YOUR 100 % 8-BIT MAGAZINE

Antic isn't just talking about keeping the Atari 8-bit market alive, we're doing something new about it virtually every month.

Last month's Antic announced that our 8-bit Arcade Catalog was back, bigger than ever and even featuring reissues of top commercial software which had gone out of print. In this issue we proudly announce the arrival of the 8,500-page Antic Index on CompuServe's ANTIC ONLINE. The fast, friendly Antic Index database will enable you to find out which 1982-88 issue contained just about any Antic article, program, or review.

For years, Antic readers have been asking for a complete index to this magazine's back issues. Now that long-awaited reference tool is here. And it's even more than readers would have expected, because it draws on the full power of CompuServe's mainframe computers. The Antic Index is the result of months of work by Charles Jackson, our Technical and Online Editor, whose article this month explains how easily you can find exactly what you're looking for in the Antic back issues.

Not only does the Antic Index provide fast references to the correct back issue--many of the complete stories are available online for downloading.

Antic still believes in the future of the Atari 8-bit market and we're proving it by our actions--even at a time when so many others have fallen by the wayside. Starting with this issue, Antic has returned to being an all Atari 8-bit magazine and disk for the first time since May 1985.

In response to overwhelming reader demand, all ST coverage is being switched out of Antic into our ST-only sister publication START. (ST-owning Antic subscribers can transfer their subscriptions to START.) Undoubtedly you have noticed that the Antic Magazine you now hold is thinner than the previous four issues, and is staple-bound like the three issues from last summer. But this should cause only slight change for 8-bit owners, because the pages that were cut are the ST Resource section.

Why did we start reducing the number of pages in Antic this month? Antic Publishing is an independent business and this magazine must make a fair profit in order to keep going--we certainly don't get any subsidy money from Atari. Antic Magazine can still remain profitable at this smaller size, covering 8-bit Atari computers exclusively, with present amounts of readers and advertisers.

The catch is that the number of 8-bit advertisers has been dropping all along, so Antic must look for a higher level of reader support. In order for Antic to keep on finding new ways to do the job for your 8-bit Atari, you need to subscribe for 12 issues of Antic Magazine plus disk for only $59.95. (Or upgrade your magazine-only subscription to include the disk.)

Packed with 172K of high-quality Atari programs and graphics, each double-sided Antic Disk is an unequaled 8-bit software value. This month's disk features every type-in program from the issue--plus Mandala Movies, a hypnotically colorful kaleidoscope construction set, and a series of highly detailed pictures created with this issue's Hard-Wired Ray Tracing program.

Nat Friedland
Editor, Antic