Spare the Mayor, Kill the Story

In other words, the magazine's pub-lishing date was not delayed to help Post readers' memories, but because the Post had no magazine to insert that weekend.

Inabnit, reached by phone, rejected the suggestion that the front-page blurb in the Post might have been a wee bit deceptive.

"It's like a TV show moving from Thursday to Sunday," he explained. "This is a better time for the readers of the Post. They're elated ... I don't know why anyone would use the word 'deceptive.' We're very straightforward."

Inabnit did acknowledge the magazine had trouble meeting its financial obligation to its printer and that a temporary "cash flow" problem had temporarily kept it from making its payroll.

"But we're fine now," he added. "Everything came through, [in] grand style."
The publisher say he's nearing completion on his final phase of financing to secure the magazine's future and some other projects locally which will be announced in the next few weeks. He also plans to expand the Houston Life concept, which he defines as a "megamag," to Chicago and other markets. Brown is once again printing the magazine in a slightly smaller format, Inabnit says, and Houston Life is far from dead.

"This is probably the most successful response to any magazine I've ever had in my history," says Inabnit, who founded the now-defunct Houston Home and Garden and the Houston Business Journal. "We'll have to make other adjustments probably like any other company ... but we know we have a real winner and we're excited about it."

As, no doubt, are all those elated Houston Post readers.