By Anna Lawson
Here we are at January again, and here I am, finding myself in a seat that's already worn and comfortable. And with a pack of new pens to play with!
As most of our readers know, Stylophiles has always been a labor of love. Sure, we get to look at and photograph and play with all kinds of neat new pens and products, but largely we just plain enjoy providing our readers with solid information about pens that they might (or might not) like to own. The occasional way-beyond-any-normal-person's-price-range pen is also fun to look at and read about.
We'll
be sticking to that format as we move into yet another phase of existence,
doing our best to provide you with the information you need and want.
Our vintage content will pick up as Robert Astyk, who has served so
well as our history editor in previous incarnations, again sharpens
his blue pencil in that area. We've shanghaied several of our former
writers to spread out the workload.
And we encourage our readers to share their pen experiences and reviews. A number of you have contributed to these pages in the past, and we hope to have at least some of you (and some new people, too) come back on board to help spread the words about fountain pens.
As always, we'll be honest with you about pens and their features or flaws. Though some of you have told us you think we're too easy on pens, we remind you that "feature" and "flaw" are pretty flexible terms in the pen field--what one person hates, another person loves. Is that a feature, or a flaw? Obviously, it depends on your own perspective, and we try to take all perspectives into account when reviewing. Noting that we like or dislike a pen's weight, balance, ink flow, or posting characteristics doesn't discount that someone else might feel quite differently about it.
So it'll most likely be business as it
has usually been--great photos, great stories and information, and some
surprises now and then. We do have some new things in the works and
some ideas we hope to try out. In all of them, we'll be happy to have
you along for the ride.
copyright 2006 Anna Lawson
Images copyright 2005 William Riepl