Approaching Utopia is launching a quarterly zine (eventual goal of full magazine) in early October 2024, called Approaching Utopia Quarterly.
We are looking for submissions!
The overall subject matter of Approaching Utopia and the zine is “East Coast Alternative and Avant Garde” but we accept submissions as “Friends of Approaching Utopia” if you are not East Coast USA.
This quarters theme is “The Simulation Is Abandonware” shortened down from the sentence “The simulation we live in is abandonware.”
It’s about the existential dread that what if we were created by a higher power (be it a god or just some nerds at a computer) but they abandoned us?
You can take any angle to explore it. You can even contest it; explore the idea that it’s not true.
The media format must be publishable on printed paper, but we will be releasing on pretty much every format I (G) can manage to. And there will be an audio/video component…read on.
All digital editions of Approaching Utopia Quarterly will be free (“Pay What You Want”), except the prints which will cost money.
The print files will be available for download too, and you can print your own. You can even sell them, because…
Everything will be Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0.
Not only do all submissions retain their rights and ownership of their creations, but you can also sell the zine.
More about the audio/video stuff:
There is a track I made “The Simulation Is Abandonware” and I’m looking for remixers.
You can also submit your own music if you like, but stick to the theme.
You can submit spoken word audio if you like, but I will be publishing the transcript in the printed part of the zine, too.
If you’d like to make a video or any other interactive type thing (like a game; that would be cool): you must do at least a short write up and single frame/screenshot for the zine.
I will need the files to host it so that it’s not something that can be taken down later which would render the zine page useless.
We’re all about archiving that sort of thing — it will also be submitted to Internet Archive.
Submission deadline is September 15th.
Feel free to fill out the form to submit or ask questions: