We found this Craigslist ad:

Does anyone have information about the magazine LUCID?

It was supposed to come out this month (I signed a contract and wrote 2 articles for the issue) but the office is no longer returning e-mails or phone calls.

I'm posting this because their original call for submissions was on Craigslist about two months ago.

At this point, I'd just like to know if any one else has had experience with them.

There was a response on Craigslist:

I had the same experience...signed a contract and wrote an article, then they stopped returning my calls and emails. Concerned, I started contacting people listed on their press kit (that they had sent me). The two people I talked to said they were no longer working for Lucid and that the people running the magazine were "unprofessional" and "shady." One said she was still owed over $1,500 and warned me to be careful.

Then we emailed the posters. They got back to us but asked us to not use their names for obvious reasons.

More after the jump...

One of the posters sent us this email:

I was hired by an "editor" named Shane Padamada. I'm not sure if this is a man or a woman as I've never been given the courtesy of a phone conversation...all my correspondence had been through email. It's ironic this person has the title of editor, as apparently, he/she merely forwards submitted articles to the boss, Timothy Green. I should have known there was something wrong from the get-go, when I saw his title listed as "Editor And Chief."

Other oddities of the scenario include the fact that these people never pick up the phone when you call and have yet to return any of my messages with a phone call (at best I've gotten an email). Furthermore, Shane's voicemail leads to a mailbox for Tim Green, which more often than not has been full, so you can't even leave a message.

They did send me their debut issue at the beginning of the relationship, which is promisingly professional in appearance. According to one of the ex-employees that I contacted, they are propping their whole scam on the existence of that one issue, fooling a lot of people into thinking they are a legitimate operation.

Editor And Chief. Eek.

To corroborate that poster's story, we also got another email from yet another writer that had the same issue (ahem, no pun intended):

I, too have experienced the same thing. I wrote two articles for Lucid and even paid for the expenses out of my own pocket. The last communication I had was on August 2, when I received an e-mail from Shane Padamada, where he or she stated:

"We have had complications with the printers, which have caused a delay in production. We hope to remedy it by next week at the latest and once we go to print and handle that situation, checks will be sent out. Sorry for the delay in response, we are very busy trying to fix the publication schedule. We will be running the launch for 2 months due to the delay as well."

Since then I have heard nothing back from my follow up e-mails. I have to say I was suspicious from the start, Padamada did not seem as professional as some of the Editors I have worked with before. I requested his/her phone number several times because the one listed on the e-mail signature was the voicemail of someone else, and he/she repeatedly ignored it.

I hope to get to the bottom of this. I think it is a shame for them to take advantage of writers like that and I think the lesson learned is to go with your gut. If something seems off, it probably is.

We called corporate offices but we too got a machine. We'll post more if there are any answers from these guys.