Number Eleven is a year old with this issue, Issue Four, and, though this may be a cliché, the time has absolutely flown. James and myself were only talking about it a few weeks ago and we can’t believe how quickly the time has gone. We hope it has been just as quick for you, Constant Reader.
While recognising Number Eleven’s first birthday I don’t want to wax lyrical about the calibre of talent and the craft of those writers and artists who have been included amongst these digital pages – for those of you who have read the previous three issues (and even for those of you who are only joining us for this issue) I hope you know that already. We have achieved in our first year everything that we wanted to and more. I don’t want to look back at what Number Eleven has achieved, I would rather focus now on what we can achieve in the future. So this editorial is primarily a heads up regarding changes for the coming year. Both James and myself want to shake things up, the format and the layout but also the content of Number Eleven is going to change. Well, it won’t be drastic and immediate but a gradual evolution. This is something we have been speaking about since Issue Two in fact and we put it off and put if off, probably correctly so, but now the time is right. Issue Five will start to show the signs of this change as we want to combat any creeping stagnation or laziness on our parts. The reason I am writing this down is because now you have proof, I have something that I have to live up to, to follow through on.
With that out of the way, I do want to speak about Issue Four, beautiful and wonderful Issue Four. This has been a difficult issue, due to technical problems and delays on my end, Issue Four is about a three weeks overdue. Slap me with a splintered ruler as I have been bold. Yet, Issue Four is something I am immensely proud of. There are nine amazing stories included here and, cheekily maybe, one of my very own made the cut. The wonderful sketches also belong to James Keane, the co-founder of Number Eleven – maybe this is our way of celebrating our first birthday.
Anyway, it’s time for me to stop and you to start.
Enjoy.
Graham Connors