If there is a God, He/She is a mean-spirited mofo. We are given the gift of time away from work and daily drudgery, time to write, make art, take long walks, get some heavy rest, but the price is too high. We can only see friends and family on screen, we can't go to the gym, a concert, or a movie, no conversations in crowded cafes, no travel--and we are closer to the fear of death and disease, more worried about those we love. As writers and artists we do have our old fallback, that it is grist for the mill. Contributions to HGA have been on-the-fly snapshots, taken as the pandemic runs (hopefully ran) its course. Great stuff! There will be more material to come from them--so stay alert and look hard: "Look! if you look hard enough at things you will forget you're going to die." --Monty Clift.

~~Owen Hill, Summer 2021

“No work! NO work!! NO WORK!!!!” A rumpled middle-aged man had stumbled out of his home, teetered down his driveway in a disheveled bathrobe, then stopped me on my neighborhood walk. It’s been over a year since I ran into this distressed soul on my newly initiated Pandemic Pacings. At the time, I was both enthralled and repulsed by him. He was my first ‘story’. Then, a couple months later I, too, found myself out of work. All of a sudden, I had LOTS of time on my hands. So, I had the idea to publish other writers and artists who were also surely feeding off the energy of this Pandemic. I asked Owen Hill, my partner in Zine Crime from years ago (Blind Date), if he wanted to help out. He agreed. We put the call out for work. And, we were rewarded with a variety of rich and passionate voices that built the first issue of Hello Goodbye Apocalypse. I then asked two fine writers if they’d guest edit an issue. Both Denise Leto (issue no 2) and Summer Brenner (issue no 3) agreed to. Their issues reveal individual voices that I would never have brought in. To them, a very very BIG thank you!

Today, I think the worst of the COVID Crisis is over. At least here in California. We’re back at work. We’re not wearing masks. We’re gathering for dinners. But yet.... I have an uneasy feeling. That this Pandemic is not ever going to be ‘over’. There will be lingering effects. I hope that I am wrong. If another shutdown happens, if the Delta Variant or whatever new virus takes hold, then I’ll consider resurrecting HGA. For now, though, I think my work is done....at least until the next ‘story’ stops me in my tracks.

~~Carol Jameson, Summer 2021

PS. This final issue is a tribute to Summer Brenner, Ian Lambton and Ruth J. Jameson. Their work is featured in this issue. Enjoy!

O no. 4, Ruth J. Jameson