When Rachel Marks, Adele Tesson, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, and myself came together back in the spring of 2006, we charted a course for a new magazine we named, "Haruah: Breath of Heaven." Haruah is a Hebrew word referring to the Holy Spirit, and literally means the breath of God.

That is what we strove to make Haruah, a magazine that injected the breath of God into the mainstream/literary genre through the stories that we selected to print. Looking back, I think we achieved that. Some stories were subtle in their contribution to that goal, others more overt. But in the end, we pray that the stories glorified God.

One of the backbones of the magazine was the volunteer editors who contributed their time and talents to making this reality work. Out of the original group of founding editors listed above, I'm the last remaining one. But we've had some quality people step in when the need called. Steve Forstner came on board early to help the four of us founding editors out. As people came and went, several spent a little time here, but some stuck with us, like Steve Rice, Kevin Shaw, and Resha Caner, the former two, along with Steve Forstner and myself, still here today.

But one of the people who made all this possible is Bill Snodgrass of Double-Edged Publishing, Inc. He, along with Rachel Marks, initially caught the vision of what such a magazine could be. But Bill provided the back-end support. He handled the website construction and used the various tools to help it run smoothly. He processed author payments and contracts, along with whatever else needed to be done to make it happen. Bill Snodgrass provided the underlying support, which without, Haruah would have never been a reality.

But change comes and goes, and it is no different here. Recent changes in Double-Edged Publishing's ownership has forced us editors holding down the fort at Haruah to do some serious soul searching. New owners have been brought on board as Bill's time has been greatly limited the last several months, and he isn't able to invest in keeping things running as he did originally, and they have decided that running magazines is not on their list of goals. On top of that, the recession has made it difficult to keep the boat afloat financially. We also had to take into account the desire and drive of our own editors...did we have the commitment and resources to go it on our own as some of the DEP magazines are doing?

After evaluating these things, and the end of Double-Edged Publishing as a Christian influenced magazine publisher, we the editors concluded the magazine should close once we've printed all our currently accepted submissions. We have three more poems, a true-to-life story, and a fiction story left to print. I estimate our last story will be published on June 17.

Naturally, folks will have questions. Here are the answers to some I know will be out there. If these don't answer it, post your questions in the forum or email them back.


What about my payment?

Bill Snodgrass will be handling the final payments to all authors. If you haven't received your check or PayPal amount yet, be patient. Bill will be working on it.

Some of you elected to be paid with a print copy of the magazine in which your story appeared. As many of you are aware, we fell way behind on creating and getting those published, due to time limitations on our volunteer staff. With the best of intentions, we've worked to get those done, but circumstances have worked against that happening to this point.

We are planning on making a valiant attempt to finish those and send them out. However, if you would rather get paid cash due to the uncertainty of that ever happening, please contact us and we will change your payment preferences accordingly.

Also note, if your story/poem was published in 2010, there are no more print magazines after that point. We'd changed the options to get paid to take that out, but somehow I noticed it returned and some have selected to be paid with a print magazine. But we announced that fact at the time and updated our guidelines to include those terms. Stories published in 2010 will get the cash payment if the author elected to receive a print copy for payment.

To contact use, send an email to editor, then the domain: at haruah dot com.


Will I still be able to pull up my online story in another month or three?

Yes, at least for the foreseeable future. One of our editors has agreed to host the domain and archive the stories there. So the links you have on your sites should still work for sometime, barring unforeseen circumstances. There may be some minor down time when we move the site to the new hosting service.

Also note, the forum will not be transferred over, just the stories and the ability to view them.


Will Haruah be opening back up?

That is always a possibility, but not likely in the coming months. It is possible the editor who will archive the site, if and when his life slows down to allow it, will reassemble new editors and fire up Haruah or something like it. But that would be down the road. There are no immediate plans to reopen.


I want to thank all our excellent authors and poets who have contributed over the years. The magazine started in May of 2006 and has run until June of 2010. A good four year run of stories, making friends, and learning together. That is something I will always treasure, and I'm sure I speak for all the editors.

I also want to thank all the editors who have helped with Haruah over those four years. There is no way this magazine could have worked without them. It has been a joy to work with and alongside them, and I've made some good friends through the process. I will always be thankful of that.

And finally, I thank God for his grace and blessing upon the magazine. Whatever has been accomplished is due to His working through and with our feeble efforts. May He have all the glory and praise for the enjoyment and joy the stories and poems have brought to the many readers. Stories and poems that will continue to be read and be a blessing in the coming months.

On June 17th, I will post the final story for Haruah. It is a story I wrote as my last contribution to honor the magazine. I pray you'll celebrate with me what God has done and will continue to do, even after the doors are closed. Stay tuned for that, and I would hope when that story goes online, several of you would find it in your schedule to drop by and offer your thoughts on what Haruah has meant to you, and make your final comments on the forum.

Thank you, everyone, for whatever part you played in making Haruah what it is. The magazine may be closing its doors, but your stories, poems, and work lives on in the lives of those you've touched through Haruah. May the breath of heaven continue to blow in your life.