The Willows

The Willows Magazine, ladies and gents, is officially and permanently shutting down.

    My name is Ben Thomas, and I am the editor and publisher. Please allow me to explain the situation -- first the immediate ramifications that you likely have questions about, and then the full background.

    1. At this point, most of the magazine's subscriptions have already expired after receiving their full complement of issues, and there are very, very few advertisers still under contract. For those subscribers and advertisers that do remain: my counterparts at Weird Tales Magazine have agreed to take them on and honor their contracts with the equivalent amount of product. I will be putting Weird Tales in email contact with everyone over the course of the next week so they can confirm the details directly.

    2. I am currently in the process of contacting all the contributors who have material outstanding at The Willows. I apologize for the length of time this has taken; the decision to close the magazine has been a difficult one to make, and I was immensely reluctant to finalize it. As quickly as possible from here on in, Skadi or I will be in touch to officially confirm the reversion of your story rights to you.

   3. I cannot express how regretful I am that I did not act more quickly to refute the anonymous assertion at the Literacity blog that my silence was due to having died. I suspect the individual who posted this hoax thought that he or she was, in some strange fashion, defending my honor by pranking the other commenters. Let me state bluntly: I don't think it was funny; I am mortified that some of you were thusly upset; and my failure to immediately respond publicly was symptomatic of a time-consuming day job, combined with a relatively poor state of mind in the moment.

   I've been the magazine's lead editor since 2007, when I launched The Willows (on a tiny computer screen in a dimly-lit studio apartment) as an outlet for a minuscule group of authors who shared my love of the aesthetic sensibilities of the Edwardian and Victorian periods... especially the short story form known as the weird tale, which flourished in Europe and America around the turn of the 20th century. Assisting me in this task, very nearly from the outset, were my co-editor Skadi meic Beorh, and my compatriot in love of obscure old horror films, Orrin Smith (known to you as Sir Orrin Grey). Both of them have provided an untold amount of selfless support for the project.

   The reality is that we must shut down for two reasons. The first of these is fiscal necessity. I was funding the bulk of the magazine's expenses out of my own pocket, often at the rate of over fifteen hundred dollars per issue just to keep up with printing and distribution costs alone. I have now gone back to work full-time -- often more than full-time -- so that I can afford to pay off the magazine's print shop and credit card bills, and ship the last copies to those who have ordered them. If you are a customer who has been waiting longer than expected for an order, I have not abandoned you -- I'm simply working to get your order printed and shipped as quickly as I am able. But if you prefer not to wait any longer, I understand; please email me at editor@thewillowsmagazine.com and request either a refund or a conversion to a prorated Weird Tales subscription, and I will promptly fulfill your request.

   The second and more personal reason for the magazine's closure: the drain on my mental health was becoming telling. Editing The Willows has proven to be a full-time commitment; often eight to ten hours a day, seven days a week. The more it grew, the more I realized how unrealistic a commitment it is for me, especially when money was hurtling out the window far, far faster than any was coming in. Furthermore, I have learned that my skills do not lie in customer service, marketing, or any number of other non-editorial logistical necessities in which a publisher must engage if he hopes to keep his magazine afloat. It became a vicious cycle: either The Willows suffered, or my sanity, optimism, and finances did. I have spent weeks weighing the options, and in the final analysis, engineering a proper end to the project is the most responsible thing I can do for all of us.

   I can't hope to express the depth of my gratitude for the genuinely kind words that reached our inbox over the past several years. To those who offered such words, please know that they meant a great deal, both to the publication and to me personally. It has been an honor to hear support and encouragement from a myriad of talented writers, from neophytes like Michelle Pribbernow to established authors and editors like Sarah Monette and Stephen Segal.

   The steampunk/Neo-Victorian culture is still alive and well, and I wish all you authors and artists the very highest success in it. To those whose work we accepted but weren't able to publish, I'm sure you'll be able to find it a suitable home. Perhaps another magazine somewhat like this one will emerge from the shadows someday soon; if so, I'll be one of the first subscribers. But I myself am not the fellow to do it. To those of you who do feel called to this field... more power to you! I look forward to seeing what's next.

--Ben Thomas, Lead Editor