Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Goodbye to Another Old Friend (Hardboiled Magazine 1985 - 2014 R.I.P.)




Over the weekend, I received a copy of the latest Hardboiled (#47) from editor/publisher Gary Lovisi. In the envelope, Gary included a short note saying this would be the last issue. On the editorial page of the issue, he expands on the reasons why.
If you want to read what he has to say, I encourage you to buy a copy of the issue. As always, it has a great selection of tough, hard-edged fiction, including tales from two of my favorite writers … the late C.J. Henderson and a current rising star, Thomas Pluck.

Naturally, I have a particular fondness for Hardboiled. It was, after all, my baby originally, when I started it back in 1985 with the help of "outlaw poet" Todd Moore and encouragement from a number of writers in the crime/mystery genre.
We did twelve issues and I'm damned proud of each and every one. I'm sure Gary feels the same.
When I ran out of gas in 1991, Gary took over at the urging (to each of us) of Andrew Vachss. Gary took Detective Story Magazine, which he had begun publishing, fused it with HB as Hardboiled Detective for three transitional issues, then continued on with Hardboiled.


Hundreds of stories later --- by established names, new names who went on to become very established, more than a few one-shots, and everything in between --- HB fades quietly down the dark street of ceased publications.
That's too bad. Because, right from the get-go, it represented what there was (and certainly remains) far too few of … a fair shot for a writer to get published, to get his or her name "out there".


Maybe … just maybe … as Gary indicates in his editorial, there's a chance Hardboiled will be revived as an e-zine or some such. I hope so.
If not, after nearly three decades, I hope it will remain a deservedly fond memory for readers and writers alike.
I know it sure will for me.

6 comments:

Larry D. Sweazy said...

My first short story sale is in #16. A sad day to see the end of Hardboiled.

RJR said...

I remember Hardboiled fondly, mostly when Wayne was doing it. And hey, I didn't hear that C.J. Henderson had passed. When and how did that happen?

GordonVG said...

CJ Henderson died last month.

http://www.comicmix.com/2014/07/05/c-j-henderson-1951-2014/

---Gordon Van Gelder

wayne d. dundee said...

Glad to hear Hardboiled left a good impression on folks.
Bob - First, thanks for being one of the early supporters and contributors that helped HB get off the ground; as for Chris, he lost a tough battle with cancer on July 4 - in the archive section of this blog, you can find a post I did that gives more details.

David Cranmer said...

I hope it continues in some manner. One of the reasons I do what I do is because of Hardboiled. I don't wanna say goodbye yet.

David Cranmer said...

I hope it continues in some manner. One of the reasons I do what I do is because of Hardboiled. I don't wanna say goodbye yet.