Rest assured, dear readers, I know what you’re thinking as you read of the new Spring 2019 issue of Into the Ruins being released. “Where the heck,” you’re wondering, “did the Winter 2019 issue go?” It’s a fine question—perceptive, insightful, speaking well of you—and one I’m all too happy to answer.
It’s coming. In about nine months.
Yes, I’ve taken the opportunity to alter the naming convention of the magazine. When I first launched Into the Ruins, I intended to release issues on or near the equinoxes and solstices, with the plan of naming the magazine after the season being ushered in by those astronomical events. Unfortunately, my ambitions exceeded reality and the first issue of the magazine launched in late April of 2016, about a month behind schedule. By the third issue I was a month and a half behind schedule and then two months behind by the fourth. For the most part it did not get better from there, and by the time I suffered technology-related delays with the eleventh issue, my release cycle had come to be a full season behind, with the Fall 2018 issue releasing just days before the Winter 2018 solstice—and subscribers not receiving their copies until the new year.
On a related note, my original schedule for the magazine would have seen the fourth issue releasing in mid-December of 2016 and thus being titled Winter 2016. Due to it slipping into 2017, I took the opportunity presented by the fact that winters cross calendar years and simply named it Winter 2017 instead. Yet, that always bothered me. After all, it’s the wrong name; winter is traditionally assigned to the year it starts in, not the year it ends in. Thus, a solution is born. Seeing as I’ve slipped behind schedule enough to come back into alignment with the seasonal transitions, I’m taking the opportunity to properly assign this new issue the name of the season it’s releasing into, Spring 2019, and am going to move the Winter 2019 issue forward to where it belongs: in December 2019, as the title of the fifteenth issue of Into the Ruins.
With luck, this will create minimal confusion, better align the magazine titles with the actual season of their release, help motivate me to stay on track with the schedule, and soothe my Virgo mind. And of course, for all you subscribers out there, this change in naming will have no impact on the number of issues you receive for a year’s subscription. You still will receive four issues, even if the seasons named become a little wonky for the year. As always, thanks to all of you for your ongoing support, and here’s to a great Year Four!
— Joel Caris, Editor
Into the Ruins 