DargonZine is the publication vehicle of The Dargon Project, Inc., a collaborative group of aspiring fantasy writers on the Internet. We welcome new readers and writers interested in joining the project. Please address all correspondence to <dargon@dargonzine.org> or visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.dargonzine.org/, or our FTP site at ftp://ftp.dargonzine.org/. Issues and public discussion are posted to newsgroup rec.mag.dargon.

DargonZine 22-2, ISSN 1080-9910, (C) Copyright June 6, 2009 by The Dargon Project, Inc.

Editor:Jon Evans <thegodling@verizon.net>, Assistant Editor: John White <john.white@DREXEL.EDU>.

DargonZine is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial License. This license allows you to make and distribute unaltered copies of DargonZine, complete with the original attributions of authorship, so long as it is not used for commercial purposes. Reproduction of issues or any portions thereof for profit is forbidden. To view a detailed copy of this license, please visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford CA, 94305 USA.

Editorial 

by Jim Owens
<gymfuzz@yahoo.com>

What a difference ten years can make -- or not make. Ten years ago no one had heard of "Twitter", or "YouTube", or even "Wikipedia". Ten years ago the Dow Jones closed above 10,000 for the first time. Ten years ago the eleventh of September was just the Ethopian New Years day. The passage of time has brought many changes. Of course, ten years ago the news was filled with stories of war in a place many people knew little and cared even less about. Ten years ago SpongeBob SquarePants was the popular with the under-10 crowd. And ten years ago Bill Clinton was a hot topic in Washington, DC. The world has changed -- and yet also stayed the same.

Ten years ago the Dargon Project was a hyper-text-based web-published electronic magazine publishing volunteer-written fantasy fiction based solely in the created world of Dargon. We were about a year into a series of changes that we hoped would bring good changes to the Project. Ten years later we can see the results. One of the more important changes was the introduction of a mentoring process to help new writers quickly adapt their writing to the growing and complex world of Dargon. Ten years on and we are again about a year into a series of changes that we hope will bring positive change to the project, and we are still bringing in new writers. This issue will combine both the new and the old. Ten tears ago my story "Withstand the Flood" was the lead story, and this issue will carry my latest work, "Shore Leave", another episode in the life of Danae, a sailor with a secret that drove her from her home and now threatens to tear her away from her new home. Also included is "Growing Pains", the first story for our newest published writer, Amy Peveto, who benefited greatly from one of our changes, a writers forum. "Growing Pains" is itself an exploration of change and growth, and the pleasant surprises that process can bring.

The world we live in has many challenges, and the Dargon Project will need to change and adapt. We strive to continue to meet our goals of growing new writers and continuing to produce the quality fiction that you love and deserve. Stay with us for the next ten years, and see how we change!