For the second consecutive year On Spec’s application for funding from the Canada Council for the Arts has been denied. The magazine already made cost reductions and made appeals for support through Patreon, so the next thing to go is printing copies for subscribers.

Some hard choices had to be made, and the first is that, starting with our Spring 2015 issue (delayed due to several family emergencies among the members of our senior editorial staff), On Spec will temporarily suspend print production, and be available as a digital magazine only. We trust that, as soon as funds become available, On Spec will be printed for our subscribers, and we appreciate their support. As soon as the issue is available, our subscribers will be informed by email or by letter, and given a means to freely access the digital issue in their preferred format.

In times to come, our marketing and fundraising efforts will increase to the best of our abilities, and we look forward to publishing more excellent fiction and poetry for many years to come.

Paradoxically, the staff combined the above news with an announcement they will launch this month Sleuth Magazine, a new Canadian digital journal of mystery and suspense.

The first issue of Sleuth will be presented at When Words Collide in Calgary.

[Via Sean Wallace.]