Not long ago, Pat Elrod found a remarkable moth on her porch. Its terra cotta wings spread as wide as her hand and were painted with dark circles like the eyes on a peacock's tail.

Although the moth didn't appear damaged in any way, it didn't move when Pat approached, so she knew it was dead. But the moth's perfection still qualified as a small miracle.

The local squirrels and Pat's baby Godzilla dogs don't just frequent her porch; they use it for advanced combat training. Nothing as fragile as a moth should've remained untouched. It had to mean something, didn't it, she asked a friend.

Her friend answered: "Sometimes you get a gift."

For me, the first issue of Crescent Blues has been a gift. I can't say thank you enough to my partners, Donna Andrews, Teri Dohmen and Suzanne Frisbee; to our contributors; and to Pat, M.D. Lake and Bernie Wrightson who gave so much of their time and themselves in their interviews.

But they're not the only ones. Working behind the scenes were our legal advisor Tom DeCaro and Anne Holland of DC's Webgrrls. Nor can I forget Dale Western and Norm Hood of Chimera Publishing, who came to our rescue at the last moment with their beautiful scans of Bernie Wrightson's pictures.

It's customary to use the first editorial of a new magazine to establish policy, state goals and chart a course to brave new worlds of journalism. But all I can think about is how I got my Christmas present three months early and how much fun it's going to be playing with it.

All of us at Crescent Blues hope you'll have fun with the present too. In the months ahead we'll be talking to writers and actors, artists and gamesters, and "just plain folks" who are anything but. We look forward to seeing you here.

Jean Marie Ward

Editor