(There, that headline should be confusing enough…)

Steve Davidson will revive Amazing Stories on July 1 with Volume 0, Number 1, the ”Relaunch Prelaunch issue”.

The first issue will publish reminiscences by Robert Silverberg, Barry Malzberg and Patrick L. Price and fiction by Jack Clemons (all reprinted from earlier issues of Amazing), plus a new round-table-style interview series with authors from Book Review Cafe — Maya Bohnhoff, Brenda Clough, Chris Dolley, Katharine E. Kimbriel, Sue Lange, Vonda McIntyre, Linda Nagata, Pati Nagle, Phyllis Radford, Deborah J. Ross, Sarah Smith, Jennifer Stevenson, Judith Tarr and Dave Trowbridge.

Davidson says this course change, initiating pieces of his business plan separately so as to build momentum, “has been engendered by a very exciting recent development that will both strengthen Amazing’s brand and create a revenue stream.” What that means will be revealed over the July 14-15 weekend in announcements at Comic-Con (CA) and Readercon (MA).

He also will be putting together a crowd-funding plan for release in the next couple of months.

And at least one more Relaunch Prelaunch issue is in the works. Davidson is not looking for fiction yet, but told online readers, “if you’ve got an interesting article, interview, review, feel free to send it in. I’m not paying and I can’t promise I’ll use it, but….”

Keep up with the relaunch through social media at the Amazing Stories website and blog and through Amazing Stories on Facebook.

The full press release follows the jump.

For Immediate Release

AMAZING STORIES Relaunch Prelaunch Launches July 1, 2012.

June 29, 2012

Hillsboro, NH

Amazing Stories, the world’s first science fiction magazine, will begin its return to regular publication this July 1st with Volume 0, Number 1, the Relaunch Prelaunch issue.

All kinds of wonderful things have been happening at Amazing Stories over the past several months and some of them have prompted a change to the overall plan for Amazing Stories return.

As some of you may recall, I was planning on beginning the funding effort following the presidential elections in November.  I’d originally wanted to go for the whole enchilada all at once and scale back from there as necessary.

Recent developments have caused me to accelerate certain aspects of the plan and to modify my approach to launching.

Now the plan is to break the project up into smaller pieces and fund those individually.  Instead of scaling back, we’ll be building up.

This change has been engendered by a very exciting recent development that will both strengthen Amazing’s brand and create a revenue stream.  The details of this development will be announced the weekend of July 14-15.  The announcement will take place at the San Diego Comic Con (CA) and Readercon (MA) conventions.

I felt that it would be foolish to waste such an opportunity and decided to create the Relaunch Prelaunch issue of Amazing Stories so that there would be somewhere to go and something to look at when the announcement was made,

Since I had already gathered a fair amount of material for the blog, I decided to put it all together and create an issue of the magazine with it.  The content ranges from reminisces on Amazing from Robert Silverberg, Barry Malzberg and Patrick L Price, to fiction by Jack Clemons (all of which is being reprinted from earlier renditions of the magazine) to an extensive series of round-robin interviews with 13 of the Book View Cafe authors – Maya Bohnhoff, Brenda Clough, Chris Dolley, katharine E. Kimbriel, Sue Lange, Vonda McIntyre, Linda Nagata, Pati Nagle, Phyllis Radford, Deborah J. Ross, Sarah Smith, Jennifer Stevenson, Judith Tarr and Dave Trowbridge and some (short) editorializing from me.

I think there’s plenty of good stuff there that will be released throughout the course of the month.  Anyone who hears about Amazing Stories from the announcements (I’ll be sending it out to you all as well) will find several pieces to read when they visit and the promise of more to keep them coming back.  And this will not be the last Relaunch Prelaunch issue;  I’ve already started getting stuff in for the next one (an essay on Tarzan & Burroughs from John M Whalen) and more on the way (though I am not anywhere close to the three-months-out I ought to be).  Hold on to your fiction, but if you’ve got an interesting article, interview, review, feel free to send it inI.  I’m not paying and I can’t promise I’ll use it, but….

It now seems that the time to pull out all of the stops has arrived a few months earlier than I had originally anticipated.  I am now putting together the outline of a Kickstarter (or similar) crowd-funding plan and presentation that will be released in the next couple of months.

In order to make it all work I will need everyone’s help.

So what can you do?

Nothing if you’d prefer.  Or you could:

Visit the site. Share it with your friends.  Comment on something you find here.  Link to it.  Sign up on the Facebook page.  Sign up here.

Say nice things and think good thoughts.

The more Amazing Stories resembles a going concern, the easier it will be to obtain the funding and the closer we will all be to seeing what we want to see, the return of Amazing Stories!

The website and blog can be found here: Amazing Stories

The Facebook Page is here: Amazing Stories

I have plenty of space on the site to help promote and publicize fellow travelers.  If getting a spot up on Amazing’s site will help you promote the magazine, please send your artwork and link or get in touch so we can put a plan together.  I’m happy to do what I can in return for your support.

And finally

Thank You All for your support, your kind words and your good wishes.

Steve Davidson