Sponsorship Solicited

Proposal: The simultaneous print and electronic publication of a quarterly literary magazine with an international perspective about the impact of war, entitled COMBAT.

Thesis: War, for better or worse, is a fact of life, and has been more constant than not. Peace magazines talk about preventing war. Women's magazines talk about alternatives to conflict. War magazines talk about militarism or adventurism. History magazines talk about macrocosmic perspectives. The oral-history movement is too superficial, and journals are too exclusive. With the exception of occasional stories or poems scattered inconsistently across the medium, no magazine talks about the personal experience of war. Despite the proliferation of international crises, there is presently no periodical devoted to the revelation and exploration of the ramifications of war upon combatants, noncombatants, and their families. Since so many people are touched by violence, there should be a venue for documenting this pervasive phenomenon, and recording its human toll.

Plan: Launch the new magazine in electronic format at the beginning of 2003, and follow with a print version when resources permit. This dual-edition fills the available niche for this genre in the publishing market. The print version will be composed of text and line-drawings in an international layout emphasizing both substance and style. The on-line version will be catalogued, cross-indexed, interlinked, and downloadable for off-line perusal. Distribution will be primarily by subscription, but will also be distributed to libraries, schools, hospitals, agencies, and organizations. The independent staff will telecommute to the magazine's virtual office, and will perform specialized tasks as subcontractors. The business structure is contingent upon funding, so may be either commercial or non-profit, either proprietary or corporate, until the matter of potential sponsorship is resolved.

Conclusion: The COMBAT magazine project can be accomplished for slightly more than a quarter-million dollars per annum, by three employees publishing at least ninety-six pages of literature every quarter for less than nine dollars per copy. The readership is mature and discriminating, and the magazine will present heterodox expressions worthy of note and preservation. Human resource and military development sponsors have the greatest potential for benefit by association with COMBAT magazine.

Contact: Any person or party interested in further discussion on sponsorship may communicate with the COMBAT magazine editorial staff at:

majordomo @ COMBAT .ws,
majordomo @ COMBAT magazine.ws;

P.O. Box 3, Circleville, WV 26804.

Not only idle Rome rejoices in my Muse,
my fragments don't just fall on empty ears,
no, my book's thumbed by rigid centurions
stuck to their Martial standards in Getic frost,
and they even say the Britons recite my verse.
What's the good? My purse would never know it.
And yet, what excellent pages I could scribble,
what battles my Pierian trumpet could blow,
if while re-incarnating Augustus here on earth,
the kind gods had sent Rome a Maecenas, too!
Now, a patron would be nice!
Martial (Book XI:3)