                        Soulz At Zero Newsletter #4
                                    By
                               The Stranger


        Well hopefully all of you saw the last SaZ pack.  It dealt with the
fact that I was thinking of ending the group due to lack of participation
by are members and by the Lit community as a whole.  Well I received a good
amout of email (though only a few from SaZ members....) and so I have decided
to keep the group going.  Some of the letters I received will be in the next
SaZ pack so that you can see what people are saying.
        Most of them said things like "I've been reading the packs for a long
time and I think you guys are great and I don't want the group to end."  Some
said "Hey, I'd like to write for the group."  So I'm hoping that we have at
least 2 new members so far with more to come.  Really, I'd be excited if the
members we have now all would participate in the group.  
        One letter of interest that I'd like to bring up is from a guy who
runs a BBS in Lisbon, Portugal.  He had never heard of SaZ until are last
pack (2-96) but then he started posting some of our poems on his board and
it seems we are becoming the thing to talk about on his BBS.. And he even
said that he was out eating with some people and they were talking about SaZ.
Now I don't know about you but that sortof blows me away that something
released in Hickville, America (Yukon, Oklahoma) is talked about in Portugal.
I've also received letters from places like New York City and other American
cities.
        New SaZ policy.. I've thought about this a lot and I've been thinking
about it for months and I've finally made a descion.  From now on, starting
with the March pack, Soulz At Zero is no longer just horror.  I still want a
main focus of the group to be horror but at the same time, we will now be
accepting poetry dealing with any topic.  The only thing I ask is that the 
poetry is good.  I know my writers and so I know that won't be a problem.
        I make this descion in order to bring more people into the group.  
I've always thought that we were leaving a good amount of people out of the
group because their poetry didn't have a horror feel to it.  I love the fact
that SaZ is a horror group but its time to progress in order to get more 
members who will, hopefully, actually turn in their poetry when they are 
suppose to.  The Death Certificate will still be there, but I am thinking of
ways to change it in order to allow others to write for it, such as having
the book reviews not always have to deal with horror books..  I'm still 
working on this one so send me any ideas if you have them.
        But still, the thing that you as members can do to help the group out
the most is to send me poems.  I've opened it up a lot here by allowing non-
horror poems so I expect everyone to meet are deadlines..Which of course is
the 29th of the month (or 2 days before the last day).  So please, write
lits and get them to me.  We can only be as good as are writers.  
        Another thing that I would love for any of you to do is to help me
promote the group.  I don't know how much help I'm getting in that area but
I feel like its none.  If you access to the internet, I want you passing the
packs around.  If you call boards that I don't call, I want you uploading the
SaZ packs.  If you talk to people who are interested in poetry/horror, I want
you to mention the SaZ packs.  Anything that gets the pack out to more people
will help us.  So please do what you can.
        Also remember that I'm always taking articles/reviews for the Death
Certificate and if you have any other ideas about SaZ, then please let me
know.  
        Right now there is some excitement for me with SaZ.  I've received
many nice letters and many promises from writers.  Now, its up to you to keep
SaZ alive.  Don't let me down by sending notes of apologies rather then 
poems.  Take care everyone and thanks for being members of the longest 
running Lit group in the world.

The Stranger...
(The.Stranger@Erebus.Magsystems.Com)

