Well, it happened.

Neverary Magazine is no more.

Lon Prater--Neverary's fine editor--also has a blog here at Journalscape, so I'm sure that most of you have heard the sad news already, but to me, it's very bittersweet.

Lon bought my first story. My first, honest-to-god-someone's-actually-willing-to-pay-me-for-this story. It couldn't have come at a better time in my career, actually. I'd just returned from Kris and Dean's workshop and I was full of energy and ready to lite the literary world on fire. Yet I kept coming up short with my stories. Rejection after rejection kept hitting me, making me wonder if the talent I supposedly had was just a figment of my overactive imagination.

And then came an email: "Joseph, I don't like to let my writers go so long without a response. I like your story the most of those I've received for this issue, and it's at the top of my short list for the February issue . . ."

You don't know what joy that held for me.

I'd been trying on and off for ten years to sell a story. I took quite a long break from writing after Clarion West scared the crap out of me, but I never really lost my drive for creating fiction. Lon's acceptance gave me the boost I needed. Since that email, I've sold thirty more stories.

And now, the magazine where I first saw my words published is folding. The last issue just came out, and I have to say, it's a good 'un. Head over there, check it out, and enjoy.

That's the bitter. The sweet comes from the fact that Lon has turned into a pretty damned good friend and member of my critique group. And did I mention that he's a hell of a writer in his own right? Just go pick up a copy of Borderlands V--otherwise known in paperback form as From the Borderlands (yup, the one where he shares a table of contents with Stephen King)--and you'll see exactly what I mean.

Neverary folding means more time for Lon to write his stories, and in the end, I'll take that trade anyday.

Joseph Haines, signing off from The Edge of The Abyss.