Well, that’s the last one for a while. I shall continue looking for ways to fund the magazine but, as I said in the editorial, I’m absolutely committed to getting people paid for good writing, and good art. If people are not prepared to pay for the magazine then there is no point in producing it.

Having said that, we have some great content in this issue. Alex Preston of the New Statesman weighs in on the fantasy and nihilism debate. Sam Jordison reviews one of this year’s Orange Prize nominees. And Karen dives into Jonathan Strahan’s latest anthology. I look at books by Daniel Abraham, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Lyda Morehouse. There are interviews with Liz Williams and John Clute.

This month’s Salon features John Picacio, Irene Gallo and Joe Monti talking about book covers. Joe is a former buyer for Barnes & Noble, one of those people who supposedly bullies publishers into putting particular types of covers on books. You may also want to read this blog post by Lavie Tidhar which is very relevant to the discussion.

I should note that this final issue has allowed me to do something I have wanted to do for a long time: publish something with a John Picacio cover. And that too is part of the Salon discussion, because John has given me an early draft of a cover that was rejected by the publishers.

I haven’t given up on Salon Futura yet, but clearly I have work to do if I’m going to make it a going concern. At least I have learned a few things in the past 9 months, so if I can re-start it I should do a little better.