"I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's
fashions."
Lillian Hellman
THE ST NEWS CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS
by Richard Karsmakers
There is an address.
In this world there are many addresses, of course. Some of them
make sense, some of them don't. Every country has them. As a
matter of fact, every country has quite a lot.
However, I'd wager something quite valuable - or maybe not -
that there are few addresses in the world that are as much worth
while to write to as the one where you can reach the people - er,
I should say, the person - behind the disk magazine ST NEWS.
The address mentioned at the end of this column is not the
actual location of the editor's physical presence, for he is far
too bulky to be put into what everybody will agree is really a
very small Post Office Box in the centre of Utrecht. However, via
this Post Office Box your correspondence will eventually land
into the hands of this totally not illustrious and perhaps just a
bit overtly industrious person who goes through life by the name
of Richard.
As opposed to the mass of glossies (mass?!) that cannot be
reached by readers and whose editorial staffs really don't give a
hoot about what anyone thinks of what they do as long as they get
their pay slip at the end of each month, ST NEWS is different. ST
NEWS - or, rather, that person behind it, me - knows that without
you it - he - would be nowhere.
So ST NEWS and, indeed, Richard himself (that's me!), would very
much like to hear from you; what you think of the magazine, what
you think it lacks and, preferably, something that it can use. In
the latter category it's programs and articles I am referring to,
and especially the "articles" category is one loosely defined
indeed. What to think of software reviews and hardware stuff, of
course, but ST NEWS also required reviews of music, film and
books. Take this opportunity to be as verbally diarrhoeaic as the
editor himself, launch your favourite word processor and get
going!
If you've written a decent piece of software that you'd like to
spread as much as possible, you could do worse than having it put
on the ST NEWS disk. Do note, however, that it has to be pretty
good if it takes up rather a lot of space...after all, ST NEWS is
primarily a text-oriented disk magazine and the programs on offer
are just little extras, not much more than that.
But you can send much more to the correspondence Post Office Box
specified at the end of this article. What to think of season's
greetings near the end of the year? What about birthday cards
around (and preferably on) November 3rd? And, of course, if you
should feel creatively inspired you're most welcome to send Crazy
Audio Tapes, Video Tapes (including those of your two sisters -
preferably called Cindy Crawford and Claudia Fischer - taking a
shower) and generally anything else you'd want to send. Some of
the most noteworthy things that the editorial staff of ST NEWS
has received through the years are Death (a small statuette), a
Bong (something to smoke mind-expanding herbs in), an 850 Kb
Crazy Letter and, of course, pieces of variously coloured
(usually referred to as "green", for some reason) paper.
I take my correspondence seriously and, although it may take a
while until you hear from me, I usually reply - especially if
letters are in some way extraordinary, silly, extravagent, zany,
nutty or plain encouraging. However, if you really want to give
me help in writing to you I'd appreciate it much if you'd include
sufficient reply postage in the form of Dutch stamps or
International Reply Coupons (these are little pieces of paper
that you can purchase at your local Post Office, or at least you
should be able to).
The Post Office Box specification is as follows...
ST NEWS
Richard Karsmakers
P.O. Box 67
NL-3500 AB Utrecht
The Netherlands
Be nice and make sure I find something in there next time I go.
Like Clint would say: "Go ahead, make my day." For those of you
too stingy to spend a stamp (in other words people a lot like me)
you can also write to me via my electronic mail box. The
specification of that is r.c.karsmakers@stud.let.ruu.nl. Provided
you UUencode your archived stuff, you can even send me some
programs if you want (as long as the total size doesn't exceed
about 500 Kb).
If you want to know when the latest issue of ST NEWS is
released (do note that this offer is for email only!) just send
an appropriate message to my email box. You'll automatically
receive notice of when an issue is released and where on The Net
it may be procured.
OK now, put those brains in gear, defenestrate that awful reader
passivity and make some worthy contribution to this wholly self-
supported part of Atari culture that would probably continue
without you but that would then be a whole lot less interesting.
Disclaimer
The text of the articles is identical to the originals like they appeared
in old ST NEWS issues. Please take into consideration that the author(s)
was (were) a lot younger and less responsible back then. So bad jokes,
bad English, youthful arrogance, insults, bravura, over-crediting and
tastelessness should be taken with at least a grain of salt. Any contact
and/or payment information, as well as deadlines/release dates of any
kind should be regarded as outdated. Due to the fact that these pages are
not actually contained in an Atari executable here, references to scroll
texts, featured demo screens and hidden articles may also be irrelevant.