Playtime is Over
Collectors take note: Taddle Creek did not skip a number in 2014. If you’re panicked by a gap in your long box between the previous-winter and summer issues, you’ll want to track down the magazine’s bonus comic broadsheet, published back in the spring. This once-in-a-lifetime-to-date special is available only at select comic shops and newsstands, and at press fairs in which the magazine is in attendance. Subscribers can receive the issue for free by making their desire known to Taddle Creek, while non-subscribers unable to make it out to any of the above-mentioned locations can obtain a copy by sending their name and address, along with five dollars, to the magazine’s attention, either by post or electronic mail (cash, PayPal, and all major credit cards accepted). Sadly, at sixteen by twenty-three inches, this issue will not fit in a comic bag, so you might as well read and enjoy it, destroying all future monetary value in the process. Fun fact: at only eight pages long, it is, considering its physical dimensions, smaller on the inside than on the outside—a reverse tardis, if you will.
Taddle Creek No. 32 features the comic stylings of Michael Cho, David Collier, Matthew Daley, Jason Kieffer, Dave Lapp, Cory McCallum, Joe Ollmann, Ethan Rilly, Philip Street, Jason Turner, and Maurice Vellekoop, and will remain available until supplies last, which, considering the minimum print run for a newsprint publication, should be for some time to come.
With this issue, Taddle Creek’s 2014 trilogy of childhood comes to a close. The magazine thanks readers for indulging its kid-friendly vibe via the above mentioned broadsheet comic, the summer kids’ issue, and, finally, this special issue dedicated to stories of childhood. Taddle Creek promises to grow up over the winter and produce a regular adult-oriented issue for summer, 2015.
Who’s (Maybe) Honouring Taddle Creek Now
Earlier this year, Ethan Rilly’s cover to Taddle Creek No. 31 was nominated for a National Magazine Award, in the Illustration category. Competition was stiff, with fellow nominees including the illustrious Taddle Creek/ cover-artist alumni Michael Cho and Gary Taxali. Unfortunately none of these huge talents were crowned the dominant Taddle Creek cover artist by the jury, but the magazine offers a hearty congratulations to all nonetheless.
And congratulations to Andrew MacDonald, whose short story “Four Minutes,” from Taddle Creek No. 30, was named to the Journey Prize’s most recent long-list. For those blissfully unaware of such matters, the Journey Prize is awarded each year to an author still early in their career, for a short story appearing in a Canadian literary magazine. It is a rare acknowledgement and show of support both for new writers and the supposedly unpopular art form that is the short story. Andrew’s tale appears in The Journey Prize Stories 26 anthology, now on sale.
Finally, Taddle Creek’s Web site recently received a nomination from the Canadian Online Publishing Awards, in the category of Best Website Design: Red, the colour apparently placing the magazine in the non-news consumer division. Taddle Creek is pleased to see acknowledgment for the fine work of Matthew McKinnon and John Piasetzki, the developers behind Taddle Creek’s recently refreshed site.
The Contributors’ Pin
It’s hard to imagine, given the state of today’s job market, that employers not only once took pride in their employees, but damn it, they showed it! For Taddle Creek’s ephemera-friendly money, there’s no better expression of a job well done than the service pin: a lapel-sized item, usually featuring a company’s logo.
Sadly, the glory days of well-made service pins are long gone at most organizations. But once again leading where others fear even to follow, the magazine recently introduced the Taddle Creek Contributors’ Pin: a lovely, two-layer metal pin in the shape of the Taddle Creek crest, and manufactured by Dominion Regalia, provider of Freemason cufflinks, hats, and other items of corporate and fraternal pride. All contributors to Taddle Creek will receive a pin, which the magazine hopes they will wear in good health, and with pride. You’re welcome.
So Long, and Thanks
For All the Slush
One of the first contributors Taddle Creek will be honouring for her service is Grace O’Connell, the magazine’s associate editor, who, sadly, is moving on following this issue. Grace’s nearly three-year tenure was short but delightful. Taddle Creek wishes her well, thanks her for reading the slush pile with a joy the magazine still has trouble comprehending, and hopes to see her in its pages again soon.