And once again (for the second time), here's what our readers have to say about Bewildering Stories and its bewildering content!

The zine has some nice content and a light, playful tone. The page design could use some changes and you ought to get more readers.

I enjoyed the "look" of the site when I first went into it...but over time it hurts. The music, intrigueing at first, becomes annoying as one tries to read something. The text and background also look cool and spacey and inviting. But when reading for a while, the green type becomes annoying. The font is also a bit small. Maybe if you had some settings to turn this stuff off? Or if you had a setting to "print"?

I noticed there were only 209 visitors (not even sure if those are unique visitors). You might think of how to get more traffic. The site is good enough to get more play. Some suggestions:

1. Start a bulletin board within the site.
2. Hang out at other BBs and drag people over here. (Find some that are more high traffic than Analog/Asimov) like perhaps Apolyton Off Topic or The Straight Dope.

—GP

Thanks for your comments. We've removed the music and put it in the Archive section of our site. I must admit, it does get annoying. Apologies to Holly Schmidt, who made the music, for taking it down. We've also added a new feature to most of our pages, so you could change their text color if you wish. We've set our text on the default size, so if you find the font too small, you can change the text size on your browser. If you have Internet Explorer, you can go to View on your toolbar, then select Text Size, then choose the size you want. If you'd like to print, just choose the print option on your browser. Regarding the rest of your letter, we're currently working on that. We'd love to get more traffic.

—The Invincible Spud

Update: We've just now put the music back. Now, you control whether you want the music to play or not.

—The Invincible Spud

1. Would be nice if you could add page counts to the zine. I often read shorter stories first when attacking an Analog.

2. Sharon's story about the faceoff in the burbs was great fun and had promise. Why not try to get it published in a real market? For criticism: I would only say that the cutesy phrases, similes and anologies were a bit overdone. (A common problem I think. A few comparisons make the reading fun, but too many ruin the effect. Remember Seinfeld's advice to George about not overdoing the wit.) I'm talking about things like lawn nazi, Rambo, etc. I also felt the title was a bit of a giveaway and a bit long. But these are minor criticisms. Tighten up and submit. BTW (1): was it a real event? BTW (2): Just how cute and willing is Sharon's neighbor?

3. TomR's stories seemed a bit more like outlines (but I skimmed them...so maybe it was my reading style that made them look that way.) They need a bit more of a human interest slant like Sharon's stories.

4. I haven't read the other one's yet. Lack of page count throwing me off...

—Anonymous

Thanks for your comments. I haven't yet seen a webzine (pro or otherwise) that has word counts listed. I haven't yet seen a print mag that has word counts listed. Unlike some publications, like Sci Fiction, that don't length-categorize their stories (well, the novellas at Sci Fiction are obvious, but you can't always tell whether some of the shorter stories are novelettes or short stories), we've tried to imitate Asimov's, Analog, and F&SF's method of categorizing them into novellas, novelettes, and short stories. If you'd like more information concerning their length, simply copy and paste the stories onto your word processor and use it to determine the exact length.

—The Invincible Spud

The author replies...

Thanks, but it was meant to be way over the top...I just wrote it for my own amusement. I can't imagine what market would be interested in such a thing :) Ditto for Jellorotica. It was fun to write, but who'd buy it?

It really happened, even to the 17 police cars and the swat team with riot gear. My neighbor is still fabulous, still single and still likes a man in uniform. Interested?

—Sherry Gray

If you would like your letter published in this section of an upcoming issue, please send your letter to bwstories@bewilderingstories.com with "LETTER SUB" in the subject line. If you would not like your letter published, do not include "LETTER SUB" in the subject line. Please put your name at the bottom if you would like it posted; otherwise, we will attribute it to "Anonymous." If you would like your name linked to your e-mail address, please include your preferred e-mail address below your name; otherwise, we will not post your e-mail address. Letters may be subject to editing and/or shortening (or miracle whip). Thanks!

—The Editorial Triumvirate