Okay, Okay. Mistakes were made. With hindisght, even trying to put out an issue (let alone a double) before Christmas was a bad move. As I should have guessed, things really don't work at Christmas in the same way as the rest of the year and the result was that the Christmas Special arrived shortly before Whitsun, for which I apologize. All down to me I'm afraid, and I'll try to not let it happen again. Anyway, if I'm not mistaken I managed four issues in the year, even if three were done in the last four months. Given how busy and ill I was from August onwards, I don't know how that happened. Adrenaline rush probably. So here we are sometime into July and I am wondering just where the last six months went. Most of it has been hoovered up by work and I will try to avoid mentioning this unpleasant subject unless it is absolutely necessary. Suffice to say it has not been a fun time.
At the the risk of repeating myself and offending those of an understanding nature, I would like to clarify beyond doubt the situation regarding future issues, especially for those (sadly memorable) readers who seemingly take great pains to harrass me by letter or phone. These people, like many negative things in life, represent just a tiny percentage but outweigh all the rest of you by their actions. Their comments can destroy an editor's enthusiasm in no time and the net result is that you feel it just isn t worth doing. This is partly the reason for the changes and frankly, this aspect needs to improve. There are also unheard of work pressures, a desire to have some truly free time and a need to feel less pressurized about putting Sumo out regularly. I assume that if I feel better about doing the magazine in my own time, the chances are greater of that happening.
Accordingly, Sumo will for the foreseeable future be produced on an irregular basis, as and when time, other projects and enthusiasm permit. This means that absolutely no guarantees are offered as to delivery dates, pagecount or frequency and, therefore, no-one should complain when an issue doesn t appear. You should definitely not phone or write to ask where a 'promised' issue has got to (no less than six calls on this subject, none particularly civil), which will only get me miffed and delay it even further. Of course, you can contact me if you suspect an issue is out that you don t have because I am human and sub records aren't my favourite topic. Any such subscription queries and pretty much anything else should ideally be made by letter. Sumo will also be economically viable which means pricing according to size and locality.
Given these draconian terms, you are of course free to request a subscription refund. As this is very much the watershed issue in this respect, I will assume anyone not asking for a refund by the deadline to have accepted the new conditions and also as willing to go along with me until this all pans out. I realise this blows any chance Sumo might have had to make it as a 'proper' magazine in the short term (not that this was ever likely) but I m working on the basis that it is better to keep it this way than scrap it altogether. If you disagree, let me know. As always, I welcome letters, news, rules and articles and the more of these that appear, the quicker another issue gets done. Thankyou for your understanding and to those to whom none of this applies. I feel a lot better now.
On to the review of Road Kill.