Penumbra

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friedpalm
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Penumbra

Postby friedpalm » April 18th, 2008, 11:43 pm

What has happened to Penumbra?

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 19th, 2008, 2:08 am

It's tough to run a magazine.
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Bob Kentner
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Bob Kentner » April 22nd, 2008, 10:15 am

It's always a gamble with magic publications on how long they will stay. Even though this one did not stay for a long time, I consider it a win.

RogueMD
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Re: Penumbra

Postby RogueMD » April 22nd, 2008, 10:37 am

Win indeed!
Any time you have something new from Ernest Earick it is a very good thing.
Oh yeah...and all those other cool guys...to numerous to name!
Michael

Richard Morrell
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Richard Morrell » April 22nd, 2008, 11:54 am

Yeah so tough you can't even find time to update your subscribers who have paid you good money to do a job. I am still two issues short of my subscription, I suppose I could e-mail them but I shouldn't have to do the chasing, if there is going to be a delay of any kind it should be upto them to inform their customers... there really is no excuse tough or not it takes 2 seconds to post here and to the green place... I suppose we all should have learnt by now the number of times these small run magazines just fade away.

At least Gene is doing a good job with Antinomy on time and if there is a delay he updates his website etc. that is how it should be done.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 22nd, 2008, 12:06 pm

It's not easy to publish a magazine, no matter what the size. If you were to contact Bill Goodwin at Penumbra, he'll probably tell you that they're working on getting the next few issues out, which is true. But the delay means that the money that has come in has probably gone out--that could be an issue. I really don't know. Channel One has been out of sight for a long time as well.
For most small publishers, you have to know when to call it quits before inertia overtakes you. At least with both Richard's Almanac and The Looking Glass, I was able to get all the issues out and complete the files, even though they were years late.
It's easy to get all worked up and rant about your money--I've been there myself with Jeff Busby, for subscriptions to the Braue Notebooks, Arcane, and Epoptica. For the latter two magazines I never received even ONE issue of the subscriptions I paid for.
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Steve Bryant
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Steve Bryant » April 22nd, 2008, 12:46 pm

I still marvel at the comeback that Michael Ammar made when the Magical Arts Journal folded beneath him. His "catch-up issues" of the magazine constitute some of the best BOOKS in my library. Subscribers got more than they bargained for.

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Re: Penumbra

Postby El Mystico » April 22nd, 2008, 1:50 pm

Absolutely. Ammar has his mockers; but kudos to him for the way he handled the MAJ problem. A real lesson in crisis management for anyone.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 22nd, 2008, 2:19 pm

The Magical Arts Journal was an unusual situation: different from other incidents of a small magazine ceasing publication. In the case of MAJ, Ammar's partner just left, apparently with all the money after everyone renewed their subscriptions. Michael was in the brutal position of having to finance the publication and mailing of an entire year of issues at his own expense or risk losing magicians as customers for his products in the future. He did the right thing.
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RogueMD
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Re: Penumbra

Postby RogueMD » April 22nd, 2008, 2:43 pm

I didn't know that Richard....
That gives me new insight into Michael Ammar's character.
Thanks for the history.
Michael

Bob Kentner
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Bob Kentner » April 22nd, 2008, 3:50 pm

I'm surprised anyone is in the magic magazine business. Limited market, limited advertiser (If you use have advertizing). Seems like a lot of work for very little reward and many complaints. Most of these projects have to be for the pure love of magic.

DrDanny
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Re: Penumbra

Postby DrDanny » April 22nd, 2008, 4:56 pm

I've always been amazed that Lorayne kept Apolalypse running as long as he did. He doesn't strike me as the kind who would've run it at a loss for very long. Thus I can only assume it broke even at worst. Journals of that ilk are clearly a LOT of effort.

What ever the motivation, I'm awfully thankful for those roll-yer-own journals. I've been having a wonderful time reading the New Jinx, and plan to start on Ibidem next.

Ian Richards
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Ian Richards » April 22nd, 2008, 6:03 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:In the case of MAJ, Ammar's partner just left, apparently with all the money after everyone renewed their subscriptions.


I just had a flashback to AM/PM

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 22nd, 2008, 10:31 pm

Harry always says his books are a labor of love--and that's true. So are mine. But we generally make money. The reason they are a "labor of love" is because the money NEVER comes close to compensating us for the labor involved.
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Gene Taylor
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Gene Taylor » April 23rd, 2008, 10:57 am

I have to agree with Richard on both his "It's tough to run a magazine" and "labor of love" comments.

But, because I'm feeling the love, I'd like to mention that ANTINOMY #13 is now available.

And it was tough...

Justin Fraser
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Justin Fraser » April 23rd, 2008, 3:11 pm

I have faith in bill goodwin and gordon bean.....good things take time

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Matthew Field
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Matthew Field » April 25th, 2008, 5:12 am

Ditto.

Bill Goodwin and Gordon Bean have done an outstanding job with Penumbra. I am more than happy to wait as long as necessary for the issues.

Matt Field

Brad Henderson
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Brad Henderson » April 26th, 2008, 3:37 pm

I just pulled out my file. How many issues are there so far? 10? plus the "summer extra"?

Joe Mckay
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Joe Mckay » April 26th, 2008, 3:52 pm

I too have faith in Bill and Gordon. This is a great magazine. I recently sold off alot of my magic collection but I kept my file of The Penumbra. There are ten issues in my file.

Maybe I am being slow, but I thought the talk about a 'Summer Extra' was some kind of prank from a couple of years ago?

Joe

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 26th, 2008, 3:54 pm

It was a prank put together by some folks in Canada. It is almost impossible to tell that it's not a real issue unless you know what to look for.
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Brad Henderson
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Brad Henderson » April 26th, 2008, 4:04 pm

Its got a couple of very smart ideas in it!

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 26th, 2008, 10:43 pm

[censored], I'm about to reach 9,000 posts.
Omigod.
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castawaydave
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Re: Penumbra

Postby castawaydave » April 26th, 2008, 11:03 pm

--And every one a gem!

Keep up the good work, Chief.


P.S. The Penumbra is cool, but irritating. I know: patience is a virtue...but sheesh...

John LeBlanc
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Re: Penumbra

Postby John LeBlanc » April 27th, 2008, 10:44 am

Ian Richards wrote:I just had a flashback to AM/PM


Now there's a textbook example of how not to handle things.

David Alexander
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Re: Penumbra

Postby David Alexander » April 27th, 2008, 1:06 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:[censored], I'm about to reach 9,000 posts.
Omigod.


OK...if each post was 2 minutes long (reading/responding), that will translate to 18,000 minutes, or 300 hours or seven and a half 40-hour weeks spent on line.

Maybe each post doesn't take two minutes, but still, that's a lot of posting.

And then there's time answering email...

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 27th, 2008, 1:35 pm

I could've written a book in all that time.
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John Carey
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Re: Penumbra

Postby John Carey » April 27th, 2008, 4:08 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:[censored], I'm about to reach 9,000 posts.
Omigod.
You are the Kavanagh of the Genii forum Mister K

Raj Madhok
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Raj Madhok » April 27th, 2008, 10:56 pm

Back to the original question posted. Having been in touch with Bill Goodwin I know he is working on the next issue. As to when to expect the next mailing from Hotel Penumbra is still unclear...

Bob Farmer
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Re: Penumbra

Postby Bob Farmer » April 28th, 2008, 12:29 pm

Bill told me he's just waiting for Howard Lyons to finish the final editing and then they're good to go.


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