Welcome to The Stories
Here’s a short introduction to a weekly zine of true tales.
Remember the ‘90s? I do. If you don’t, you are probably too young or you had too much fun during that fine era of dark brown lipstick and excellent R&B jams.
Anyway, the ’90s were in some ways a golden age for publishing. E-books hadn’t been invented yet; authors could still entertain the dream of a giant advance and a fully funded book tour. Journalists went on glorious things called “press junkets,” where companies sent ink-stained wretches off to have a taste of the good life in exchange for, presumably, favorable coverage of cars and ski resorts and blockbuster films in which Will Smith saved the world, again.
The ’90s were also a great time for zines. Zines were magazines that punk, goth, hippie, straight-edge, hardcore and/or generally weird kids made in their homes out of paper, glue, staples, and whatever the hell else was laying around. I remember one blurb in Sassy magazine that highlighted a zine that would arrive at your house containing a dollar in an envelope buried somewhere within. Zines had poetry, comics, record reviews, interviews, and more. They lasted as long as their independent publishers had enough money to pay for stuff at the copy shop. They still exist in various forms today. I decided that at long last I should start one.
The Stories provides real stories, well-told. Every week you’ll find two or three new true stories here. They will be in various forms: essays, interviews, comics, videos, and more. They will always be true, and they will always be told well by committed storytellers. Some of the contributors will be familiar to you; many will not.
It’s a one-woman operation for now and probably forever, and you can join here if you want exclusive content in exchange for helping me keep the lights on. But the The Stories will always be free to the public. Here’s information on how you can pitch The Stories.
We officially launched on December 11, 2016. I hope we keep going for a very long time. Now more than ever, true stories matter.
Thanks for stopping by. Please consider joining us.
Sara Benincasa, Editor-in-Chief
The Stories
