"I sincerely apologize for taking so long" or "Copies that I had back in July and August ended up getting in the hands of the Coal City newspaper."

Since someone reposted his guidelines for his next magazine, even though his lulu was shut down ( ROFL ) and offering up to $14 I thought it only appropriate to take this time to post a long forgotten piece Nicky submitted in 2006. After all, his shady business practices are what led lulu to disable his account yesterday, so I'd like to take the time to show one of the many ways you DON'T run a business.

On a side note, Nicky is back to thinking I am Rusty Nail. Apparently since we don't post at the exact same time that makes us one in the same. He has discovered I am Jack's amused pancreas and she is Tyler Durden, or vice-versa I guess. Who the hell is going to hire someone to be a bill collector when they try and consolidate their foes into the same people for convince?!

Anyway

In this PDF, Nicky explains why he couldn't pay his authors. Please take note of the messed up priorities and how exactly this "business" functions.

Those of you who've been asking me when you are going to get your copies in print of the respective anthologies you appeared in or the magazine. It will be after I get all moved in the new apartment, since I need every bit of the funds I have right now to cover for my security deposit and my share of the rent. I am going to use some of the royalties made from the books themselves to get copies of the other books as well. I still need to cover the copies for the authors in the Midwest, West Coast, and the land down under. You're asking me when this would be done -- I am hoping soon especially for the writers on TABLOID PURPOSES II and the Quakes and Storms anthologies. I want to make sure I hook the authors up with the hardcover editions of the books.

I sincerely apologize for taking so long with getting the books, just as I seem to get the print copies of the books I can't hang on to them long enough. Copies that I had back in July and August ended up getting in the hands of the Coal City newspaper. I still owe copies of the magazine to authors from issue two and copies of the anthologies to the first wave of authors from the start of the anthologies, it's going to take me a long time because I don't exactly make a lot of money and getting the books aren't free for me either. For the time being, I can provide PDF versions of the books for now. But when I get into the new apartment, I am going to be operating Lake Fossil Press from two locations. One from my apartment in Justice, and the other will be from my home in Morris, Illinois. Since all my computer stuff will be staying in Morris, I will be working on everything when I am in town and when I get in town. I stay in Morris about two weeks out of the month, and during those two weeks I will be working on getting the magazines together and the anthologies off the ground. That will include getting the international copies out as well; one of those things that can set me back -- the moving into a new place.

If you were on issue two and I still owe you a copy, you're going to get it signed by both myself and the cover lady. The set backs of doing the large anthologies on a print on demand place are that they do add up, it gets costly. This is something I know because I am in contact with the other players who do use lulu.com as their printing partner. I owe copies of issue two and three to authors who appeared on both, and I will be getting those to you soon. Issue three will be carried on some major sellers too once I get the proof copy back with the ISBN and I just got done
reworking TABLOID PURPOSES ONE. The new editions of the anthology are reformatted and redesigned from title page to the final story in there. Being one
person doing everything is going to be taxing especially when that one person is moving to a new residence -- and living in two places part time.

If you're on the third page of this, I am doing this so I can keep everyone posted on what is going on. Moving is a huge change and some of the things I tried to do within the last two months nearly killed me mentally, Christmas literary drained my bank account and I am still feeling the effects of that. I have copies of the second issue but I am waiting until I get some more before I start sending them out. I am only able to afford to get one copy of the anthology at a time right now, and if you want more updates on my moving situation join the Lake Fossil Press group on yahoogroups.com and I will be posting more as I get settled. I am using royalties earned from my own books to get copies of the anthologies and the magazine. I had to downsize the magazine from three hundred pages to two-hundred and seventyseven pages.

So if you're on the anthologies get the word out and help get a few books sold because that is how I will be able to get your copies that I owe you. I got a card back from the Red Cross, and that was the proof that all the royalties from Quakes and Storms got donated to the Red Cross. The donations there went in memorial, and the next batch of donations will be just to the red cross in general. As some of you heard, Melyssa G. Sprott had to undergo surgery for her shoulder so I am hosting the anthology from a new store front I did especially for this project. I got this card on Christmas from the Red Cross letting me know they got the money from the anthology. That anthology is now available on http://books.lulu.com/quakesandstorms. The book is no longer
available on her site, for now. She plans to make it available again soon as she's better, I will still have her do the donations for the Red Cross -- and I am hoping I can do the same with sales of The Storms Of Armageddon. If I owe you money and a copy, it will take longer too than I planned it to be. The moving into the new apartment was something that came rather fast, and didn't expect it to happen. The room mate now has a storefront to help her raise funds for her events, go to the web address that is listed at the end of this, http://books.lulu.com/eveningfalls1334.

I will also be sending my work out too to different publications, hopefully I can get it placed. That should help me get copies when needed too so please keep your fingers crossed. 2006 for me is going to be a little rough until I get all settled in and the rent being paid, if I can't get the books to you in the mail I will try to get them to you in person. I was trying to do this with the second issue of the Ethereal Gazette to the authors who were local. I am still trying to do so with the authors who are local in
Issue Three. It will take me some time to get them but please be patient, I am only one person. Doing issue three, my health wasn't all the best and I will continue doing the anthologies and the magazine, just need to stretch the issues out some more.

Brigit couldn't keep the House of Pain going any longer because of her health, and that was why I helped with the magazine. I wanted to see it live long enough to see its ten year anniversary, those of you who asked about the best of The House of Pain anthology -- I am going to give it to you straight, I still plan to put it together. Just that it will take me a while to get everything together and still trying to get in touch with authors who appeared on it, so far the line up is strong but I want it to be at least 200 pages. I am trying to keep up the magazine too and everyone wanted me to go more often than quarterly, but that is something I have to do with this mag because it is the only way for me to keep track of all the authors involved with the publication. I got a lot of good submissions on the third issue, and a lot of them will be carried over into issue four. I will be working on issue four some time in March and hoping it can be released in April or May.

I will eventually getting a P.O. Box so I can take submissions via snail mail as long they are on a floppy disk and a .doc format. I am committed to keep the small press running as long as I am alive. The Ethereal Gazette was inspired by The Tajmahal Review, a publication in India. I appeared on one of the issues along with one of the contributers of the third anthology and first issue of the magazine. Some of you who are on the anthology or magazine will have the new home address so keep in touch that way too. I will have to print my manuscripts out from the local community college, and once I am established in the new place. I do plan to take a screen writing class in college so I can translate my work to a film or radio script.

My resolution for 2006 is to stay better in touch with authors from all the anthologies, and that is why I did the yahoo group. I had to say there will be a large number of authors who appeared on a Lake Fossil Press publication, and I did get a contest going too. The details are on my website at tripod.com. When I am at the new apartment, the room mates plan to get Atlantis Ocean Mind 1.6 and Open Office so I can work from there on the next few issues. I am going with a theme on issue five, so those if you who write cyberpunk fiction that will be the cyberpunk issue, stories for that one must be between 2500 to 88000 words. Issue four will be worked on later in March when I go back to Morris for two weeks, and I will be working on the novella sequel to House of Spiders as I am settled in the new place too. When I am settled in I will have a housewarming, and I will invite the authors from the anthologies who worked with me over the years.

In the mean time, stay safe. I will be keeping you posted via the PDF notices. It is taking a lot longer than originally planned to take to get the copies to the contributors. I am being honest here when I say this, I am just one man and that is very hard to do at times when doing so many publications.

Nickolaus A. Pacione
Editor and Founder, Lake Fossil Press

Really, there isn't much I can say about this, other than the closing of his lulu page shouldn't be blamed on one person, and it should have happened years ago.

If folks want to see it, I can post the Coal City newspaper article he spoke of.