As the New Year rings in, I'm "gob smacked" when thinking about the events of 2005. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be putting together a lesbian oriented e-zine and getting ready to publish our second book. What's that Chinese proverb? Be careful what you wish for . . . you might get it?

Surprisingly, the e-zine has become the most challenging adventure. As an avid online reader, I have enjoyed hundreds of interesting and insightful stories by both new and established writers. With all that talent out there, I assumed the hardest job would be deciding what submissions would go into which month's issue. But, it appears that the short story format and our guidelines are proving rather daunting for many. Ironically, the stories submitted by men are meeting our criteria with greater success than most. Our editor, Carrie, has done a marvelous job with the ezine blog explaining the nuances of what we are looking for. Again, I challenge the writers out there to take that unfamiliar step into the short story venue.

Taking a very familiar step, the exceedingly polished writer, Barbara Davies is back with another wonderful Sci-fi tale. The always-creative Kam Caddell entertains us with a witty, slice-of-life play. Author Nann Dunne has put together a poignant story guaranteed to pull at the heartstrings and Sias Bryant has written a wonderful piece that will make you laugh and cry at the same time. All the stories deal with family and loved ones so this issue's theme is "Home is Where the Heart is." The graphics are pictures of local homes and we have more great drawings from Trish Ellis and the multitalented TJ Mindancer.

I'd like to thank again the many readers who have made this past year so rewarding.

May this new year bring you the fulfillment of your dreams.

See you next issue!

Claudia

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