We have a slightly different format this month. Many of our letters have had some subset of the questions below in them, so it seemed like a good idea to resurrect a format from the Guld Auld Days and answer them one by one. -- D.J.T. Q: I want to send you an article. What format should I use? A: Well, first you should send us a self-addressed, stamped envelope requesting our Writers, and Artists' Guidelines, which explains all of that. The short form is: send us some sort of word processing file on a 3.5" disk and we'll probably be able to read it -- we're on Macintoshes, but have a slew of translators. If you have any doubts, just send straight ASCII text. The most important thing to include is a printed copy of the article, because paper is a more robust medium than floppies. Q: Where is (Fin | Joe | G,B,&U | H,L,&S | CERK | ? I really liked it and I miss it. A: They're all back this issue. Most of these have had some sort of hiatus over the last couple of issues for various reasons, but now seem to be back on track. The "Hook, Line, and Sinker" name went with Jolly, as did the Knights of the Dinner Table. We've preserved the HL&S format, but it has undergone a name transplant and is now "Lights, Camera, Action!" The reason for its intermittent vanishings over the last couple of months can be traced to a shortage of submissions for it. That's a hint, folks. "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" has also returned this issue, with characters by the popular Larry Granato (also appearing in "The Big Event") and illustrations by the redoubtable Intern Jen. "Close Encounters of the Random Kind is back with a vengeance this issue, with Matt Stevens' "Scenario Geation System," a GM tool for building plots with the roll of a die. Fineos Fingers and Joe Genero have had a few technical problems, but those seem to have been ironed out. Things look to be back in the groove in the comics department. Q: Do you really look like the picture in the sidebar? A: "The accused stood mute and a plea of nolo contendere was entered by the court." Q: Gee, the last chunk of the magazine looks as if you're just filling pages. A: Stripey sidebars do not automatically leach all of the content out of a page. People who have actually read the Edge have noticed (sometimes at length, and thanks for the comments! ) that there's honest-to-goodness useful material in there: reviews, our miniatures section, Lester "Dragon Dice" Smith's Weasel Games column, and so on. Q: Aren't you guys up for an Origins award again this year? A: OK, so nobody actually mentioned this, but I wanted to bring it up anyway. Check out the ballot, which coincidentally enough is on page 67. Q: Is Intern Jen real? A: She certainly seems to think so. For more complicated philosophical analysis, I recommend you ask John Wick, our philosophy go-to guy, for a dissertation on solipsism as it relates to advice column writers. Back to Shadis #25 Table of Contents Back to Shadis List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1996 by Alderac Entertainment Group This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com