Down for the Count?

Here’s some unfortunate news to start out this week. At the same time as ThugLit editor Todd Robinson puts up a brand-new edition of his Webzine (featuring work by Joe Clifford, Dermot Owens, Mike Wilkerson, and others), he has announced that the site is taking “a break ... A loooong break. Like a ‘maybe forever’ break. Right now, we’re calling it an indefinite hiatus.” He adds:

We’re gonna keep the archives up in the meantime, while we figure some shit out. Maybe a message or two. Dunno. What I DO know, is that this is gonna be it.

For now.

At the same time as I’m pleased to hear that the site’s archives will remain in place (so people can catch up on what’s already been posted), I regret seeing the publication disappear as a writing market. ThugLit has been a pretty reliable source for good, tough fiction over what Robinson terms the last “five mostly-good years.” It has already spawned three collections of its short fiction, with the potential for more. It would be a damn shame to see ThugLit go away forever. But if there’s one thing we have learned after watching the rise and fall of fiction-oriented Webzines, it’s that holes don’t go unfilled for long. If this is the end for ThugLit, what will punch in next?