Below is Jim's explanation from the email blast...

Greetings all pinball curious!

Long time/no blast … I have a couple big announcements to make but first …..

It’s been interesting. I’ve always thought of PGJ subscribers as friends. Really. I don’t look at all that I do in pinball as a business or a job, I look at it as fun and I enjoy getting the information as much as sharing it. Like I might call or text a friend to talk about the latest cool thing I heard or found out, I often think of creating the PGJ in much the same way. Of course it’s different, but it’s the feeling that’s the same.

In that vein, I used to launch into long stories about how this and that didn’t work out and how family, work or health kept getting in the way of the important thing … PINBALL! When I did that, most people would reply in a friendly way by telling me to stop whining and just do it. SO, I’m not going into detail about why there have been a decided lack of issues lately but I will give you a very brief, overview as long as it’s just between friends and friends want to know.

About five years ago I was diagnosed with a pretty serious illness, was in the hospital for a few days and then started on a three year treatment that controlled the problem but the side effects were not fun. After a year off the treatment I felt a little better but about 6 months ago the illness came back in force and I immediately went back on treatment, this time, indefinitely. Same thing. The illness is controlled but the treatment is “killing” me and this time the side effects are much worse.

To speak in Spinal Tap terms, I usually functioned at a 7 but the treatment turned me down to a 2 and sometimes 1. SO, being a man of medicine I started playing around with a few drugs (legal drugs, and under the watchful eye of my internist!) and I think I have found a cocktail that will allow me to function at least near my previous level. I found this about two weeks ago. I am now back up to a 6 or 7 and while sometimes I’m at a 4 or so, I’ve also been known to hit 10 or even 11, so it equals out.

I say all that to say that I’m hoping to be able to get back to stuff as I did in the past. I’m also saying this to make it clear that while I have been a little AWOL lately it was not due to lack of interest on my part. It’s still not the same. It’s still a struggle. But I really like doing this so I’m going to do whatever I can to keep doing it. The illness? It’s there, it will always be there but for now, as long as I can stay awake I’ll be fine!!

I'm one of the original subscribers from day 1. I'm finally losing my patience. It was a good run, but I'm done.

Yeah, but I was a subscriber to the Pinball Collectors Quarterly, Pinball Trader, and Gameroom starting around 1980-something. My heart is still with the guys that have been around forever (like me). But, enough is enough....

In Jim's defense, he has had some health issues. Even so, the last couple of years have featured pre-release game reports of games that are already out and show reports that are a year old. Paper issues need to be more than timely as technology becomes more relevant.

I stayed with my subscription because I like to look back, and the old issues were a stamp in time. When the issues don't relate to the date of the issue, relevance disappears. For me, it's sad, but it's past time. I guess a couple of years from now I can Google Pinside posts from 2014 for the same feeling.