare or winning a Pulitzer. Just get your idea down in clear english - we'll take care of spelling and syntax (you can see from this editorial that we are not too fussy about that in any case). If you have something you would like to submit send a STAMPED self-addressed envelope to us and we will return simple instructions on "how to submit articles to The Courier". To be on time a magazine has to work two and three issues ahead - to do this we must have a wide selection of articles to work from. So, sending in articles will help us to be on time
THIS ISSUE
This issue introduces a new department, THE COURIER DISPATCH. It's edited by lerrY Chaskes a professor of English who has been beating me (and every one else) in ancients for seven years or more. This column will carry all the news of the hobby we can glean - so send in announcements of conventions, special hobby occurances, etc., and this will be a successful column.
Various Volley Fire returns have indicated a deep interest in OPPONENTS WANTED and a LETTERS column. The actual response for an O.W. column has been disappointing, however. If you want it to continue send in some entries. The LETTERS response has been nil! It is, in a way, reassuring that everyone loves THE COURIER so much that they can find nothing to complain about. But- I would dearly love to print some letters rebutting various articles or offering comment on doings in the hobby.
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