Burnt Offerings

Burnt Toast#6, 1990

We shouldn't be dedicating this issue of Burnt Toast to death. I mean, after several thousand years of confusion and millions of lives lost over differences of opinion regarding after-life architecture it's about time we gave the whole thing up as a dead loss (if you'll pardon the expression) and find something new to kill each other over. And no, drugs and sex don't count, they're getting a bit long in the tooth themselves (though they both seem to have had recent spurts of popularity).

But what the hell, eh? What the hell.

So this issue is all about death, as an abstract concept, an actual character (or, should I say, an anthropomorphic personif-ication) to be talked to and perhaps reasoned with, the simple stopping of bodily functions. None of this will actually make clear in a flash of inspiration what actually goes on in that strange little gig called reality, but that's not really what it's all about, and a little uncertainty is what makes it interesting.

Of course, all this existential stuff might be deadly boring. One of my friends once said that in the fiction he both writes and reads the characters regard the taking of life as a matter of course. People like James Bond and Arnold Schwarznegger seem to regard the subject as more worthy of bad puns then anything else, and that sort of thing has its own definite appeal. Death, like religion, sex and everything else, is far too serious not to make jokes about. Still, I'll have to admit, my favourite James Bond movies are the last two when they start taking themselves seriously.

And, like all BT's thematic issues, I'm not concentrating solely on the chosen subject -- for a start there's a couple of things on Season 26, mainly 'cause its just been on TV (no, really) and I think it's a purty funky li'l season.

The other issue of concern at the moment is that most people's subscriptions are about to run out. So, while you're all considering whether or not to resubscribe (and I'll send Scott Walton round if you don't) its the perfect time to tell me what you think. Should there be more DW?, more non-DW?, more Sound of Music? What do you think of the thematic issues, do we flog a subject to death or just scratch the surface? What about BT's general tone, or mood? As any fanzine editor will tell you, feedback is the most welcome, and rarest, of occurrences.

Ok, enough of this, time for the serious bits. A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Decade from the toast burners, y'all enjoy ya-self, y'hear.