#we traded zines ^^

[pinkmoondoll9shihtzu]

Lazuli by @blluish <3

[rustbeltjessie]

Chicago Zine Fest haul. Top: zines. Bottom: art and stickers and pins, etc.

[harriertail]

do you have an artfight account??

no srry! I dont rlly intend on it either

[bloodstainedsapphic]

coffee shop fluff with ellie williams rahhh

pitter patter. the slosh of each step onto the sidewalk, the missteps into murky puddles during the drizzle, threatened to seep through your fuzzy socks and erase the last barrier between you and the storm above.  

the forecast had promised sunshine—what a load of shit that was. a pleasant excursion into town with your best friend ellie had turned into a zig-zagging mad dash between stops, making the chill vibes more fickle as you tried to have fun while evading a sniveling cold. the day still managed to be something close to perfect. because, at the end of it all, you were with ellie.

seeking some reprieve from the onslaught of trickling rain, you both slipped into an equally busy coffee shop. despite all the action, you sighed in relief as the inside brought a coziness the foggy, slate-grey spring weather had not granted. it was a steady crowd—everyone else must have had the same idea, trying to escape the lousy weather.  

“whatcha want?”  you asked ellie, who was raking a hand through her auburn hair, now darkened to a deep chestnut from the rain.

“anything but coffee.”  

“got it.”  

you took ellie’s entirely too vague order and stepped ahead to the counter, purchasing yourself a latte and ordering the barista’s special recommendation of tea for ellie.  

as you waited, elbow leaned against the corner of the countertop, your eyes wandered, quickly spotting ellie on the far side of the café. she’s holding what appears to be a comic, plucked from shelves that sat riddled with trinkets, purchasable knickknacks, and dime-a-dozen books.  you quietly head her way.

“did you find the one comic in this café?” you asked, leering over her shoulder, eyeing the yellowed pages ellie was flipping through.  

she snorted, barely sparing you a glance. “obviously.” she traded in the zine for her tea, taking it from you and blowing on the top to cool it down.   

you and ellie made your way to a small circular table near the windowsill, watching the droplets trickle down the glass. it was peaceful, even if you were both wet as stray dogs at this point of the day.  

“you know,” you started, initiating a random topic to keep the momentum going. “i don’t mind the city.”  

ellie shrugged. the city didn’t seem to bring the same twinkle to her eye as it did to you. she leaned back in her chair, tapping her fingers idly against the side of her cup.  

“eh. it’s a lot sometimes,” she admitted, “but… not bad if you know where to look.”  

you nodded. “exactly.”  

then you paused, sensing a layer underneath ellie’s words. your eyes narrowed mischievously as you leaned in slightly, like you were coaxing a secret out of her.  

“wait. do you have some mystery spots you haven’t told me about?”  

ellie shrugged again, her false coyness meant to taunt you, rile you up—her favorite pastime, it seemed. “dunno.”  

you groaned, blowing on your drink to soothe yourself, taking a small sip before really grilling her.  

“what are you talking about?”  

ellie hummed noncommittally, slowly swirling her cup in her hand, acting as though the conversation wasn’t all that interesting.  “wouldn’t you like to know.”  

“ellie, you fucking suck.”  

ellie merely smirked, clearly enjoying your weak attempt at prying an answer from her. she took a slow sip of her tea, looking entirely unbothered—maybe even a little smug—as you steeped in your frustration.  

“if we were dating, i’d take you to all the best places…” she mused, her inflection practically begging you to cling to and make a deal of her teasing words.  so you did. “what’s stopping you?” you fired back, playing along.  

in your pride, you caught the way ellie visibly stiffened, her lips pressed to the rim of her cup, frozen mid-sip as if she might choke on your reply.  

“…excuse me,” she muttered, a bit gruff, her eyes flicking toward you as if unsure whether to scoff or take you seriously.  

“you heard me.” you mirrored her energy, wiggling your brows, acting as if the rising tension wasn’t threading through your every last nerve. there had been plenty of cheeky flirts and lingering touches before this titular moment with ellie—she was your pretty best friend. you’d be ‘down’ if she asked. but the possibility had never been quite so direct as this.  

“mmmh, i’ll keep that in mind,” she replied, trying to sound stoic before finally taking that sip she wanted. you caught the quiver in her voice and the rose-petal blush on her cheeks, however, shining through the sheen of rain still clinging to her face and hair.  

“nice.” you grinned, pleased with her words. “when can we start?”  

“start what?”  “dating. so you can show me those so-called best places..duh.” ellie finally, actually choked on her tea.

[kitschycritter]

Howdy, my name is Critter. Have y'all heard of this lil thing called Craftivism? Here are 5 types of Punk/DIY Crafts I think we need to embrace, sooner rather than later!

Crochet/Knitting

Yarn and crochet/knitting supplies are relatively easy and inexpensive to get your hands on, and learning to crochet/knit is relatively easy with video tutorials. Once you learn the basics, you can create patches and clothing items that support certain causes. You can also do yarn-bombing (essentially graffiti using crochet/knitting) as a way to spread awareness about certain issues. Here are the patterns I listed above:

LGBTQ Pride Keychains

BLM Patch

Palestine Flag Heart

LGBTQ Pole Wrap

Womens March Hat

Pins

All you need is something hard and sturdy to act as the base for your pin (bottle caps work best), soda tabs + a safety pin, and some glue to secure everything. Paint or decorate them however you please. Let people know who you are and what you stand for. 

Kandi

While Kandi can be a way to express yourself and your identities, it is also a way to make community. Kandi-trading is huge in the EDM scene, and it is a huge part of why that community is so tight. You don’t need to make anything elaborate, especially to start out - just get some cheap pony beads from the dollar store, some letters, make some pretty bracelets. Keep them, trade them, give them away. 

Embroidery

Embroidery is a very fun and useful skill to develop, as you can basically put whatever you like wherever you want. Mend your socks, personalize your jacket, make some patches. Stop buying those shitty embroidered clothes from temu or shein and make your own one-of-a-kind pieces. Learning embroidery is pretty easy, just get some fabric, some thread, a needle, and go ham.

Zines

Zines are not only a way to spread awareness about certain issues, but they are a way to express yourself and talk about your personal experiences. I’ve included instructions on how to fold a zine, as well as some examples of zines. If you would like to learn more about zines & their history, I recommend @/decolonizationcoven on Tiktok. If you would like more examples of zines, check about any social media platform, but especially Pinterest. Lastly, if you would like inspiration for zines, Canva has lots of templates of zine layouts that are easy to replicate.

[dreadwedge]

everybody can hear you peeing. yep. it's audible through several walls and we can always tell its you because of the distinctive sound that it makes. yeah basically whenever you excuse yourself to do a number one everybody at the function gets out their condenser microphones to record and then we trade the tapes like concert bootlegs. then we do writeups of our favorite tracks you have produced in a urination review zine called "Splish". what's that? cut it out? haha no way dude. if you really wanted us to stop you would sign with capitol records and copyright that shit, get on spotify. get into "streaming" if you know what i mean. i'm just kidding around. but seriously, i love the interesting and extremely loud noises that only your urethra can emit.

[alkcomics]

Bring me my Mutants!

@thegorgonist and I collaborated on a new risograph zine featuring none other than our beloved band of merry mutants 💙🩷✨

As much as we love X-Men trading cards, the power ratings on the back leave some of our faves looking dusty. So, we asked ourselves: what better way to rate the X-Men than with Drag Race criteria?

.

Find me at AA K-30 and @thegorgonist at Exhibitors 20206 this weekend at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle!

[redgoldsparks]

I went all out for Hourly Comics Day 2025! These took between 6-7 hours to draw across three days, and then another at least hour to scan and edit which I wasn't in the mood to do which is why they are a week late lol. Had a wonderful time at Lumacon though and I'm glad I was able to document it! Transcript below the cut :)

insta / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my books / print store / bluesky

Page 1

7:50am: Alarm goes off

Morning phone: check eSIMs, insta, discord, Spanish vocab 

El tiene pelo largo 

Jonathan Van Ness, is that you…?

Drops App 

8am: My friends gave me a delicious new black tea that’s very easy to over steep 

3 minutes seemed too long, but 2:30 was a bit weak… I’ll try 2:45… 

Honestly, I prefer a tea where I can leave the bag in the whole time I drink the cup… 

For the first time in many years I’m actually doing something cool on hourly comics day! Today is Lumacon! This is the show’s 11th year- I think I’ve only missed 1. For the first time, it’s raining on con day!

Page 2

I’m so glad we had another avocado!

This bagel was so chunky I cut it into perfect thirds. Perfection

It’s so rare that I’m awake before my parents… SIP

Should I write about Larrupin sauce? My friend Alina buys this for me up in Humboldt since it’s hard to find… 

Every object/moment suggests a story when I’m paying attention! 

8 to 9am

Page 3 

Pick up Martina! Very cute raincoat (@martinamonster-art )

Chatting and Ateez on the drive 9 to 9:30

OMG why am I drawing cars :( 

LUMACON! 10-11AM 

My newest zine is a recruitment zine for Authors Against Book Bans (AABB). 

I zero in on folks I know to be authors–

Maia: I want you– 

Author: Me? 

Maia: To join AABB! (info zine)

Author: Oh thanks! I will! 

Maia: This zine is so fun to hand out!

Page 4 

Teen: Thank you so much for writing Gender Queen. I gave it to my mom and she credits it for a lot of her understanding. I came out as gender queer a year ago and she said “I love you.” I don’t know if that would have been possible without the book! 

Maia: Thank you for saying that! 

Different teen: I want to buy a copy of your book but I need to make more sales first. 

Maia: Where’s your table? 

Teen: Behind you 

Look. 

I spot some of the cutest round crochet bois I’ve ever seen including a nonbinary bee

Maia: Can I please trade you a book for that bee?! 

Teen: OMG yes! 

You know it’s a good trade when both parties think they got the better deal! 

12pm 

Page 5

I check in with Anna (@thebeanbaguette) 1pm 

Maia: How’s the con so far? 

Anna: Really good! I love how many furries are here! 

Maia: Oh yeah it’s fun

Maia: I had never seen the skull fursuit head before this show… for the size event it’s impressive furry turn out 

Cute goth/pastel couple 

Anna: To be honest, I’d love to get a fursuit head one day… and the hands! 

Anna: But I don’t know what animal…

(Table is covered in cute rats)

Later, another friend comments 

Cynthia: So many furries here! 

Maia: Yes, the per capita is very high… sign of a healthy ecosystem! 

(we all wore masks all day I just forgot to draw them) 

Page 6 

My friend Nic comes to visit & cover my table during my lunch break- 2pm

Nic: Don’t worry I’ll do my best impersonation of you! I’ll even sign books with your name!

Maia: Okay, great, thanks!

Maia: (Has not had water, snack or bathroom break in 6 hours)

Later we chat with Gio, another friend about knowing when a story is done

Maia: I had a publisher reject a pitch basically saying “this isn’t fully baked yet” which… was true. 

Nic: Unfortunately I’m doing that to myself! I’m on the 4th draft of this short story that just needs to be done. 

Gio: But when it’s a personal project how do you know? 

Gio: When it’s my own work, no deadline, no editor, it’s tempting to just keep putting it back in the oven. But at what point are you like, I’m making crackers. I thought it was bread but it turned into crackers! 

Page 7

3-4pm last hour of the con

My parents came! My Taekwondo teacher came! A trans teen who came to my first Gender Queer event in 2019 came! I saw so many friends & my heart is full! Thank you Luma! 

4:30

Maia: I think I’m ready to go…

Table: EMPTY

Martina: Me too! 

Maia & Martina: LOOK 

Anna- nothing packed, stuff fully out

Anna: Haha, you go! I pack slowly! 

In the parking lot & rain 

Maia: I’m really glad you came! 

Martina: Thanks for talking me into it! 

Martina: You’ve been manifesting this since September! 

Maia: Haha yes, 

(I talked both Martina & Anna into applying for this show; Martina’s first zinefest table! 

Page 8

5pm I drive home 

after all the rain, the ditches & fields are flooded 

Maia (texting): I just got home

Anna (texting): I haven’t left the venue yet

Page 9

6pm I should be unpacking but I’m lying in bed looking at my phone! 

Maia: Wow so many hourlies! I haven’t even started! I’d rather read them on tumblr & patreon later. How is my finch doing? 

Nic incepted our entire friend group into the finch app back in January. I’m pretty hooked. In the finch app you make a little bird persona who travels the world & gains experiences. You give it energy & earn points by crossing items off your to do list & completing self care tasks like stretching or drinking water. 

Maia: To be honest, I don’t really need an app to help me do tasks. But look how cute my bird is!!! Also! You can get pets for your bird! I have five! Owl, seal, caribou, ball of fluff, cow

Later, I pet my real cat. 

Maia: Don’t worry you are my actual favorite pet. 

Page 10 

7pm: Dinner with my parents. Big salad, fried tofu. We talk about clay deposits in odd places. 

My dad: There’s that Bentonite clay at Shell Beach! That’s the kind you want for poison oak rashes. 

My mom: And the deposit at school by the office, some teachers have kids use that for crafts. 

8pm: Formatting my January book reviews

I really like the monthly wrap-ups that Storygraph generates. 

Books: 11 Pages: 2855 Average Rating: 3.91

LGBTQIA: 5 Fantasy: 4 Comic: 4 Contemporary: 3 Romance: 3

9pm: I fall into the trap of looking at the news which I’ve avoided all day. Escape to tumblr where I discover some amazing Ranma ½ fanart. Should I reread it? 

10-12am: I draw the first 4 pages of these comics then go to bed! 

In total, drawing these takes 6 or 7 hours across 3 days. -Maia Kobabe 2025 

[crimethinc]

WTO Anniversary Reading List

Today marks 25 years since anarchists and other protesters shut down the summit of the World Trade Organization in Seattle. This was the public debut of what journalists dubbed the “anti-globalization movement”—in fact, a global movement against neoliberal capitalism.

This analysis explores the origins of that movement and what it can teach us today:

http://crimethinc.com/wtoepilogue

***

For a strategic analysis of how anarchists and other rebels were able to successfully blockade the WTO summit, we recommend "Netwar in the Emerald City," included in our zine N30, which you can print here:

http://crimethinc.com/zines/n30-the-seattle-wto-protests

***

For a spirited account from the front line in the streets on November 30, 1999, read "The Power Is Running":

http://crimethinc.com/WTO

***

In 1999, opposing neoliberalism was an extremist position. Decades later, Donald Trump appropriated this narrative and rode it to victory. This was only possible because of reformist currents in the original movement—and because we hadn't overthrown capitalism ourselves.

http://anarchistagency.com/trump-and-the-legacy-of-the-anti-globalization-movement/

Studying the WTO protests, we can learn how a relatively small number of people can act effectively when they organize horizontally and ambitiously—and grasp the stakes of today's fights.

The struggle continues.

[seat-safety-switch]

Most weird hobbyists are trustworthy. Once you're in the community, you can treat them like your second family. Except better, because they won't judge you for having a weird hobby.

There is, however, the problem of money. Most hobbies cost money. Maybe you're buying some ancient junk that a long-dead civilization left behind, or you're trying to negotiate for a fair payment for some horrifying art you are constructing at the demand of a random person you've never met. And as we all know, money ruins everything. It destroyed our planet and killed the whales, and it breaks up friendships, too.

The reason why is simple. Money provides a quantifiable value on things. If you give someone five dollars worth of stuff, and you get three dollars in return, well, you're going to be at least two dollars worth of mad. Things get even worse when you're dealing with largely subjective things, like weird porn commissions or bricks of Garbage Pail Kids cards. How do you price them? Better to just trade things back and forth for free, and then enjoy companionship rather than worrying about money. Until the other jerk puts something you gave them on eBay.

There's only one solution: abolishing money entirely. By dumping all of your hobby cash into Switchbux™, you can trade confusing fetish content and handmade 'zines without having to worry about getting screwed over. How? Two ways. First, Switchbux™ has no numerical value. It's the world's first currency to be traded entirely on vibes. How much did you sell that for? Nobody knows, and importantly, nobody can tell. That's why you can't take Switchbux™ back out of the system and trade it for evil regular dollars, which is where this whole thing would fall apart. Bad feelings, don't do it.

You might ask yourself what I'm going to do with all these worthless dollars I am turning into arbitrary (and unknowable!) amounts of Switchbux™. Well, I'm going to show them to my buddies in my weird hobby. It's called "banking," and our thing for the year is to come up with the dumbest possible currency sca- actually, we haven't decided yet. Fucking Throckmorton Osgood III hasn't gotten back to anyone about the rules.

[songofthecaptain]

Update!

A long-awaited update! Song of the Captain took an unexpected hiatus due to Mods being busier than normal with life events, and then the tariffs and “trade war” meant we had to have a discussion about how to proceed with our merch plans for the zine and zine in general (where to ship from, etc) After the loss of a Mod, and some shuffling of duties, we are delighted to announce that we will be moving forward with the zine and with only minor changes to the merch we had planned. Layout is being completed, our storefront for presales is in the works, and zine previews will begin soon! We thank all of our contributors and followers for their patience.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/775475288929894400/but-here-are-what-zines-from-my-own-collection

Very very sorry for the long ask but I love both the DIY type zines and the fandom collab artbook type zines so i really enjoyed you talking about it here. But i also kind of feel insane about how anti-“nice fandom artbook zines” op of the post and most people in the notes were??? I know fandom zine drama and all the rest of the issues exist but it seems odd to me to hate the entire practice of making and distributing these things when in my experience at least most of the ones I’ve seen are either all charity fundraisers people contribute to for fun out of the joy of making fandom stuff or else barely manage to cover cost of production.

Commodifying fandom and DIY shit is definitely an issue but i don’t really know if people wanting to come together to make high quality printed stuff to have and it being priced accordingly is really the heart of the issue. In my experience most fandom zines/artbooks are also often traded/given away for free after fundraising and production. Like the point isn’t gatekeeping it’s more comparable to small time independent fandom merch creation where people aren’t really making a profit at all, and while I can sort of understand wanting different terminology for these things vs old style DIY zines, I don’t really understand the hate for the artbook kind. Issues like gatekeeping, money mismanagement, etc are more issues with individual projects rather than the entire scene. These things are still for the most part not for profit independent projects solely meant to circulate in a specific subculture for fun. If I collaborated with a group of artists with similar interests with the goal of making a cool limited run charity zine, it seems odd to me that it would be barred from “wholesome real zine” status by whether or not we went to a local printer to print it on high quality paper and therefore had it cost $20 or not.

And it might be that my experience is a complete outlier but even then people regularly trade the fandom artbook zines and share all the art for free, etc after charity fundraising and the print run is done. I’ve bought and traded all different kinds and print quality levels of zines, and idk it just seems weird to moralize the creation of art objects in this way. All of the types of zines share ancestors so i don’t see why one shouldn’t have the right to call itself a zine when it’s a cousin to the original concept. Production value isn’t a crime, people like things lol. The fancy artbook fandom zines are never going to be mainstream or whatever because they’re still fandom bullshit solely for fandom gratification lol. It’s not stopping anyone from making small DIY projects of even the same subjects and in the same spaces, so I would rather people point out actual unethical behaviors in these hobby spaces rather than just “production value bad because it makes people make the bad choice of not encouraging and buying DIY zines”. Like if people are smart and mindful about it both can exist fine

--

I think there are a variety of reasons people get upset, but a big part of it is feeling like they can't compete and now the expectation is a pro-looking product.

Honestly, I think a lot of the change is just that 1. different printing is available now and 2. the focus has shifted to artists rather than writers. People who used to be top dog are now nobodies, and the shift is upsetting to some.

Fanfic zines in ye olden days were often financially out of reach of plenty of fans, so this isn't really that big of a change.

[rustbeltjessie]

Reckless Chants #27: to resist despair

A text-heavy zine with some collages (+ a comic and a pull-out centerfold), Reckless Chants #27 includes pieces about growing up as a queer punk in a mid-sized Midwest city, favorite bands, old friends lost and found, Wisconsin and Chicago, disappointment and sadness, resisting despair, still believing in punk after all these years, and so much more. 52 pages, half-letter size. $5+$3 shipping (w/in the U.S.).

Available for purchase via:

ko-fi.com / rustbeltjessie

paypal.me / rustbeltjessie

Venmo: @ JessieLynnMcMains

If you live outside the U.S. and would like to order a copy, or would like to pay some other way, please contact me at coeur.de.fantome @ gmail.com. Also, if you run a shop or distro and would like to sell this zine (or any other zines I have available), I offer bulk/wholesale prices—please contact me!

[starkittyzines]

Hey, have you ever participated in a zine trade? How does that work? I’ve heard of it but I’ve always wondered what it’s like

i've done many and i love them!! i've done them different ways:

unplanned, in person trades: when i go to events where zine makers will be, either as a visitor/attendeee or tabler (zine fests, markets, zine club meetups), i bring zines with me and see if anyone is up for it. if i have a table i'll have a sign that says i'm open to zine trades and post on my socials about it so people who come by can plan to bring their own zines, and other tablers can offer to trade. if i'm visiting a market/fest, i look out for people with "open to trade" signs, because i'm too nervous to offer otherwise, but i know some people just ask anyway and it's well received! people will just say no if they're not comfortable. for those i let people pick from my table/the pack of zines i brought, we usually exchange an equal number of zines - if i only have one they're interested in, i'll only take one of theirs (personally i'm open to people taking more of my zines than the number i'm taking from theirs! especially when people haven't created as many zines yet, or they're trading me their first one, which i love btw)

printed zine trades: usually via mail because it's always with people i find online, either because i've replied to a post for people open to trading to find each other, or because someone DMed me to offer to trade. we share our addresses, what we'd like to trade and ship the zines! in my experience most people like to trade the same number of zines and similar formats. like we'll each send a 16-pages zines and 3 minizines each for example. i always offer for people to pick which ones they want specifically by looking through my page or i send them a photo of all the covers of my zines, i usually like a surprise and let them pick what to send me :)

digital zine trades: haven't done as many (i think only one?) but that's an option to avoid paying for stamps if you trade internationally, we emailed each other PDFs of the zines we were trading and printed them at home. some people aren't comfortable with that because it means sharing the file that lets someone reproduce their exact zine though

usually when i trade with people who share their zines online i'll make a post to talk about it on the platform they post on so people who like my zines can maybe discover a new zine maker! by snail mail i like to add stickers and other zine related things i make like fabric patches, and a little note. it's really fun i recommend doing zine trades!! good way to get more zines!! i traded with 21 different artists last year and i think 5-6 so far in 2025 :)

you can often find opportunities to trade in online zine groups (i'm in three zine discords if you're interested), some people make posts for people to comment if they're open to trade, tags like #zinetrade or #opentotrade can have posts of people directly looking, it's also usually chill to DM people they'll just say no if not

[if-whats-new]

Meet the Team!

Who are we?

Just a few Interactive Fiction enthusiasts who love sharing their interests with the rest of the internet!

But we're also:

-=-

Heyo! I'm Aj (she/her)

I got into IF through the app called Choices way back in 2017 and since then there was no turning back. It wasn't until last year when I got into text-based IFs. A friend on tumblr reblogged 'Defiled hearts', it caught my interest and here I am deep down in the trenches of IFs.

Listing my favourites isn't an easy thing cause there are so many I love. So I will list some that have been on my mind for a while: Infamous, Press Play, College Tennis: Origin Story, Drink your Villain Juice, Golden, The Golden Rose, Our Life Now and Forever, We Wretched Creatures, TWC , The Lonely Shore, Blood Choke and Midnight Sun.

I mostly help out with finding IF news and game updates in the wild.

-=-

How you doing?!? I'm Bex (she/her)

I started my journey with Voltage (now Love365) and dating sims or Otome games on my PSP Vita *sheds a tear*. I honestly don't know how I came upon IF, but I fell in love with ​Our Life: Beginnings & Always around 2021?

My favourites? Hmm, currently it would be: Love and Leases, Adoriel's Tears, The Abyssal Song, Keyframes, Our Life 2 and a bunch of Kickstarters that I can't wait for!

Personally, I'm married with no kids! And I work full-time as an administrator. Boring, I know.

In regards to the Zine, I normally do the formatting. Basically taking everything the peeps have found and putting it all into the Zine. I try and write some of the Highlights and try to dabble in the Editorial (if my work doesn't get edited).

-=-

Hello!!! This is Briar! (she/her)

I am one of the interviewers!

I got into IFs this year, and boy, my eyes were opened, and I got so obsessed that I decided to write my own (The Mighty Shifter). My personal favourites are TWC, Infamous, God-Cursed, and Viatica.

I am a uni student who is studying English literature. What else...? Have an amazing day/night!

-=-

Hey, hi and hello! I'm Dion (they/he) *on hiatus

I started my journey into IF through Episode, but due to poor non-female MC representation, I soon began to look for something else. My friend then introduced me to text-based games through The Wayhaven Chronicles and Mind Blind. I've been going deeper down the rabbit hole since!

I'm literally majoring in interactive media. IF is my life now, send help. (/j)

Some of my favourites would be: Mind Blind, Shepherds of Haven, Reanimated Heart, Seven days in purgatory, Chronicles of Taldun: The Remainder, seekL, LLLLL (aka LATEX, LEATHER, LIPSTICK, LOVE, LUST) and a lot of the stuff DOMINO CLUB does. (There isn't only IF, but that's what I usually go for. Definitely check them out if you're into creepy indie stuff!)

I'd call myself the jack of all trades concerning the zine. As of now, my main job is to be the social media guy and to do the different exports (playable Zine, Tumblr, PDF/.txt). But I also help out with news-searching and compiling + editing stuff for the editorial, column, highlight, letter and thanks portions.

-=-

Hey all, this is Jenn (she/her) *on hiatus

I am a youth sports coach (fútbol, softball, basketball) based in Los Angeles. I am in the process of applying for a master’s program (Sports psychology).

I did write and code a couple of IF games but never finished. I am a perfectionist and I couldn’t publish something not up to my standards. I started reading IF a couple years ago and I couldn’t possibly name my favorite. Some of the most memorable IFs are: The Exile, TWC, Crown of Ashes and Flames, Infamous, WWC, Zombie Exodus: SH, The Golden Rose, The Fernweh Saga, and Crown of Exile. I can definitely add more…

Basic responsibilities: Scouring the internet for IF news and frequently updating our existing database. I honestly enjoy the challenge. On a good day I can find upcoming IF titles and newly released demos. It’s so exciting to find new IF because I know someone will eventually see the same potential I do in that new IF.

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Ssuuuupppp, I’m Sir tuskhany (He/Him)

I am one of the lovely interviewers who’ll be asking questions, you know grilling fellow authors on their IF, WIPS and favourite characters. The usual. As to why or how I started, I gotta say its cause of books and great authors like Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. And their respective series wheel of time and basically the whole Comsere universe. I tried following in their footsteps writing a few books of my own. But like every writer most of these ended up being WIPs I either abandoned or stopped. Still I didn’t let that stop me and started posting some of them, I am the writer of Borne of the sands a static webnovel with a few chapters and Dusk and Dawn my current ongoing project(Still a work in progress so forgive the grammatical errors. T-T).

My favourite series are the Keeper of the Day and Night, Infamous, Wayhaven Chronicles and Blood Moon.

The current story I’m working on was inspired by these however most of my inspiration came from static or interactive cyoas like the Slayers v4, Supernatural Investigator, Demigod v4, A Traveller!s Tale and Universal War. If you haven’t heard of them please give them a go they are amazing.

Have fun and stay posted!

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[aroaceleovaldez]

You've talked about the pjo fandom's lack of fandom infrastructure a lot, what I want to ask is: why do you think the pjo fandom has so little?

I've seen other much smaller fandoms that have just developed infrastructure as the years go on but pjo feels like it's stayed quite stagnant in that regard. I would've thought that with pjo being so big there'd be a lot more than there is. Did we have a lot then we lost it along the way or did we just not develop it that much?

We definitely used to have way more! In my infrastructure list there's a LOT of old infrastructure blogs from back in the day. There's definitely more than what's on that list, but a lot of those blogs have been deactivated or otherwise lost. I've also talked a bit like [here] about some of the old stuff the fandom used to regularly have, like events that no longer run, common tag games and other community habits, etc. We also used to have more zines and other collaborative projects. These just don't happen nearly as often in our community anymore, because the people running them stopped being able to and nobody was able to pick them up and they were forgotten.

I mostly attribute this change to new fandom attitudes and the loss of community. Back in the day I feel like one of the most influential things to the fandom environment was how a lot of younger fans often looked to big-name-fans for how they should behave and navigate fandom spaces. A lot of people are familiar with the old "big 3" fanartists of the day - Viria, Burdge, and Minuiko - but what a lot of people don't remember is they used to trade art back and forth all the time! And with other artists/fans in the community! They were all just genuinely friends and so much collaboration happened between them! That's how we got a lot of the old big AUs and concepts in the fandom because people loved sharing those and collaborating. And because a lot of young folks often mirror the people they look up to in communities, younger fans were mimicking that behavior and there was a lot of exchange and communication and community happening in the fandom at the time. That behavior was demonstrated, replicated, and encouraged!

And young fans mirroring BNFs they look up to is still absolutely a thing! You can see this all the time if you just take a quick glance at fanart - how many character designs are clearly influenced from large artists in the fandom? Insert every Piper with Velinxi heart-shaped cowlicks here. But because there's a lot of ideas now about curating online presences as if it's a business (or literally turning it into a business) or outputting "content" we see a lot less of people - particularly larger fans in the community - vocally interacting with other fans. Everything feels very sanitized and polished and impersonal. There's way less exchange between fans now, or at least way less vocally.

And this is also pushed by general "new/passive fandom" culture as i generally refer to it, where there's so much more emphasis on consumption and "content" versus community (and again, that idea of curating socials like a business/brand). When everything kind of shifted with the like 2016-2018 adult content bans and everybody was moving around between platforms, folks lost a lot of means of learning about fandom history and their communities and how those communities looked. A lot of fans - including now older fans - have never known that fandom is supposed to be a community, and so now we have the older fans in the community with this very content-oriented presentation of fandom that is how fandom is generally advertised in mainstream media, because that's how they learned about it and how new fans are learning about it. They have no easy means to learn fandom history and nobody to mirror appropriate social fandom behavior from (which is also what i attribute to why so many fandoms have become "more toxic" or rude in recent years - especially with quarantine meaning a lot of young folks lost irl means of learning to mirror appropriate social behavior).

In smaller and newer fandoms, communities form easier and if they're the groundwork for the fandom it will persist and self-perpetuate most of the time. In general if a fandom is able to maintain that community aspect, it usually does just fine! (As per usual I point to the furry fandom as a great example of an older fandom with good infrastructure and community.) This is why I like to harp on about building community and reinstating these types of environments and blogs and such, and generally discussing the fandom's history as much as I can and remember it. People can't fix problems they don't understand or things they don't know about, so making that information as accessible as possible and encouraging these things is important.