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The Alternative Library

Summer 2008 Editorial Introduction

(Continued from MT Home Page)

bottom line is that for most of the month of June I didn't have access to any of my email accounts, including the MT Editor mailbox. This is because AT&T, instead of downgrading my existing DSL service to dial-up (which is what I requested), put me on a two month free trial that was doomed to eventually expire without any kind of termination warning. Despite the Borg's insistence to the contrary, they never explained this to me, or I most definitely would have declined the "free service which I enjoyed for two months." Needless to say, on Friday, June 6, without warning, my account was suspended. There was no phone call or email warning me that my account was about to be suspended. Just one day it works fine, the next day nada. For three straight weeks I called them repeatedly in an attempt to get them to reactivate my account. I begged, pleaded and demanded to speak to managers, but the Borg drones would only reiterate: "We are sorry, Mr. Manning, for your inconvenience, but we are unable to reactivate your account because of a system error. Your account has been referred to the higher billing office for further review." Presumably the ominously named "higher billing office" is a component of the Borg's central nervous system because they would never actually let me communicate with that department, and claimed they could only send them email communications--to which the higher billing office never responded. After three weeks of this I gave up. I'm currently using a free dial-up account that makes Internet access a slow, unreliable, pain in the ass.

Fortunately, I was able to rescue all of my e-mail from the MT Editor mail box. After this experience, it is my full intention to terminate every AT&T service to which I am subscribed. Ironically, I never wanted any of AT&T's services in the first place. I originally signed up with SBC and Cingular. I now thoroughly despise AT&T, and promise to emphatically disparage their comany and services at every opportunity. Although I am only one peon compared to the vast Borg empire, I'm an IT Manager, so people do tend to listen to me when I recommend technology based services. As a result of this experience I'm convinced that AT&T is a real life incarnation of the Borg. Avoid them at all costs, or you will be assimilated.

That said, and on a much more cheerful note, here is the Summer 2008 issue--only three days late. My sincere apologies to the contributing authors and readers who have been anxiously awaiting the latest issue of MT. For those of you are waiting to hear back from me on manuscript submissions, please be patient. I promise you will be hearing from me soon.

As always, please enjoy all the great fiction and poetry! – JFM 7/4/08

Click here to return to the MT Summer 2008 Issue.