Close This Page (X) To Go Back

Why Some Months No Editorial?

Explaining Odds & Ends

Welcome. In this added special note, written during my 2022 Reno (renovation) of this site, I feel compelled to add some eplanations of certain things. For example, some months I did not provide an editorial column. I have not seriously looked through the museum site (Far Sector SFFH) since I ended the magazine's decade-long run in early 2007. Here is will offer some explanations (e.g., why did I not write an editorial column for several months starting in 2004? I'm deleting duplicate pages where Al Sirois (bless his soul) plugged in the previous month's column to fill the gap. I'll explain…

Busy Months. When I became publisher in late 2002, I was grateful to have the brilliant and enthusiastic teamwork of John K. Muir, Al Sirois, Dennis Latham in addition to my own hard work. Stated as simply as possible, each of us was getting ready to move on to other venues by then. We loved the magazine and wanted to continue, but each of us was busy with our own creative lives.

Brian Callahan As we moved from Deep Outside SFFH into Far Sector SFFH late 2002/early 2003, we missed the expert webmastering and artistic/writing brilliance of Brian Callahan. Brian left us for other other business opportunities in 2002, ultimately becoming with his wife Gwen a leading light in the annual Portland, OR and Providence, RI H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and Cthulucon; see (HERE.

Busy Guys. Looking back from 2002, I'm trying to recall what kept us working many hours a day. There was a tendency among those of us who were fired up by the Sense of Wonder and opportunity involving the new Internet publishing (digital, Web, POD, etc) to pour seemingly limitless time into too many projects all at once. I'd write it off (laughing) to a form of group ADHD, but honestly, each of us created a personal legacy that lives on. All of us are/were authors of multiple books; Al Sirois in addition to that is an artist with fine painteings, drawings, and cartoons to his name. He designed our logo and other artwork for the most part, although I kicked in a few artsy works of my own at inside pages.

Shaun Farrell arrived on scene in April 2005 and promptly reinvigorated the entire magazine with his brilliant interviews. He also took over the review function from an overloaded Al Sirois. Sean's review skills and accomplishments are world-class. A look at the list of famous SFFH authors he interviewed in less than two years is astonishing; and he did it superbly well. Honestly, I had been contemplating a graceful close to the magazine while it was still in the prime of its youthful vigor. Shaun's arrival prompted me to keep us going another year or more, and I'm glad it happened. We finally did shut the doors in January 2007.

Empty Editorial Section/Several Months. I vaguely remember Al Sirois contacting me to ask where my monthly column was. I was busy with a half dozen major projects including my Rome book, and probably said somemthing like 'plug something in.' He asked: "Should I just run last month's editorial again?" And I no doubt said "Yah sure" planning to go back and update it but apparently I never did. A New York City book packager unfortunately, without a contract or my informed consent, misappropriated a very premature draft of my Rome book, full of editorial problems, and published it through a major publishing house. He also published a print cartel edition of CON2: The Generals of October, again without any contract or informed consent, and released that without proper promotion. Long story short, he died in July 2005 and both projects plunged into limbo, leaving me very disappointed and angry. It wasn't the first time a major project had been stolen from me by the media cesspool. I was able to republish my political thriller through Clocktower Books. The Rome book still lives in oblivion but I'll hopefully some day soon find time and spirit to tackle it again, complete it, and release it through my own San Diego small press imprint.

Moving on, in January 2006, I began a part-time job as a shuttle driver at the Hotel Del Coronado here in sunny San Diego. It was one of the most fun jobs I ever had. I didn't need the small income, but my wife insisted I should get out of the house, into sunshine and fresh air, and away from my computer keyboard. I worked at the Del just under two years, and in that time managed to compose a trilogy of books that are among my best movers. The first is Dead Move, a scholarly analysis of the notorious 1892 true crime and resulting ghost legend at the Hotel Del, involving the violent and unexplained death of an unidentified young woman who is often called The Beautiful Stranger in lieu of several possible identifications. Second, I followed this with a noir period (gaslamp) thriller titled Lethal Journey, which closely follows the results of my nonfiction analysis plus, for maximum effect as a thriller, incorporates element of the (dubious) ghost legend. Third, I also published both books in one volume titled Coronado Mystery. Links to be added here soon.

Dennis Latham was a talented story teller who worked on many short stories and novels that he ultimately published through his own Guilford, Indiana-based imprint (YSL, which he explained to me was his acronym for Young Stud Gazelle).

John K. Muir was blossoming into a successful and award-winning author and producer, while continuing to hold his own as a columnist for our magazine.

Al Sirois was always the multi-talented guy who simultaneously played drums (several gigs a week) in his rock band; he is an illustrator and painter; taught art courses at a local college; and has long written acclaimed works mostly of science fiction (while serving as a columnist/team leader at SFWA and SciFi mag). Al took on the added job of plugging in as primary webmaster for Far Sector SFFH. Al Sirois was also a premier reviewer of all things SFFH, until Shaun Farrell arrived in late 2004 and took over that task in addition to creating our wonderful interview column titled Shaun's Quadrant.

John T. Cullen or John Argo (yours truly) was entering a new busy-phase by 2004. I had retired from corporate/industrial technical writing in aerospace and computer systems development. I was by the turn of the century working on at least my 35th book (poetry, fiction, nonfiction). I was in the early 2000s going through a marvelous personal renaissance of digital and Web publishing through Fictionwise. I remember in 2003/4 releasing several new novels in digital and print formats including Doom Spore (my homage to Jack Finney's Body Snatchers; Nebula Express (my homage to Ridley Scott's SF movie Alien); and Robinson Crusoe 1,000,000 A.D. (my homage to Daniel Defoe's timeless 1719 classic). In addition, I was constantly working on new novels long and short. For example, my short novels include 1998's Terror in my Arms (homage to the wonderful noir suspense movies I loved in the 1980s/1990s); also Lantern Road, and important piece in my Empire of Time series. My so-called symphonic novels (huge, literary, sprawling over a vast canvas but never without firm direction and always happy endings) kept me busy as well, including rewrites of my political, Constitution thriller CON2: The Generals of October. Then I began a vast new project: a nonfiction topological/topographical exploration A Walk In Ancient Rome (centered on the early 300s, but encompassing all of ancient Roman history from the Iron Age into Late Classical Antiquity). I'll talk more about all this on my personal website (John T. Cullen), which is under renovation (RENO, I call it) as of 2020+.

Close This Page (X) To Go Back