The Next Step
by Michael Gallant

Well, it's been a year since we first launched QM on an unsuspecting world. Oh how they laughed. Said we were just a bunch of drunks (and Tim) who started a business just to write off the bar tab on Friday nights and call it an editors' meeting (my idea, by the way). But now, a year later, look what an impact we've made. We're so big, even Steven King wants to publish on the net.

We know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Thanks, Steve.

It is a warm, satisfying feeling to have come full circle on the calendar. We started with high hopes, felt our spirits soar with the joy of creation and bringing wit and wisdom to the masses. We forged on as the strain of maintaining the pace took its toll. We endured slow months, not knowing whence our next submission was coming, and felt the sting of nature's wrath, and the scathing feedback of petty minded critics. We sweated through the long, dark midnight of writer's block, and the frantic effort of getting the site presentable for the cold light of dawn. Finally, we saw our efforts rewarded, and now we roll up our sleeves to do it all again this year.

It's a lot like recovering from a savage hangover just as the bar re-opens.

We started this enterprise as rebels, and we ask only a rebel's reward, freedom or the end of a rope. So far, we are successful. We write whatever we want, and publish whatever catches our fancy, let us offend whom we may. We don't expect you to like everything we publish, but be thankful it can be published somewhere. We have posted wildly experimental fiction which is far too risky for the print publishers, and given a boost to many the emerging author who shows a spark of brilliance, writes a sentence of almost painful beauty, but would not satisfy the bean counting cowards who dictate what is and is not "acceptable" fiction.

This is a good time for rebels. The old, established corporate Goliaths nervously eye the throng of brave Davids who scurry about the landscape collecting rocks.

Today's rock of choice has a URL.

As Democracy freed us by giving the power of the vote to all citizens, the Internet frees us by opening a forum for expression and commerce for all people. The informal atmosphere of the Web cuts through corporate Newspeak and tired rhetoric and lets simple straight talk and integrity win through. With the instant feedback of email, people can go from being a passive audience to participants. Take a look at Entropy Gradient Reversals sometime. It is Common Sense for the Internet age.

Seriously, comrades, trade in that Kalashnikov for a slightly used computer. Hell, there's probably a government sponsored program for it. It's more powerful, has a greater range, and more devastating effect on the institutions of oppression. Even I can't hit someone in the mind, heart and gut at a thousand miles with a mere assault rifle, and I learned to shoot from the instructors of God's own Marine Corps. The Web is a real weapon in the fight for freedom.

The Internet helped John McCain rock the Republican primary. Yes, his campaign was eventually spent to death by Boy George Bush, but by God it was a grand run while it lasted. Amazon.com was the first business to become a household word without a physical store, or even a physical catalogue. The music industry is being revolutionized by MP3 sites. Hollywood can see that it is only a matter of time.

And the publishing industry....

Well, Steven King may see the writing on the wall.

Although the most high profile, he isn't the first, and some authors who started out as electronic-format-only have gained "real" contracts.

Which brings me to my final pledge and challenge as we enter our second year.

We shall bring the fight for free speech to the enemy. The first Quantum Muse book is now available on paper, and plans for a second are under way. Thus can we reward our writers with more than a simple mug. We can bury the final doubts which the cowardly print media industry seeks to spread about us.

We can overcome.

So, join us! Help us take back the Voice of the People.

This is my website. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

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