Editorial

Our Very First Fund-Raiser Update

TWO BUCKS FROM TWO THOUSAND people in two months. 2-2-2. That’s the goal we established for the first ever “Perihelion” fund-raising drive. It began with the May update. It ends with the July update. So if you’ve been enjoying the magazine for the past seven months, here’s your opportunity to do your part to insure that great stories, articles, comics, and more, keep on coming.

As of 12-JUN-2013 we are guardedly pleased to report that we’re almost on track at the midway point. We use the word guardedly because, although we are meeting our goals, we aren’t doing so in a manner we’d prefer to see. That is, hundreds of $2 donations. What we’ve gotten is a smaller number of much fatter donations.

It’s nice to have our own Booster Club of friends, relatives and fans willing to dig deep into their pockets to ensure our survival, but we want throngs—masses of satisfied readers content to forgo a Big Mac in appreciation of our efforts. Do you really need to rent that DVD for the umpteenth time when you could instead buy an almost limitless flow of original stories, articles and comic strips?

Thanks to Social Security, Medicare, and a lot of good financial planning, “Perihelion” isn’t in any real danger of breaking up the bandwidth. Our coffers are slowly filling up. Thank you all! But what’d be even better is if we had some solid proof of a strong readership with which we could sell advertising and otherwise raise our profile within the industry. There’s plenty of competition out there. We think we’re filling an important niche that the other magazines have been largely ignoring. Are we right? Only you can let us know.

Look what we’ve got going already. Our Editor, Sam Bellotto Jr., is a career magazine editor with over 30 years experience under his belt captaining national publications dealing with topics as diverse as solid waste management, to motorcycling, to musical instruments. He’s been a devoted fan of science fiction his entire life and is an Affiliate Member of SFWA. Bellotto co-founded “Perihelion” with Eric M. Jones in the late 1960s, embracing what was called the “new wave” at that time. “Perihelion” was a full-size print magazine back then and, as such, was prohibitively expensive (for a fresh out of college graduate) to maintain. Nonetheless, the magazine grabbed the attention of the science fiction community and has been accliamed as a pioneer of the semi-professional format. Bellotto is also a published author. His novel, “Yellow Glad Days,” is available from Double Dragon Publishing.

Our Contributing Editor Eric M. Jones is an electro-optical-mechanical-biomedical-aeronautical engineer/scientist with decades of experience working on medical devices, airplanes, and all sorts of strange things. He’s got a whole bunch of patents. Eric also has a little Internet business where he invents and sells things for people who build airplanes—big airplanes, like Glasairs, Glastars, Lancairs, RVs, etc. He also sells to NASA and has hundreds of parts on the International Space Station.

Content is by some of the best in the field that we can bring you: John McCormick, a scientist, member of the National Press Club, and author of more than 17,000 magazine and newspaper articles, as well as 5 books; J. Richard Jacobs, who has been called the “O’Henry of science fiction”; stories by SFWA members and other award-winning authors, including Nebula Award nominee Joseph L. Green; striking cover art, comic strips, and interior illustrations. “Perihelion” paved the way for genre magazines to include science fiction comic strips in each issue since its inception, by the way.

Look at some of the goodies to come. We’ve got two more hilarious installments of the comic strip duo of Gort and Robby—you won’t believe what other famous figures from filmdom they encounter on the road. We’ll be reviewing the latest Star Trek movie, “Into Darkness.” And lots more fiction from veteran authors.

In order to make it really easy for you to contribute, we’ve established four donation levels. The first is our Rocket Level and is for only two dollars. We want readers to use that level. That’s why this campaign is titled Two Bucks From Two Thousand People in Two Months. We figure everybody who enjoys “Perihelion” can spare a couple of greenbacks. Because that is the level we prefer our readers select, there is no intimidation to donate anything more, thus driving away potential contributions. On the other hand, if you like to break the rules, we have a Moon Level for $5, a Planet Level for $10, and a Galaxy Level for $15. But, seriously, ignore those and go for the $2 Rocket Level. Become one of the two thousand donors we seek between now and July 12. One multi-millionaire backer could put us well above our goal with the single swipe of a credit card, but what fun is that? We’d hardly have time to see the Donation Meter fill up at all.

The Donation Meter, shown above and to the left, will be keeping track of the campaign’s progress. We have complete confidence that our loyal readers will treat us to a gratifying, steady climb as the Donation Meter fills up. The Donation Meter itself, incidentally, was donated for the cause by noted comic book artist and all around supporter of “Perihelion,” Jason Yungbluth. If you haven’t yet checked out his own website, we heartily recommend it. But first put your own two dollars into the “Perihelion” pot.

You can contribute by clicking on the little green Bodé bug with the large orange proboscis anywhere you see him within the magazine. Or click on the Donation Meter itself. Then select “Rocket Level” from the drop-down list in the pop-up window. That takes you to the PayPal donation page where you can pay with your PayPal account, if you have one, or with any credit card. Or click on the Donate Button, above right, for an instant $2 contribution. It’s fun. It’s easy. It ain’t expensive. And you will be rewarded update after update with the warm, fuzzy feeling that you helped to make it all possible.

We also welcome commentary from readers about this, our very first fund-raiser. You can send an e-mail to the Editors, address on the Submissions page, or leave a message in the Forum. No request is too extreme.

The Editors