Bewildering Stories Editorial

by Jerry Wright

Hostility?

Hmmm. I don't understand it. Some people seem to be hostile to aspects of Bewildering Stories. A while back, there were people who were unhappy with the thought that Bewildering Stories was being allowed to "advertise" on the Analog and Asimov websites and discussion forums. And just recently I commented on the fact that the webhosting costs of BwS was $0, but none-the-less we were searching for a home with greater redundancy and a staff working 24/7 to keep us available at all times.

Yes, our hosting costs are free, as in not costing money. In another sense, not free at all, in that the fact that they exist at all is due to my unpaid efforts as a system and mail administrator for a small ISP.

But for some reason, someone on the Analog website took umbrage at the fact that monetarily, we have no costs for running BwS. So. I was accused of theft of bandwidth. I was accused of stealing from the ratepayers of Grant County. Our non-profit status was questioned with talk of getting the IRS involved.

Our NON-PROFIT STATUS??? What? what sort of insanity is THIS? Sure we are non-profit. We never meant to be, and we'd never turn down a profit if it came our way, but "status"? IRS? Oddly enough we ARE registered with the State of Washington and with IRS as a for-profit company, but only because we hope that Bewildering Press, the imprint of Bewildering Stories, will make us, and our authors, some money.

So, it is curious that one little comment caused a fury/flurry of comments on Analog's discussion board. Some people don't like us. Too bad for them. We do what we love, and don't count the cost in time, effort, or money. At least, not yet. Obviously to make the government happy, we will be counting the cost. But that's okay. We have, what? three years to show a profit? We'll do what we can.

I'm still reminded of the joke: "How do you make a small fortune in Publishing? Answer: Start with a large fortune."

Stay tuned for the trials and tribulations.

And in the words of the musical group Spirit from The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus:
No, we've got nothing to hide
we're married to the same bride
She eats away from inside
and we've got nothing to hide...