A couple weeks after being told his article was accepted by Phantasm, poet John Beecher phoned editor Larry Jackson and told him he learned he was going to die soon. His strong voice was tinged with a sense of humor as he described going with his wife Barbara to the cemetery in Coloma, California, to pick out his gravesite. (San Francisco, where Beecher lived, has no cemeteries.) Shortly after, Jackson showed his office assistant, Anita Tonetti, Beecher's obituary from that day's Sacramento Bee newspaper. The two were stunned, having talked enthusiastically to Mr. Beecher several times recently about his work and his wife's block prints. John Beecher, whose great-great aunt wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin,  never saw his article in print.

Phantasm's editorial is the result of Larry Jackson meeting with other small press magazine editors and publishers at a conference in Venice, California, sponsored by New York's Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines (CCLM). The purpose of the conference was to help publishers with problems and answer their concerns. A blue-ribbon panel gave presentations, only to be jeered by some when the topic of profit came up by a corporate panelist marketing expert. Jackson was disturbed that the speaker was unable to share his experience. A few angry men and unruly women in the audience who burst into tears prevented John McKeena from speaking. Phantasm always operated at a deficit, and any help toward making a profit was welcomed.