Below is an article from issue 11, page 3, which explains the life and death of Roundup Magazine

This is it. You're holding the last issue of Roundup magazine in your hands. So what the hell happened? Let's start with a brief history.

Roundup first hit the stands back in the spring of 1993, a concept of Parkwood Publications. They produced three well-received issues, but for various reasons, stopped short of producing the fourth. Then, in the beginning of 1995, Brush Creek Media bought the rights to publish Roundup. Shortly thereafter, I started working on the "new" version, and produced issue 4, which appeared in June 1995. Since that time, the design and contents of this magazine have been evolutionary, largely in response to comments and requests by its readers.

Throughout this time, my goals have remained constant: to broaden the scope of the magazine and encompass more of the Western and outdoors lifestyles, to include more articles of interest to and about women, and to publicize the under-represented lives of rural gay men and lesbians. The driving concept has been to provide a quality publication that serves as a forum for healthy dialogue, little-heard-about ideas and new thoughts. Essentially, I envisioned Roundup as a tool that could help break the stereotypes that exist for both the Western and the gay communities.

Since becoming the editor of Roundup, I've received an incredible number of good comments and praise, mostly along the line of, "The gay community needs a publication like this." Unfortunately, that praise didn't translate into sales. After an initial surge in growth, both subscription and newsstand sales leveled off and remained below our goals. Understanding that any new magazine needs time to develop its readership, the management at Brush Creek Media decided to continue supporting Roundup. They changed the publication frequency from bi-monthly to quarterly, giving it a better chance to sell by increasing newsstand shelf-life. Then disaster struck. Recently, we were surprised by a lawsuit filed against us for use of the Roundup name. This, combined with the expenses of having just dealt with another lawsuit concerning a photograph published in Roundup, brought about the decision to halt publication.

Brush Creek Media published eight issues of Roundup over the past year and a half. In this time, the magazine found not only its audience, but also its voice. That remarkable voice came from the work by the talented contributors who believed in the message of this magazine: Darren McInnes, Gary Robinson, Philip Guy Parks, Liz Hutar, Tony DeBlase, Joan Hilty, Jim Wilkie, Carl Grimrn, Patricia Nell Warren, and Jim Drew. Gareth MacKenzie has been one of the most enthusiastic supporters, even though his column "Stock Show" debuted in this, the last issue. Additionally, a great source of help and encouragement has come from many of the hard-working volunteers and contestants of the International Gay Rodeo Association. From the contestants sweating on the back of a bull ready to be loosed from the gate or trying to pull that damn underwear up over a difficult goat's hind legs, to the rodeo directors, chute coordinators, and too many others to mention, these men and women provide the backbone and the spirit of the gay rodeo community.

If you are a subscriber with outstanding issues, you will receive a form asking you to choose either a subscription trade for one of our other publications, or a prorated refund. The form should be mailed with this issue of Roundup. If you don't receive a form, call us at 1-800-234-3877 and we'll set things (ahem) straight.

By the way, you may notice that this issue is packed full of articles. That's because I've had to condense the contents of more than two issues into this one. So, enjoy this last issue, and thank you for your support.

(Mike Benda)