[Freelance Traveller] November/December 2018 CANCELLED

FreeTrav

Cosmic Mongoose
It is much against my preference, and with my deep regret, that I must announce that there will be no November/December 2018 issue of _Freelance Traveller_.

The past few weeks have been a trial for me. At the beginning of September, my father was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, and within two weeks of the diagnosis, it was confirmed that it had gone metastatic to the liver. Without treatment, the prognosis was no more than six months; with the most aggressive treatment available, the prognosis was no more than seven. My father has always preferred _quality_ of life over _quantity_ of life, and elected to decline more than palliative care. Rehabilitative placement followed, and was showing good progress, but after a week, there was a marked decline, to the point that the rehabilitative facility could not handle my father's needs and conditions.

Just over a week ago, hospice placement was approved, and my father was tranferred to Calvary Hospital's hospice facility in the Bronx (NYC). Their personnel were mostly wonderful when it came to addressing my father's needs and wants - our family tend to be poor patients at best - and there were no indications of any problems or misinterpretation that could not be quickly resolved.

Throughout this, my sister and I were providing administrative and emotional support for my mother, and for each other.

At 6:15 EDT Saturday morning (October 27), my sister, my mother, and I received telephone calls from the doctor at Calvary, telling us that my father had passed shortly before, in no pain and at peace while asleep.

As we are Jewish, burial is to be at the earliest opportunity, and that was today.

My parents were married for 56.5 years, an amazing record when you realize that it is unremarkable for more recent marriages to end before the tenth year. There is more than the emotional aftermath to deal with, however, and my sister and I are still "on duty".

Unfortunately, the level of stress and call on my time means that _something_ had to give. I thought perhaps I could manage to get the issue out perhaps a week late as I have done in the past, but it's simply not in the cards this time. There will be no issue 90 of Freelance Traveller; the next issue of Freelance Traveller will be issue 91, January/February 2019. Unlike past issues where there has been a gap followed by a "double issue", there will be no extra material in issue 91; it will be the usual 64 pages.

I would have preferred not to have been forced into this evaluation of my situation, and would have preferred not to have needed to come to the conclusion that I have, which hurts you, the community, due to events beyond your control, and because of my personal weakness. Nevertheless, I would rather this than "lead you on" and then publish an inferior product, or silently fail to publish.

You have my profound apologies.

--
Jeff Zeitlin
Editor
Freelance Traveller
 
My condolences to you and your family, Jeff. Take your time coming back. Traveller fans will patiently await your return.
 
Jeff, I am sorry for your loss. There is no weakness in putting one’s family first. That is strength, not weakness. The rest of the world can wait.
 
My prayers go with you.
Take as long as you need for family. they come first.

Traveller has waited years between updates, it can certainly wait several months for you to update your newletters.

Thank you for all of your hard work.
 
I echo the sentiments above and wish you and yours strength and comfort and love in your trial.

I am reading this after returning home from several days with an old friend who has been struggling with ovarian cancer. Today we were having lunch waiting for the results of her CT scan telling her whether she was in remission or would need to continue treatments. She asked me what I was doing for fun these days and I told her about an old writing project I’ve been working on, a Traveller article about expanded world generation, updated to the most recent real world data. She asked what the market was, could I monetize it in any way. I said maybe, but that wasn’t the point.

I told her how in 2004, alone and stuck in Los Angeles over Christmas, I was thinking for some reason about Traveller, after about a fifteen year hiatus. Fishing around on the internet I found a site called Freelance Traveller. As a person who works freelance, and travels a lot, I was like “no way, really?” But there it was. Glorious in its love and treatment of my favorite RPG, now back in my life again. The point isn’t money, I said. It’s time to give back.

Jeff, you’ve been on my mind for a long time. Every new issue you put out reminds me I have something I want to give to you, to all us Travellers, to say thanks for all that you have given us. It will be done in time and I sincerely hope it is something you find worthy of inclusion. When you yourself are ready. Do not apologize for what you are going through, or the hard choices you’ve had to make, at the very least because your father is right - quality is more important than quantity. And you have given us so much already.

Take your time. We’ll all be here. And you know something, turns out my friend is in remission. “Got my life back today,” she said. When I got home tonight my wife said, “Someone’s looking out for her.” Who knows, maybe that someone was your dad.

Be well, stay strong. See you soon.
 
Jeff,

No apologies needed. You made all the right decisions. The magazine will persevere and come out next when you are able to do so.

Work on your family first. It's far more important.

Take care.
 
You have my sympathies. I haven't gone through anything like that myself; my grandparents all went through long slow declines as they grew old, but once they got into really bad shape their ends were mercifully quick.

If you want to stick to your magazine schedule symbolically, you could make this note and a eulogy for your father the substitute issue.
 
המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים
"May God comfort you among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem."
 
phavoc said:
Jeff,

No apologies needed. You made all the right decisions. The magazine will persevere and come out next when you are able to do so.

Work on your family first. It's far more important.

Take care.
Amen to this.

I am so very, very sorry for your and your family's incredible loss.
 
In no way have you let people down by not producing issue 90. You have done the right thing for your family. You will be in my prayers today.
 
Jeff, my condolences. Strength to you and yours. There is certainly no need to apologise.

We lost my father in a very similar way early last year, and my mother, brother and sister are still in some ways coming to terms with this. Take your time and attend to your family and loved ones foremost.
Freelance Traveller will be there when you find time and focus again.

Take care of your loved ones and yourself.
 
Thank you all for your words of support following my announcement of cancellation of the N/D18 issue, and for your support by generating new articles when I requested them.

I had mentioned that my father was taken care of in hospice care by Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. I recently learned that my sister - whose birthday is this coming Friday - is running a "birthday fundraiser" on Facebook for Calvary; it has only a week left. She has asked that, in lieu of gifts, people donate to Calvary through this fundraiser. Unfortunately, Facebook is its usual walled garden, and only members can donate (well, others can, too - by creating a Facebook account).

Like my sister, I believe in their mission; I know how seriously they take it, and how effective they are at doing it. Before my father's stay there, I had no reason to believe their radio advertising any more than any other advertising; now, I can say that every ad that I have heard does no more than tell it like it is.

I would therefore take it as a favor if those of you who are Facebook members - or willing to be borged into the walled garden collective - would visit https://www.facebook.com/donate/2315947945147373/ and make a donation to Calvary Hospital through my sister's fundraiser.
 
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