I'm very pleased to introduce two new contributors for this issue. While you have probably heard from both of them on AMLA, this is the first time Sabina and Janette have written for the magazine. Interestingly, both of them choose to write on the topic of Western fandom and its attitude toward yaoi, and reached very different conclusions. What do you think? Please write and tell us. Maygra, a long time slash writer, has written a long and thoughtful essay on Bronze. And finally, we have Kitty's long promised Winter Comiket report. Even though we're talked quite a bit about the Japanese's penchant for all Nazi related paraphernalia, it's still quite a shock to see Hitler in photo gallery.

Going by the recent poll on AMLA, most of us read some Japanese. Some of us know enough to read a manga without much difficulty, while others can only pick out a few simple words. But most of us are not fluent enough to allow us to read a manga without any difficulty, let alone the novels that seems to be taking over the yaoi market. So while it may seem like a futile exercise, I still would like to introduce a few of the most popular yaoi novels in the next few issues.

Although the original novels may be outside of our abilities, there are still many ways to enjoy them indirectly. The novel-based fandoms have shown remarkable staying power through the year. Doujinshi anthologies based on Fujimi Orchestra are easy to find. You can also find many of the doujinshika on the web. For a good search engine, try Surfer's Paradise, Japan's Anipike.

To add a bit more to last month's information..

A popular new site is Dreamspace. The site is updated almost everyday, and is chokeful of goodies, commentaries, and even Chinese translations of Arslan and Soyrunden. Warula's story, Qingxuan, located in the Violet room, is not to be missed.

Even if you don't speak Chinese, you should visit Waterspirit, an amazing graphic artist and an equaly brillant writer. Some people can do it all, it seems.

Mimi