Sponsorship Solicited
Proposal: The simultaneous print and electronic
publication of a quarterly literary magazine with an
international perspective about the impact of war, entitled
COMBAT.
Thesis: War, for better or worse, is a fact of life, and
has been more constant than not. Peace magazines talk about
preventing war. Women's magazines talk about alternatives to
conflict. War magazines talk about militarism or adventurism.
History magazines talk about macrocosmic perspectives. The
oral-history movement is too superficial, and journals are too
exclusive. With the exception of occasional stories or poems
scattered inconsistently across the medium, no magazine talks
about the personal experience of war. Despite the proliferation
of international crises, there is presently no periodical devoted
to the revelation and exploration of the ramifications of war
upon combatants, noncombatants, and their families. Since so many
people are touched by violence, there should be a venue for
documenting this pervasive phenomenon, and recording its human
toll.
Plan: Launch the new magazine in electronic format at the
beginning of 2003, and follow with a print version when resources
permit. This dual-edition fills the available niche for this
genre in the publishing market. The print version will be
composed of text and line-drawings in an international layout
emphasizing both substance and style. The on-line version will be
catalogued, cross-indexed, interlinked, and downloadable for
off-line perusal. Distribution will be primarily by subscription,
but will also be distributed to libraries, schools, hospitals,
agencies, and organizations. The independent staff will
telecommute to the magazine's virtual office, and will
perform specialized tasks as subcontractors. The
business structure
is contingent upon funding, so may be either commercial or
non-profit, either proprietary or corporate, until the matter
of potential sponsorship is resolved.
Conclusion: The COMBAT magazine project
can be accomplished for slightly more than a quarter-million
dollars per annum, by three employees publishing at
least ninety-six pages of literature every quarter for less than
nine dollars per copy. The readership is mature and
discriminating, and the magazine will present heterodox
expressions worthy of note and preservation. Human resource and
military development sponsors have the greatest potential for
benefit by association with COMBAT magazine.
Contact: Any person or party interested in further
discussion on sponsorship may communicate with the
COMBAT magazine editorial staff at:
or by correspondence at:
P.O. Box 3, Circleville, WV 26804.
Not only idle Rome rejoices in my Muse,
my fragments don't just fall on empty ears,
no, my book's thumbed by rigid centurions
stuck to their Martial standards in Getic frost,
and they even say the Britons recite my verse.
What's the good? My purse would never know it.
And yet, what excellent pages I could scribble,
what battles my Pierian trumpet could blow,
if while re-incarnating Augustus here on earth,
the kind gods had sent Rome a Maecenas, too!
Now, a patron would be nice!
Martial (Book XI:3)
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