Tag Archives: Realms

Realms of Fantasy — It’s Alive!

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Here’s why fantasy is more fun than reality. Realists would have believed we’d seen the last of Realms of Fantasy once Warren Lapine announced he was closing it because of the prohibitive investment required to continue. Throughout history print magazines have fallen faster than autumn leaves, and in real life autumn leaves do not climb back on the tree.

It was easy to overlook that Lapine’s announcement included a wishful offer to “sell Realms to a responsible party for $1.00 and give them the finished files for the December issue.” But guess what? Wishes can come true: SF Scope reports Realms has been bought by Damnation Books:

Warren Lapine, publisher of Realms of Fantasy, and Kim Richards Gilchrist, CEO and co-owner of Damnation Books LLC announce the sale of Realms to Damnation Books LLC Damnation Books.

The just-concluded deal will see the December 2010 issue produced in print (as opposed to the previous announcement, which expected it to be an electronic-only final issue). The new owners will begin their tenure with the February 2011 issue, meaning there will be no gap in the bi-monthly magazine’s publication schedule. All subscriptions already paid for will be honored.

The new proprietors say:

Future plans include continuing to produce the same quality fiction magazine in print and to expand digital editions for ebook and desktop readers. The April 2011 issue will be themed ‘dark fantasy’ to coincide with World Horror Convention 2011 where Damnation Books will be hosting a party, and a booth in the dealer’s area.

[Via Don Glover.]

Lapine Folds Realms of Fantasy

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Publisher Warren Lapine is closing Realms of Fantasy and Dreams of Decadence magazines.

In his farewell he says about his attempt to bring back RoF:

I invested more than $50,000.00 of my own money into reviving this magazine. I tried every traditional method I could think of to increase the circulation, but nothing worked. I also spent a great deal of money trying nontraditional methods. I advertised online with Google and Facebook, neither of which came close to covering their costs. And we created DRM-free electronic versions of the magazine to see if that would help increase our circulation. Sadly, the DRM-free versions never sold more than twenty five copies per issue, and the Kindle editions sold fewer still.

The staff had completed all work on the December issue in hopes of continuing, and that issue may be posted at their website for subscribers to download.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]