When Nuketown first started, it was primarily a fiction webzine; I published other people's short stories alongside my occasional movie or web reviews. In the beginning, I didn't pay for fiction, but from 2000 until around 2002 (if memory serves.... which it probably doesn't) I paid up to $20 for a story.

A few years ago I stopped publishing fiction, largely because I didn't have the time to read through the ever-growing slush pile (even with the help of a fiction editor and an assistant editor it was still hard to keep up -- even finding the time to read the ones they'd culled was hard), though money was also somewhat of an issue.

There was also the issue with the guidelines: namely people not reading them. I wanted heroic, non-sacrificial, libertarian-themed fiction, and I got, well, anything but. Actually, I shouldn't say that -- I got a few that were spot on near the end, but the majority was dross.

Now, with the redesign upon us, I'm considering publishing fiction again and probably paying a token fee of $10 a story, maybe less, maybe more, financed through the "Google Ads" that run on the site (though this wouldn't be until I got my first check; right now my GoogleAds account stands at $55, and they won't send a check until it reaches $100; at the present rate of click throughs, I'll probably earn that much by November).

So my question for you, intrepid readers, is this: should Nuketown return to publishing fiction? I'd be looking to publish more of what I did before: positive, forward-looking, uplifting fiction, perferably with certain libertarian tendencies (but not so much so that people were being beaten over the head with the philosophy; in my opinion such fiction is better when those tendencies are subtle, rather than explicit).

What do you think? Vote in the poll and join the conversation over in the Nuketown Forum or send us feedback.