Welcome to the 11th issue of the Winterwind Papers.

Would you believe that Winterwind is five years old now?

I don't. It feels so much longer.

For those old-timers who know the story, well, they know the story. For those new folks that don't...

Once, the evil Interplay killed their community forums, leaving only gaming forums. One of the moderators wanted to start his own forum but... he didn't.

During that time, some of the moderators, who were also artists, became friends and started working on a project together. Figuring forums were less cumbersome than email, they set up project forums. One of them named the place "Winterwind".

Then the evil Interplay killed Black Isle Studios and the forums went to public, which is what they were first conceived of as anyhow.

A site went up, intended for the project and general arts but, coming from a gaming community we were offered a gaming interview and took it. Thus was born a "dual focus" of gaming and the arts that caused some confusion.

Three of the four founders fell by the wayside and others came in but the first project died. So did the gaming focus. The ezine was born.

And more people fell by the wayside. Winterwind, it would seem, was cursed: unable to build a cohesive, committed core. The work largely fell on a few shoulders and then, really, down to just one.

The one who named it.

Still, five years later, a small handful, with some fresh faces from time to time, manage to make something happen every now and then.

Mattias has contributed an aptly named story, Winter Solstice (the solstice is Winterwind's anniversary).

He also slid in just under the wire, with less than an hour in the day.

Lina has given us another fantastic short story. All I'll say is that it sums up the spirit of Christmas so perfectly, at least what Christmas has become.

(You've heard about the Wal-Mart worker trampled to death because some people just had to have that cheap made in China product, right?)

For my pieces, one was inspired by Scrooge's quote obviously. I could either write it seriously or satirically. I chose the later. It's a touchy subject at the best of times.

My other was intended to be more sincere, more introspective but I found I wasn't so inspired. I wrote a... strange little snippet on the fly.

And now, marking this five year milestone, I'm wondering what I intend to do for the future of the site.

It takes effort, there's no income so there needs to be an emotional pay-off. Right now, it's 50/50.

Winterwind could still be something. I just have to decide how much I can commit to it and how that may affect the focus, content, etc.

But I have met some very good people who contribute some amazing things so there will always be... something here.

Peace.