Good eeeeevening, and welcome to "Tales of Otaku Horror".  Tonight
we'll examine the story of a fan-fiction writer.  He only wanted
people to read his stories, but instead found himself under...

THE MATHEWS CURSE!!

(Da-DAAAAAH!  Mwah-hahahahaaaa!)

The year: 1990.  Impressed by the Star Trek parodies he posted to
rec.arts.startrek, an amateur theater troupe hires young Ryan Mathews
to write an 80-page musical Trek parody, to be performed at a
convention. He works on the parody during the summer.  When he returns
to school, he learns the troupe HAS BROKEN UP!  (Da-DAAAAAH!)

1991.  ANIME HOUSE PRESENTS publishes two of Ryan's DIRTY PAIR
stories, "Big Bang" and "The Ballad of Lord Robin".  Not long after,
the magazine CEASES PUBLICATION!  (Da-DAAAAAH!)

1992.  Mike Tatsugawa agrees to publish a manga created by Ryan and
partner Larry Mann, COLLEGE IS HELL, in the next issue of An-I-Me. 
But the magazine NEVER PUBLISHES ANOTHER ISSUE!  (Da-DAAAAAH!)

1993.  Mathews and Mann create a manga, "Resources", which is printed
in the collection "IKUZE!".  The plan is to sell lots of copies at
Anime Expo. However, due a printing problem, when Expo comes around,
the books HAVEN'T BEEN PRINTED YET!  (Da-DAAAAAH!)

1994.  The TRI-A NEWSLETTER, once nominated for an award at Anime
East, decides to publish COLLEGE IS HELL in its next issue.  Although
a cover is created, the magazine DIES WITHOUT PUBLISHING ANOTHER ISSUE
(Da-DAAAAH!)

1995.  The convention Katsucon Ichi plans to publish a Mathews/Mann
manga in its daily newsletter.  The manga is completed, but due to
technical difficulties, NO NEWSLETTER IS PRINTED!  (Da-DAAAAAH!)

1996.  Mike Engler plans to publish a American manga anthology, "A
Twist of Cain".  He agrees to accept COLLEGE IS HELL, and even
re-letters it using his computer.  Unfortunately, due to lack of
submissions, THE PROJECT IS CANCELLED!  (Da-DAAAAAH!)

Why does he continue!  Can't he see there is no hope!  No hope, for
the victim of...

THE MATHEWS CURSE!!

(Da-DAAAAAH!)

Yes, folks, my record of getting published is pretty grim.  In fact,
what are the status of "Buffalo Crisis", the "JACO Newsletter", and
"Anime-C"? If those fanzines are dead, then I have a perfect record of
killing everything I've ever been published in, except for the AX95
Newsletter. Even there, they were only able to publish half of what
they asked for and had to shrink it to where it was barely readable.

But hey!  Usenet groups are "publications" too, right?  I've published
stories in both rec.arts.anime and rec.arts.anime.stories, and both of
them are still around aren't they?  Wait a minute...  NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
(Da-DAAAAAH!) :-)

------RM