Editorial

by Ornoth D.A. Liscomb
<ornoth@shore.net>

Welcome to 1996, and our twelfth year of continuous publication! With the arrival of a new year, it's time for the editor to wax nostalgic and pause to look back at the past year, and pontificate about the year to come.

Looking back at 1995, I see three major events. The year began with the distribution of two huge collections of the Best of FSFnet and the Best of DargonZine, reprinting our favorite stories from a decade of publishing on the Internet. Secondly, 1995 saw a big infux of new writers into the Dargon Project. Depite our only getting four issues out last year, four new writers saw their stories all the way to print, and there are other new authors whose works will not be finalized and printed until 1996. And the presence of energetic new blood has had the additional effect of rousing several of the project's elderly from their stupor. But the big news of 1995 was, of course, the announcement of our new Web site in our last issue. The site has been getting excellent usage, and feedback is very positive. Its success has been inspiring to everyone involved with the project, and I'd like to especially thank those readers who have taken the time to fill out the reader profiles and questionnaires. While 1995 wasn't our most productive year in terms of number of issues, we accomplished a lot in terms of infrastructure in order to bring you a better service. And on the Internet it's particularly true that if you're not working toward putting out a service that makes your old service look pale, someone else will. So we've been hard at work reinventing ourselves.

So what does 1996 hold? By looking at the queue of works in progress, I can tell you that we'll have lots more great stories from both old and new writers. But there are also more big changes in the works! The Web site will probably be the focus of many of these changes, as we try to not only provide issues and archives, but add additional services and features, always keeping an eye toward providing information and services that are of high value and usefulness to DargonZine's readership. I think 1996 is going to be a great year for DargonZine and its readers.

And the changes have already begun this year. You may have noticed that our address has changed once again, from <dargon@wonky.jjm.com> to <dargon@shore.net>. Although this means little to the reader, it represents a major infrastructure change which will allow us to be more responsive to both email and Web requests.

*PLEASE* remember to address any and all correspondence to the new address, <dargon@shore.net>!

And, to start 1996 off on the right foot, we have the following stories. Rogers Cadenhead returns to complete his tale "The Dwarf" which was begun in DargonZine 8-3. Following that, we are finally able to publish Wendy Hennequin's war story "Knight of the Moon Jewel", some time after she left the project. And, finally, Mark Murray continues the storyline he began in the story "In the Company of Strangers" in our last issue (8-4).

I hope you enjoy this issue, and have the opportunity to visit the Web site to see what we're doing there. And look for us again soon, as we're already putting together material for DargonZine 9-2!