Hail Friends,
I will begin with a little reminiscing, then share some news with you. I became the Art Director of the Grantville Gazette back in 2008 with Volume 15 after my dear friend Paula Goodlett saw a photo of me that I had doctored up in Photoshop to be wearing ‘Paula Goodlett, Editor’ swag that the Gazette was selling through an online store, it was all really just for fun! I told her I was her “biggest fan”! She laughed and said “You’re pretty good with Photoshop, how would you like to be the Art Director?” I happily played that role for the following 87 issues to the final one, 102. I had a great time, what a pleasure it was! Thanks, Paula!
I was terribly sad to see it end. We all mourn Eric, and I am sure you who are reading this are, like me, grateful to him for creating such a wonderful fictional world and inviting all of us to come play in it! I have a lot of fond memories, but I have already gone on too long! So, onto the news.
When the new magazine’s owners asked me to join them to help get it started, I was pleased and proud to do so. I am so glad that they were able to get the Grantville’s Gazette’s successor up and running, it is wonderful to see Eric’s world growing and changing, I think it’s safe to say he would have been delighted by all of this! I humbly thank Bethanne, Bjorn, and Chuck for the opportunity to get back in that saddle for a time, it was a pleasure. But, with all new things, change comes, too.
And so, I am writing to you today to let you know that I will no longer be the Art Director of Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine. My last issue in that position was #7. That issue was also the last piece of cover art that will be by me. As far as I know, the position of Art Director will no longer exist, it will be retired along with myself. I had better say right now, that I am just fine with this! So, yes, changes, they can be hard, but they can also bring great new things! The magazine’s owners and board of directors are interested in bringing in new, different artists so we can see exciting new takes on our favourite alternate history and all of the amazing people and events that inhabit it, many of which you and I had a direct hand in creating! I look forward to seeing this world I have spent two decades in through fresh eyes!
Now, I said I was retired, but only from the Art Director position. I will not be doing covers any more, but I have been asked to continue to create the magazine’s interior story title banners, a feature I invented when I first started back in 2008, and something I enjoy doing very much- partly because they require me to read every single story the magazine publishes, a joy and a privilege! I am now a freelancer and my title will be “Interior Graphics by Garrett W. Vance” or some such.
Oh, and I will still be writing, for as long as they will have me anyway! Somebody has to get soy sauce to Grantville!
In closing I want to thank all of you for all the fun and creativity you have shared with me and with our audience over the years, what a pleasure it has been. And, best yet- it’s only just begun!
Now, everybody get back to work!
Garrett W. Vance
