Need some help!

[Magpie]

Okay, I need to pick the fine brains that congregate here on the boards.

Imagine a magazine--a magazine of general knowledge, history, geography, classic stories from the horror, adventure, western, detective and humour genres, nostalgia. The occasional golden age comic book story or Arthur Rackham illustration. Classy but not stuffy. Lightweight but not tacky. Henty, Lovecraft, Wodehouse. Newspaper stories from the past. poetry from Lear. That sort of thing.

What would be a good name for such a project? What would grab you. Something that reflects the content but isn't too obscure?

I know if anyone could come up with a cracking name it would be the fine folks of the forum.

[Bob Hinton]

The answer is...

Okay, I need to pick the fine brains that congregate here on the boards.

Imagine a magazine--a magazine of general knowledge, history, geography, classic stories from the horror, adventure, western, detective and humour genres, nostalgia. The occasional golden age comic book story or Arthur Rackham illustration. Classy but not stuffy. Lightweight but not tacky. Henty, Lovecraft, Wodehouse. Newspaper stories from the past. poetry from Lear. That sort of thing.

What would be a good name for such a project? What would grab you. Something that reflects the content but isn't too obscure?

I know if anyone could come up with a cracking name it would be the fine folks of the forum.

Pandoras Box

[Howard Brown]

The Eclectic Reader

[Robert Linford]

Cornucopia.

[Adam Went]

Colossian.

Pretty sure that's not a word but it sounds pretty good, and your project sounds pretty good too Mags, good luck!
Cheers,
Adam.

[Phil Carter]

The Best of Yesterday's Prose

[Magpie]

See, I knew I could count on you guys!

How: I think "The Eclectic Reader" is perfect for the tag line.

Also, if anyone has any authors or stories that would be suitable, suggestions would be welcome. As I mentioned, the genres tend toward the "he-man" types: westerns, detective, horror, sci-fi, humour, adventure and espionage. Stories must be in the Public Domain (according the U.S. definition, since the printer is based in the US--with the except of J.M. Barrie, because his work is a copyright quagmire). So far the first issue has stories by: EW Hornung, E.A. Poe, G.A. Henty, Bret Harte, P.G Wodehouse, William Hope Hodgson and some autobiographical stuff by Eddie Rickenbacker. I purposely left out Wells, Doyle, and Lovecraft a Burroughs for the time being because part of the purpose is not to load it up with stuff that people have read hundreds of times before.

So anything that springs to mind would be great. I need to find some non-fiction stuff too, and I'm still trying to find a couple of good comic strips to add (I'm leaning towards some "jungle queen" and "Crypt of Eeriness" type stories)

Oh, and I'm hoping to be able to snare at least a small portion of the homeschooling market, so as much as I'd like to include some Blavatsky and Westcott and the like, it would probably not be a good idea, at least in this embryonic stage.

[ferret]

I agree Mags- Shame that my 'The Best of Baphy' didn't get a mention! LOL xx

[Adam Went]

Fun fact:
E.W. Hornung, creator of "Raffles", was the brother-in-law of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, having married one of his sisters.

So now you know (if you didn't already).
Once again, excellent idea and all the best of luck, Mags!

Cheers,
Adam.

[Caroline Brown]

I'm late to this one, Mags.

If you haven't decided yet, it struck me that Omnibus might fit the bill.

Love,

Caz
X

[SirRobertAnderson]

"The Regret Window"

[Magpie]

Thanks Caz! I'm checking the Trademark database to see if it's available

Sir Rob--someone's a crankypants today,

[Magpie]

Thank you!

So, unless something absolutely gobsmackingly brilliant comes along betwixt now and press date, the new magazine is officially called:


Omnibus

With the tag line:

The Eclectic Reader

The Masthead and cover are in the discussion stages, although the fonts and other mundane layout issues have been narrowed down considerably (again, we're going for the "classic but not stuffy" feel). Actually, the fonts are a real female canine because whenever I find a font that I think would be perfect, chances are it's a) not licensed for commercial use unless b) you pay ****loads of dosh. Oi Vey!

And some of the stories in the typesetting stage are:

Toilers of the Thetis, Ralph D. Paine*
Extricating Young Gussie, P.G. Wodehouse
Squadron Festivities, Eddie Rickenbacker*
A Voice In The Night, William Hope Hodgson
Silence--A Fable, Edgar Allan Poe
The Outcast Of Poker Flat, Brett Harte
Bears And Dacoits, G.A. Henty
The Ides Of March, E.W. Hornung
My Lord Bag Of Rice, Traditional Japanese Folktale

*Non-fiction book excerpts.

(I'll probaby have to lose one, possibly two, due to length constraints)

And 2 comic stories: One "Phantom Lady" and one ghost story.

The back pages will likely have a crossword and/or word find, a trivia quiz, and a regular feature called "Last Words" which is basically a short glossary of slang and jargon surrounding a theme

Also in the works are the composing of Submission Guidelines, in the hope that future issues might be able to publish the occasional new story or essay. Example of guidelines (in case anyone's considering a submission or two):

No Fanfic. We can't stress this enough NO FANFIC!!! If you ignore this warning, we will dispatch one of our highly trained teams of mutant ninja penguins to remove your kidneys while you sleep. We aren't kidding about this.

No “twinkly” vampire, teen witch or student wizard stories (you know what we're talking about). You send us those and the penguins will also take your spleen.

Chris G, I have no idea how you manage to pull this off at such a consistently high standard on a monthly basis. I take my hat off to you, Sir!

[Caroline Brown]

Wow, I'm honoured Mags.

I was dragged up with Edward Lear's Nonsense Omnibus so it just sounded right.

Love,

Caz
X

[Chris G.]

Chris G, I have no idea how you manage to pull this off at such a consistently high standard on a monthly basis. I take my hat off to you, Sir!

Hi Magpie

I am not sure what I am being congratulated for... but I will gladly accept the accolade. Howard Brown suggested The Eclectic Reader, so perhaps you mean him and not myself? If so, I will be very pleased to pass the accolade on to the gentleman from Philadelphia.

Cheers

Chris (the gent from Liverpool and Baltimore)