Realms Betting Pool

Alternate Title: Two Blog Posts in One Day?  Jim Must be Cranky…

I loved Realms of Fantasy.  I sold them three stories during their first incarnation, and I was sad to see them go under.  Then Warren Lapine stepped in, and Realms was reborn once again.

It lasted a year or so, and while the magazine never felt quite the same, at least it lived on … until Lapine announced the end of Realms last month.

But Realms is back again, this time picked up by Damnation Books!  Hooray!  Long live Realms of–

Wait, what?  Well no, I haven’t actually checked out the Damnation Books web site, but … er.  I see what you mean.  Well, it’s just a web site, right?  My agent’s site was a bit behind-the-times for a while, and he’s an awesome agent.  It’s not like Damnation Books has been on the Preditors & Editors warning list, or–

Sorry, what was that?  Oh.  I see. 

Well, The P&E link doesn’t have any detailed information, so maybe that’s outdated.  Absolute Write is another good watchdog group, and if they haven’t said anything negative about–  Ah.  You don’t say.  Thanks for those links, Toby.

Okay, look, that’s all in the past.  It’s not like Damnation is taking their first steps as Realms’ new owners by getting overly defensive, running around to pick fights and play the victim with anyone who dares to criticize their–

Seriously?  You’re kidding, right?  Oh, for God’s sake.

All right, I give up.  I’ll take June, 2011 for the betting pool.  Anyone else care to jump in and guess when this new incarnation will crash and burn, or otherwise fall so far as to be unrecognizable from its former glory?

Don’t get me wrong.  I loved this magazine, and I’d love to be proven wrong about all this.  But the attitude in those comments is something I’ve seen many times, and it does not give me hope.