More on Realms of Fantasy

Some cautionary thoughts regarding the re-re-birth of Realms of Fantasy have started to pop up on the web.

A general "let's wait and see what happens" observation was made by John Klima over at Tor.com, which, when you think about it, makes sense. Someone we don't know much about has bought a well-known name--let's see what they do with it.

More interesting, and potentially ominous, is Tobias Buckell's advice to tread carefully when it comes to the revivified Realms. Not deep digging to be sure, but what he brings up is reason enough for caution, I think.

At this point, there's really no way to know how things will fall out. I think Tobias's advice to be careful about dealing with the new publisher until we have a bit of a track record isn't a bad one. Buying a revered name only gets you that--the name. All the rest is earned. I am hoping that Damnation Books can do the old masthead justice and bring a storied publication back from the brink, but I will be watching to see how things develop, especially after the Dec. 2010 issue (the last one put together by the former publisher, Warren Lapine) is out the door.

So, I guess I am saying that I am going to hold off on the champagne for a bit, until I see what Realms becomes.