#because I have zine deadlines and I’m super behind

[habken]

had to bring my tablet with me cause even when I’m on vacation the grind does not stop

[residentanchor]

...Like A Hug

A Platonic fic I wrote for a cancelled Zine. It was originally MUCH longer but there was a limit and I had to cut most of it. But it gets the point across. Summary: Shortly after filming the Christmas Carol episode, Virgil had a thought he could not get out of his head... Enjoy some nice platonic fluff! Word Count: 1801

Sometimes, the thoughts nagging at Thomas in the back of his mind were left up to Virgil to deal with. More often than not, he’d worry over something until the next thing came along and distracted him. However, there was always that chance of it being something that he just couldn’t shake. 

“Okay, so you can give me imaginary sheet music, but when it comes to a sweater, imagination’s not good enough? Got it. Auugh, I’m not bitter!”

It had been a few days since the Christmas episode was filmed. While Virgil had been mostly distracted by the weird line Roman had written for him, that’s not what was bothering Thomas. After hearing it again as Thomas thought it over, Virgil knew that this one was going to stick around for a while. 

Why could Roman give Thomas a binder but not a sweater? Virgil tugged at the sleeves of the holiday sweater he still wore. It was soft and comfortable, something that was obviously given a lot of attention and detail to suit him perfectly. So why not Thomas?

Virgil glanced up, facing the door that led to Roman’s part of the mind palace. He didn’t want to sink in unannounced; Roman had a tendency to let his thoughts run wild when he was trying to come up with new ideas. It wasn’t dangerous necessarily, but you never knew what to expect, and for Anxiety? That was the same thing.

Just knock, that’s all he had to do. It was either ask the question or be plagued with not knowing for who knows how long? Virgil took a moment to take in a deep breath and then just knocked, not thinking about what he was going to say. 

The door opened and Roman stood on the other side, wearing his holiday sweater as well. “Well, Virgil, what a surprise!”

“Heya, Princey. I, um–”

“I see you’re wearing your sweater!” Roman smiled and stood proudly. “I put a lot of work into it! Well, and Patton too, I guess.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s great, thanks. Um, I just...” Virgil paused, almost expecting Roman to cut him off again. He glanced over at the other side and noticed him watching patiently. Despite that, Virgil could feel the silence building up until he couldn’t hold his words in anymore. “Why can’t you make Thomas a sweater?”

Roman tilted his head in his confusion. “Because I can’t give him something that’s imaginary. Did I not explain that already? What’s this about?”

“But the binder!”

Roman jumped as Virgil spoke up, surprised. “Well, yes. I suppose I can see why that was a bit confusing.” Roman rubbed the back of his head and fixed his hair quickly, a nervous tick that he got from Thomas himself. “We filmed a few days ago. Has that been bothering you this whole time?”

“Kinda?” Virgil crossed his arms over his chest and rubbed at the softness of the sleeves. “It’s kind of stuck at the back of Thomas’ mind and, well, that’s kind of my area, so…”

“Well, worry not! The answer is simple.” Virgil looked up eagerly. “I can not give Thomas something he does not know exists. I gave you all binders first, correct?” Virgil nodded, thinking back to when they filmed. “Thomas didn’t know the words so he couldn’t see the lyrics, but he saw the binders, so he knew what they looked like.”

“So you can’t give him something he hasn’t already seen.” Virgil blinked as the missing puzzle piece began to fit in his head. Just like how Thomas didn’t know about some of his other sides, but didn’t really care to know about them either. “I guess that makes sense.” 

“Is that all, then?”

“I suppose.” Virgil scowl turned into a frown. “But that’s not fair.”

Roman sighed and leaned against his doorway. “Well, what do you want me to do about that? It’s not like I have spare sweaters sitting around that Thomas knows about to give him.”

At the same time, Virgil and Roman’s eyes met with a knowing look. “You thinking what I’m thinking, Sir Stink?”

“We’re gonna need help with this one.”

--- Thomas knew he had to be working, that the break he had given himself has long since ended. However, his eyes were still locked onto the television while his laptop sat next to him on the couch, untouched.

“Thomas!”

“Gee minetti!” Thomas jumped and fell back on his couch, looking up at the figure that had suddenly appeared. “Logan! Warn a dude next time, will ya?”

Logan stared down at Thomas’ untouched laptop with a scowl. “You said it would be a short ten-minute break, Thomas. That was almost an hour ago and you still haven’t gotten back to work.”

Sitting up, Thomas ran a hand through his bangs before reaching to grab his laptop. “Yes, okay! Deadlines and work, I get it. You can go, I got the message.” Thomas grabbed the remote and shut off the television before tossing it behind him and focusing on his screen. He glanced through his browser to see where he left off before looking up once more. “You need something else there, buddy?”

Logan nodded and touched the side of his glasses to adjust them. “While I am glad to see you back to work, I’m afraid that’s not why I initially came here.”

Thomas looked puzzled as he shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, so…. Why are you here?”

“To be a distraction.”

Thomas hunched over, a bit confused. Logan raised his hand and pointed just over Thomas’ shoulder. Turning, Thomas yelped as he came face to face with another side. “HI THOMAS!”

“Patton!” Thomas grabbed his laptop to make sure it didn’t fall before placing a hand over his racing heart. “What is going on here?”

“Well, it’s a long story!” Patton took a deep breath before counting on his fingers. “See, it started with the Christmas episode we filmed which was so much fun! But we couldn’t make you a sweater which I was super sad about but Roman said it just wasn’t possible so we worked on all the other sweaters first! Then when you got sad, it made me sad! But when Roman made the binder, you were confused because we had just told you we couldn’t make imaginary things so–”

“Woah, Patton! Slow down! Take a moment to breathe, buddy.” Patton let out a loud gasp and sigh. “There we go.”

Wiping the imaginary sweat from his brow, Patton smiled and let out a chuckle. “Sorry, I got a little excited!”

Thomas moved his laptop off of his lap and turned so he could see both sides without twisting around. “Okay, what is going on with you two?”

“I think what Patton is trying to say is that I am a genius!” Roman sank in with his arms up in his signature pose, smiling proudly. “Well, I suppose Virgil had the idea, but I did the hard parts!”

“Falsehood, you asked us to assist you in this endeavor.” Logan crossed his arms. “You said it would not have been possible otherwise.”

“Fine!” Roman threw up his hands, frustrated at having his thunder taken from him. “It was a team effort! That work for you, teach?”

“I’ll say!” Patton chimed in. “Teamwork makes the dream work!”

Thomas covered his face with his hands and rubbed his eyes. “Someone please just tell me what’s going on!”

“I can’t make you an imaginary sweater, Thomas.” Roman motioned to himself as he spoke.

“Yes, Roman, we’ve been over this. No sweaters, binders only.”

“I believe Roman is trying to state that he can’t create anything that doesn’t already exist in your imagination for you.” Logan turned to Roman, a smug smile on his face. “However, there is one thing we can do for you.”

“Oh yeah?” Thomas leaned back into his couch. “What’s that?”

Suddenly, Virgil appeared over on the side. Thomas didn’t jump this time, watching his anxiety personified fidget with something in his arms. Something black and soft. “Uh, here.” Virgil walked a few steps forward and flung out his arms, offering the bundle to Thomas. “Sorry, it’s not cool or original or anything.”

Slowly, Thomas reached out and took the object in his hands, holding it up so he could make out what it was. As it unfolded, Thomas let out a soft gasp as he identified Virgil’s old black hoodie in his hands. The fuzz on the inside was softer than he had imagined it to be and it was a bit heavy, almost in a comforting way. “I don’t understand. How…?”

Thomas looked up at Virgil, pulling the sweater into his lap. Virgil just gave an exaggerated shrug and looked away. “Princey said he couldn’t give you something you hadn’t already seen and I don’t need it anymore…” He trailed off, shoving his hands into the pockets of his newer purple hoodie.

“Roman explained it to us.” Patton took a step forward and smiled. “He can’t make things permanent and the bigger it is, the harder it is to make.”

“So,” Logan chimed in, “we worked together to make this appear for you. It won’t last forever, but together it should hold for a few hours. We can manifest it for you at any time you wish.”

“While I did do most of the work...” Roman nodded his head at Virgil. “It was Dark And Dreary’s idea entirely. He helped make sure it was just right. He kept nagging me that it was too heavy or not soft enough!”

“It’s our first gift to Thomas! I wanted to make sure you made it right!”

Not waiting a moment longer, Thomas flipped the hoodie around and thrust his arms through the holes and pulled it close. He pulled them down just slightly over his palms before rubbing his arms. “It’s like a blanket. This is so comfortable. I love it!”

“You do?” Virgil asked softly, watching from the side eagerly. “I mean, cool. Yeah, whatever.”

“Thanks, guys.” Thomas could feel his cheeks cramping from the amount of smiling he was going. “This is the best gift ever.”

“It’s like a hug from all of us that you get to wear!” Patton clapped excitedly. 

“Alright, that’s enough of that.” Logan cut in, breaking the precious moment they were having. “You have emails to go through and a draft to approve.”

“Right, back to it I go!” Thomas pulled his laptop into his lap and wiggled in his seat to get comfortable before letting out a sigh of contentment. “Logan, can you help me sort these emails? Roman, I’m gonna need you later for the script draft. These episodes are getting long and I want this to be perfect for our fans!”

---

@helloisthisusernametaken @entitydark @lightningbug04 @moonstone-fox @another-sandersidesblog @thesynysterunknown @roo-kangas @singingjo @unikornavenger @rememberfateau-nowoffical @sanders-sides-trasshcan-blog @sleepyssnail @jemthebookworm @spectralheartt @fandomsofrandom @johnlaurensadmirer-johnsenpaiowo @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @izzyfandoms @zaidiashipper @enbyamy @romanmustberomantic @daylnvale @that-one-sunfish-with-a-wig-on @squiddney69 @decayingfoxx @watchoutforthefanfics @pigeonsinatree @lynnthefander @k1ngtok1 @wewuzraw @lovelyisthesunrise @sparkedawg @pukingdraws @pixelatedrose @lovelyisthedawn

[kidgezine]

FAQ

General Questions

Are these the same mods that did [insert failed zine here]? No. None of our mods have ever run a failed zine. Some of us have been contributors for them though so we know your pain. We are doing everything we can to be sure that doesn't happen to us. All our mods have access to the zine email and socials as well as contributor submissions so if one of us were to disappear the rest would be able to pull it together. Finances are being handled by our head mods (umbraja and kdxart) who are both professional graphic designers with experience in small business management and print publications. The rest of the mods are being given updates and could take over finances if the head mods were to die in a firey laptop explosion.

Are these the same mods that did last year's Kidge Zine? Yes. Most of us anyway. We lost a few but also added some new faces and learned a whole lot - mostly about the horrors of shipping and taxes. We did a good job last year and hope to do even better this time around! We've also padded our schedule so there shouldn't be as many delays.

I'm so excited - when will the zine come out? As of right now we are shooting for a delivery date of early June, 2020. We may have an early (kickstart) round of preorders in the new year (with Valentines Day merch) for those who are super dedicated to getting this thing made but that's not set in stone. We may modify the schedule if we fall behind or need to take more orders to reach our stretch goals. See our Tentative Schedule for more information.

OMG I NEED this, how can I help make this zine a thing? The best thing anyone can do is reblog our posts to help get the word out. If you want to do more you could make a money donation to help cover costs (and enter to win a Limited Edition Bundle). Just buy Pidge some coffee on Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/kidgezine.

Zines are usually self-financing so why are you talking about money donations? Because it lets those of us who have extra money subsidize the cost for those that can't afford it so we all get a better product. A self-financed publication has to price itself to cover the full cost of production but that severely limits the number of artists and writers we can put into it and what merch we can sell alongside it. Last year we had over 50 contributors create a 200 page full color book with lots of merch and priced it all considerably under cost so that our community could actually afford to buy it. We still lost money in the end but it was less than our finance officer had put aside to cover it and that is thanks to the many, wonderful people who were willing to kindly donate.

How do I go about donating to help cover costs? First, thank you so much for the willingness to help out. All you need to do is buy Pidge some coffee on Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/kidgezine. This will also enter you for a chance to win a Limited Edition Bundle when the zine comes out.

Are profits from zine sales going to a charity of some kind? No. Unless you would consider next year's Kidge Zine a charity, then sure. Truth is we don't expect to make money. We hope it does better than last year so we don't end up covering a loss but we're pretty sure it's not going to profit. In the very unlikely event that we do turn a profit the funds will stay in the Kidge Zine account for use next year.

Contributor Questions

Will contributors be paid for their work on the zine? We would love to pay our contributors but, due to legal and logistical concerns, the staff voted that no one should get paid for this endeavor - not even the staff. We are giving contributors a free digital copy of the zine and a discount on buying the physical copy and merch. The discount amount will depend on stretch goals so we can't provide specifics at this time.

I want to give you content for this zine, how do I do that? Read over the Requirements and fill out the applications listed there.

What kind of content is allowed? We're pretty chill but we do have a few Requirements to follow. Check that link for specifics but the short of it is pretty much anything featuring Keith and Pidge in some sort of fantasy situation. It doesn't have to be romantic, AUs and canon are both allowed, so long as those two are together in some way. We're not even going to limit it to the usual digital art and narrative writing so if you want to do something unusual give it a try. We'll accept: cosplay photos, sculptures, journals, poetry, songs, schematics, editorials, things I can't even think of right now - pretty much anything Kidge related is welcome.

I want to write but English is not my first language, is that OK? Some of my favorite authors don't speak English at all and some of my favorite fanfics are written by people who only know it as a second or even third language. So long as you can get your writing translated to English our staff will work with you to get it polished and sounding natural. You just have to be willing to go through that editing process with us.

Will everyone who applies be accepted as a contributor? We're going to try and include everyone but since the zine is a print publication it's going to cost real money for every piece we include. If we get too many submissions and put all of them in the book it would end up costing too much for most of y'all to afford. Nobody wants that. So we might have to leave some things out of the book itself but will be more than happy to include any work that gets left out in the pdf version so long as it follows all the rules. This will allow us to produce a better product while not excluding anyone from participation.

How will contributors be chosen? Our staff will use the samples provided in your application to judge your average quality of work so be sure to give us good examples. We will be looking at your work only, not your popularity or participation in the fandom, so don't worry if you're new to the ship or just don't know anyone. Some of our staff don't know many people and our production designer hasn't even seen the show (she just does very good work). Art will be judged on overall aesthetic, perspective/proportions appropriate for the style, composition/balance, and technique. Writing will be judged on overall readability, characterization, plot, style, and flow. We will not judge grammar because we want to include non-native English speakers. Just be ready for an editing process where we'll help you get the grammar fixed before publication.

When will I know if I'm accepted as a contributor? Acceptance emails will be sent out November 1st. Everyone should get an email so if you don't get yours then ask a mod to see what's up. We had trouble with emails getting lost in junk filters last year so be sure to check for that.

Do you have a deadline for submissions? We have multiple deadlines to keep y'all on track but the finished work should be turned in by February 15th. See the Tentative Schedule for more information.

Is this canon only or are AUs allowed? We're not gonna limit setting so canon or any other universe is allowed. Have fun with it.

What if I don't want to write/draw something Fantasy themed? Fantasy is such a broad theme that we are going to be strict about it this time but we're certain y'all will be able to find something you like that fits. Pretty much anything that's not limited by real world physics is, technically, Fantasy. So canon universe is Fantasy. So are superheroes, any sort of mythology, folklore, most horror, sci-fi, steam punk, supernatural, occult, and way too much else for me to list.

[quiznakchronicle]

Fandom event etiquette

Suggestions for both organizers and participants for a smooth and fun experience

Events are some of the most fun things in fandom. They bring people together for a common project, foster a great sense of community, and produce lots of amazing content for the fandom. As long as they’re run responsibly. As people who are quite active in the fandom events scene for the Voltron fandom a few things have been brought to our attention recently and we’d like to address them. Sheer event volume, poor management, and disorganized events are starting to turn people off from signing up/participating, and it’s really upsetting to see these things that are supposed to be fun turning into sources of stress and anxiety instead

Please know that this isn’t about pointing fingers at any single event or individual, rather this is advice we’d like to share based on our experience as both event organizers and participants. We welcome comments and further discussion, but if you’d like to add to this post please don’t namedrop any people or events. Don’t turn this post into a call-out, that’s not what it’s about. Finally, this post is written specifically about the Voltron fandom, but I’m sure it could apply to pretty much any fandom, so anyone who finds it useful feel free to reblog!

- @ace-pidge​ and @bosstoaster​

Organizers

Check the state of the fandom before starting a new event. This is absolutely crucial. For the Voltron fandom, I maintain an entire set of calendars with the schedules of all ongoing and upcoming events, please take advantage of it. Your idea is probably super cool! But if there are already a couple dozen other projects going on it may be wise to hold off on it. If you’re worried about someone else coming along and stealing your idea, you can make a blog/post to signal your intent to run your event in the future, and wait a while for things to calm down a bit before actually running it. I’ve been getting many messages from people saying they feel burnt out or overwhelmed with the sheer number of events, and that’s not a situation anyone wants. [Edit (14/09): After hearing the thoughts of a Zine mod on this topic I now find this next statement unfair and in poor taste, as it lowkey implies (falsely) that Zine mods don’t know what they’re doing. I’ll leave my original comments in for posterity, but let it be known that really at this point my issue with Zines is more instances of lackluster management rather than Zine volume in itself. This is especially worrying for Zines, because actual money is involved. The market has been flooded with Zines over the summer, which results in fewer people buying them overall. Fandom people aren’t made of money, and it’s important to consider this when planning a Zine]     

Make sure you’re able to commit entirely to the project, both time-wise and mentally/physically. Fandom events are BIG JOBS, especially the ones that span several months like Big Bangs and Zines. But even smaller events like Weeks or Exchanges require a certain amount of work put into them. That’s months of advertising, of making posts, of answering questions, of sorting people out and keeping tabs on them, of troubleshooting. Look at your school/work situation not just in the near future but also several months down the line: will you have the time to dedicate to this. Look at why you’re doing this event: are you just doing it because you want in on the fun. Look at your mental/physical health situation: will you have the capacity to see this through. If you know that given your history there’s a possibility something might happen that will prevent you from keeping on top of the project (like a depressive episode or a hospitalization) make sure to account for that (for example bring on a team of mods who will be able to carry on without you should you need to step back for a while)       

Make sure your fellow mods are up to the task. Smaller events can be comfortably run by a single person, but bigger events like Zines and Big Bangs really should be run by at least 2 people, if not a team of 3-5*. This will ensure the workload is shared and there’s less chance of burning out before the project reaches completion. And they must all be people who are equally invested in the project. Having 1 very enthusiastic mod and 2 wishy-washy tag-along mods is a recipe for a project to fall apart     

If your friend is asking you to co-mod an event with them and you’re not sure you can/want to commit to it, say no! Don’t feel like you have to accept just because it’s your friend asking. It’s better to be upfront and honest than to start something you won’t be able to finish

The above goes DOUBLE if you plan to run more than 1 event at a time. I’m not here to say you can’t run more than 1 event at the same time, but if you plan to do that you better make EXTRA sure you have the time and resources to commit to all of them

Get advice from someone who has run this kind of event in the past, especially if it’s your first time as an organizer. Talking to someone who has gone through this already will likely prove invaluable for running a smooth event and dealing with problems that may arise. Look through the notes on this post if you need to find someone to contact     

Communication is key, be transparent! It is extremely important to stay in contact with your participants. This will both remind them that the event is ongoing (you’d be surprised how often people sign up for something then forget about it entirely) and show that you are responsible and on top of things. Also, don’t forget about your public page. With most events having dedicated Discord servers these days, it’s easy to forget about updating the event blog/Twitter page. Putting up a post every now and then to update the public on the event’s progress lets people know it’s not dead and keeps their interest up while your participants work behind the scenes

Stay on schedule, and if you can’t, let people know. Be clear and upfront about the event’s timeline and the different milestones, and if you can’t keep to the schedule say so. People will generally be very understanding. If you’re dealing with a Real Life situation, or if there are circumstances outside your control like printing/manufacturing delays on a Zine, tell your participants and your audience. This will avoid people getting disgruntled and frustrated and bitter because they feel left in the dark     

If for whatever reason you can no longer see the project through, tell people instead of just disappearing off the face of the Earth. It’s really upsetting from a participant’s perspective to be left with no news for weeks or months on end without a clue what happened to the event. Sometimes things come up or stuff happens, it’s understandable, but if that’s the case you need to let people know. It may be very upsetting to make that post, but trust me, people will appreciate the knowing     

Be VERY CAREFUL if you’re going to be handling money (as with Zines for example). Handling people’s money is a huge responsibility. If you’re going to be taking money you have to make sure you’re able to deliver on what you promised. The absolute worst time for a project to stall out is after preorders and before products are shipped out. If your project stalls at this stage and you don’t keep your buyers appraised of the situation you may get accused of scamming people or people may start demanding refunds, which is a mess no one wants to deal with     

Don’t air your dirty laundry publicly. We get it, sometimes running an event is frustrating. Participants drop out, or disappear and can’t be contacted, or butt heads with you or each other. Don’t complain about it anywhere public; know that stuff you say will reflect on you as an organizer as well as on your event. Vent to friends or on private accounts if you must, but you want to appear professional and in control in public. If you appear messy, your event will also appear messy, and it may make people think twice about staying in it or participating in stuff you do in the future 

Related: Try and keep your tone upbeat and positive and professional in your promo posts and answers to questions, even if you’re answering the same question for the umpteenth time. Giving off a frustrated or negative vibe may turn people off your event    

 If you’re a minor who wants to run an event make sure it’s appropriate for your age. Honestly, kudos to you if you’re 15-17 and running (or helping to run) an event, it’s great that you’re so involved! But for the love of all things good don’t get involved in an event where NSFW content is likely to appear. No amount of “I’m mature enough” or “I act older” constitutes a valid excuse, and you’re putting your (adult) participants in a very dangerous situation if you do that. ESPECIALLY if they don’t know you’re underage

*This isn’t to say you can’t run a bigger event if you’re alone, because people can and have done it and quite successfully at that. But in that case you must be absolutely all in

Participants

When you sign up for something, take the commitment seriously. Only sign up for things you know you’ll have the time/energy to deliver on, and do your best to do it

Stay on task. Keep to the schedule on your own, don’t make the organizers run after you

If you need an extension, ask for it, and don’t wait for the last minute. Sometimes you just need those few extra days or that week to complete your piece. Very often organizers will be understanding if you approach them asking for an extension, but don’t wait till the deadline to do so. Ask for the extension the moment you realize you’ll need extra time. Also ask even if you’re not 100% sure you’ll need it. Better to get the extension but still hand your stuff in on time than to show up the day of the deadline with an incomplete work and asking for more time. In the event that the organizers can’t give you an extension, either sort yourself out to have your stuff done on time or drop out of the event

If you need to drop out, do it sooner rather than later. Sometimes things come up, or your muse goes on vacation, or something else happens that’ll make you unable to participate. That’s ok! It happens to everyone. But in that case, tell the organizers ASAP so they can readjust their plans around you. Don’t just disappear off the face of the Earth without letting them know what your status is

Pace yourself. I know it’s tempting to sign up for everything. But the more you’re in the more strain you put on yourself, and the more likely you are to cause a domino effect if something goes wrong

Don’t air your dirty laundry publicly. If you have an issue with another participant or the organizer(s), or the way the event is being managed, or whatever else, take it up privately first. If it can’t be resolved, maybe just quietly drop out of the event and go on your way 

[lvlsrvryhigh]

LVLSRVRYHI-050: The Dance Pit | The Levels Are Very High

Hi Anuradha, how's it going? I usually start these things with a bit of an intro, so for anyone who doesn't know: who are you? Where are you from? Hi! It’s 3am and I think I’m finally done answering all these questions!

My grandfather named me Anuradha, though I’m still not 100% sure on how to “correctly” pronounce my name. I was born in Bangladesh, a year before Maluma. My star sign is a Capricorn and I’ve been living in the South Bronx for the past 21 years.

What are some of your early musical memories? I remember hearing Usher's Confessions album everywhere in 2004; Burn, Confessions Part II, and Yeah on rotation. That and Gasolina. That’s when I remember paying attention to music more (I think I’ve blocked most memories of MTV’s TRL out of my head), and then came the emo phase of ’07.

I also remember, though this isn't particularly musical, enjoying the Spice Girls lollipops that came with the stickers which is earlier in memory.

Whilst you run parties and a mix series as The Dance Pit, my first introduction to you was through (I think) the second issue of your zine Club Etiquette and then I kind of worked backwards from there. What first pushed you towards organising a zine? How did the specific idea for Club Etiquette come about? Mungo asked me if there were any parties he could play when he came over in 2015. I told him if I couldn’t find any, I’d put one on, which I decided to anyway.

At the same time, I was going to the club pretty regularly and would see the same people and we would always talk about what annoyed us, both on large and small scales, so thought a guideline would be handy, to be more conscientious of one’s surroundings and others. My school radio station (shouts to WBAR!) used to create zines, so thought that would be the most direct (least-bureaucratic) method. Since it was a guideline on “club etiquette,” that’s just what I decided to call it, although I still think the name sounds a bit bougie and will probably change it at some point.

My background is in activist theatre, so I was taught that anything I take on has to have a greater social purpose, cause what’s the point otherwise? (Don’t @ me with “art for art’s sake” – it may be for some people, but I have no time for it when so many other narratives don’t get heard).

Whitney Wei's illustrations that adorn the covers and grow throughout the pages of Club Etiquette provide the zine with this homemade warmth that carries over even into its digital copies, something that usually gets lost in the move to screens and online spaces of discussion. Did you find that it was important for you to produce the zine with that physicality in tact? Yes, shouts to Whitney! And Carmela Tzigana (who drew the Vol.6 cover). All cover aesthetic skills and most illustrations are credited to Whitney, who, regardless of the landscapes or deadlines I throw at her, manages to create something grounded and finely-detailed.

It makes me happy that you say that the physicality carries over (cause there is def some blood, sweat, and tears in some of those physical copies). I also really don’t like reading on computer screens, so if other people don’t mind and get past that, that’s great!

Tangibility, in a larger sense, is super important to me. Being able to cross over what’s written in the zine and enacting it in physical club spaces (or everyday life) is the reason why it was made in the first place. Theory is cool and all and part of the process, but actually putting ideas in practice is how I grow, and know what works.

A lot of Club Etiquette's material is necessarily born out of very personal and difficult experiences, but you also focus on some of the more lighthearted or even mundane aspects of club-going - 4am foodspots, hangovers, health tips, tv picks etc. I tend to find that these are the parts of the zine that fill me with the most nostalgia (for faceless nights I've mostly forgotten). What was the idea behind including them? How do you find the balance between them and the more serious aspects of each issue? I love the mundane. I also think there’s often a glamorization of going out needing to be the “best, most peak, night” of one’s life, like having a couple of nights where things get hella turnt is chill, but for me to constantly be at that level, I couldn’t do that. My club schedule is pretty routine and focusing on how to make up for lost sleep, or what to eat after I’ve danced for five hours straight, or what I watch when I don’t go out is really necessary for my survival.

Finding a balance between having both serious topics and lighthearted ones can be a bit tricky; I definitely don’t want to trivialize bigger issues by talking about/placing something silly right after. However, I do think that joy is also an integral part of our lives, and humor can be a place of learning as well. It’s the whole “I am not bound to one narrative” idea (that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks about in her TED Talk), that I am not defined by only my traumatic experiences, but my day-to-day comforts too.

I also just watch a whole bunch of children’s television, so I’m trying to learn from that how writers can discuss heavy topics but not bombard people with negativity. Also, a very much large shout-out is needed for everyone who contributes; their perspectives make up so much of the humor and joy in the zine, and I really am grateful for the club community here that practices what they preach <3.

New York sits at this juncture between North, South, and Central American dance cultures which, at least this is in the impression I got when I was there, in turn, maintain musical interactions with and influences from the UK. You yourself have relationships that spread throughout this geographical club axis (from the stuff you've done with Hiedrah Club de Baile to your Dance Pit NY parties and UK tour dates). How much has the influence of this environment bled into the zine, your sets and/or the parties you put on? Is there anywhere else you could see yourself living? I want to preface my answer by acknowledging the “first-world” privilege of made-up “border” (by this I mean borders are arbitrary in conception but have very-tangible effects) mobility that I have. I have been immensely lucky to have been able to experience Club Viral, HiedraH Club de Baile, and the Salviatek nights in Monterrey, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo respectively as well nights in the UK before that (with HDD and the Hub-before-it-was-the-Hub <3) and each journey has definitely bled into every aspect of my life, as seen through my sets (which are all over the place), with the different translations of the zine, and through the djs I book.

I grew up and still live in a predominantly Afro-Latinx and Afro-Caribbean community so bachata, reggaeton, and dancehall are what I’m surrounded by most and I think that influence is clear in what I play. I will say though that it is irresponsible to just play the sounds and not give anything back to the communities who create this music both locally and internationally, so I’m still figuring out ways in which to support producers, djs, and club nights that have taught me so much that goes beyond just promotions or social capital. I think it can be easy to fall into the trap of appropriating sounds, so it becomes really important to *listen* when people say it makes them uncomfortable when you’re playing certain music. I want to believe there can be collaborative exchanges in music, but ultimately, under capitalism, someone will always reap the benefits off of the exploitation of other cultures, so I have to just be hyper-vigilant about what I play, who I play it for, how it affects them, and how I can give back.

For me, people rather than place define what home is, so with the hope that in the future all visa requirements and borders will be abolished, I would very much like to go back to South America (back to Argentina & Uruguay, and to the western coast this time around, but also with a much overdue visit to Brazil) and the UK (further north this time!) for an extended period of time to hang with people I very much consider family and give back what I can.

There's a growing tendency at the moment towards abstraction and experimentalism in tracks and sets, attempts to push (or destroy) the boundaries of what a dance track can be or how two (or three or four) tracks should be mixed together. Feeling and hearing an artist's intent in a way that I've barely even considered before is exhilarating but there's also been times when I've missed a certain concreteness. Come New Years - when I caught up with you in London - I was really just itching to dance. Is it important for you to get that sort of physical reaction to a set or a blend? What does dancing mean to you? I started djing, or rather selecting music, for friends who loved to dance when no one else would. So every time I dj or make a mix, I always have someone I know in mind who I want to dedicate the set to, they all just happen to be people who dance a lot. Getting a physical reaction to a set isn’t necessary, people react to music in their own way, but dancing may just be inevitable :)

Dancing is how I show my gratitude to djs and other musicians (in addition to showering them with compliments :3). It’s only a small token of appreciation for the continuous experience of listening to their music.

Talk me through the mixes - how were they recorded? What led to the two parts? It’s been three months since you have asked me to do this(these) mix(es). About a month ago, maybe, I chose to split them because my temperament was changing so often (I blame the weather, the 2+ retrogrades, etc.) and also my attention span was/is decreasing daily.

The first mix is definitely for when I’m in one of my angsty moods, and am placing expectations on others, when I should just let them be. I also wanted to try constraining some parts in the mix to just highlighting certain instruments.

The second mix I made so I that when I play it on my monitors, my neighbors can listen to even more Bad Bunny than they have already been blasting onto the block on a Sunday. 

Both mixes are heavily influenced by my travels at the end of last year.

I live-recorded these (way too many times) and added any extra effects on audacity.

What do you have planned for the rest of 2017? I’d really like to continue the translations series of the zines, and there are def a couple more zine release parties in store for this year. My annual tarot card reading said I’ll find a new skill which will be my life’s work in October, so hopefully that’ll happen. As I mentioned above, I’d like to visit all my friends if possible, maybe finally make that mixtape hehe.

But most importantly, curating netflix for my mom and volunteering locally to facilitate and preserve music, arts, and community spaces in my neighborhood when displacement is already happening.

Finally, if you had to pick something for people to listen to immediately after these mixes what would it be? Trick Answer: Go watch Steven Universe, give your eyes, ears, mind, and heart a treat. (That and Silver Spoon too please! - oh but also listen to Common Sense).

"Night" Tracklist

Sand Pact - Fervor w/ Nato - Cerita interlude Bad Bunny - Soy Peor (Axel Caram remix) DJ Nervoso - Djj Kala - Boriken Brazilian Percussion - Samba-Reggae 2 Cardi B interlude MC Lustosa_Shaded Pistola (MM edit) Gigi - Cah PayTay (Reply) Lechuga Zafiro - Suave Pero Rugoso (Diosa Tayhana remix) w/ TT The Artist - Worst Bday interlude Badgyal (Prod. Plata) - SMTHIN LIKE THIS x Dholi Taro Dhol Baaje Karaoke Version Aggromance - 1noche x Leokarlo - Intro ‘New Era’ x Dj Fofuxo - Raizes “Nu Guetto Qui Ta Bater” BAD$ISTA - Last night* Raman Saran - Dhak (Drum) Lechuga Zafiro - Orquídea T-Ney Kid Cala - Blue Magic (Loris Remix) Soda Plains - Espalho Meu Passo w/ Toshiro Masuda - Orochimaru’s** Theme interlude MC Linn da Quebrada - Mulher Totó La Momposina y sus tambores - Rosa FUNERAL - Cumbia futura Shivam Gupta - Durga Theme DJ Nervoso - Areia x Rebecca Sugar - Here Come’s a Thought Steven Universe - Rose’s Room dialogue***

*my phone# is on my last mix, call me up (thru facetime/whatsapp, bless) **i dont support/sympathize with orochimaru, they are a creep ***I hope Steven will be ok

"Day" Tracklist

Dj Valet - O começo Dj Nk - Caipirinha Vany-Fox - Me vs World Bk(blackinhO) - Funana [Batucada] Badgyal - Dinero (Prod. FAKEGUIDO) Bad Bunny ft. De La Ghetto, Zion, Bryant Myers - Caile (Dj Arturex & Dj Kris Club Version) MC Katia - Arrocha Das Fiéis (DJ Xaropinho) Conejx - Parvada w/ Bryant Myers ft. Bad Bunny - Un Ratito Mas interlude* Yxng Bane ft. Kojo Funds & Wizkid - Fine Wine Gage - Throat (Street Mongrel Riddim Version X Talkdunsk Remake) DJ Spinall ft. Wizkid - Opoju Yandel - Encantadora (El Kechu DJ Cumbia base Remix) Anuel AA - Ayer (Elián Acapella Remix) Epic B - Wicked Riddim Javed Akthar - Azeem O Shaan Shahenshah Instrumental Vybz Kartel - Fever (Dj YaMtZa Remix) Florentino - Bloodline x Florin Salam ft. Denisa - Cineva Ma Suna Cu Numar Privat deejay jeff love c pikachu 2pekes (Pininga Edit) Sikuri - Aamado Murlo - Hunter Tina Savage ft. Don Jazzy - Eminado (DJ Yoko Champeta Remix) Superficie - Febre Do Vale Joha - Me Llama Glolaluz - Me Controlas FUNERAL - Reverberacion Antenas ———————————————— J Hus - Did You See x Sikuri - 0

*use condoms! + Special thanks to Callosum, Mungo, Becky, and Michelle <3

[emsykesillustration]

Here’s the final zine!!! I thought I’d add some accompanying information as it’s rather abstract and can hopefully be understood a little more with this. I’ve put them in order of the zine itself, check out the captions for each page down below for information.  COMPANION NOTES [First page and blurb] This is the first page and blurb, all following the colour palette! It explains the layout of the book, and the ideas behind my work. [Fearless] Taken from mark making throughout my project, and my Bailvetica font you've seen previously in this project! The illustrations are of Neasden Control Centre (very big inspiration behind the use of shape and texture within my project), and Christoph Niemann (right, with the quote also from his episode of Abstract: The Art of Design). This was one of the controlled audio podcasts I listened to to get ideas and the spontaneous nature of my work - the quote really stuck with me, as his way of working was a strong link in with what I’ve been up to! [Everybody is blind on the phone] So much of the drawing I got in my sketchbook for this project was gathered on the train, drawing on location around me and capturing the character of the people around me! Even just the concept of drawing on location and not caring about the people around me seeing what I’m doing was a wonderful thing to get used to as an artist. I felt that the quote I added, from A Call from Joybubbles, a Radio 4 podcast, really helped set this page. It just came naturally, the beauty of spontaneity and the authorstrator response! I actually clicked to listen to the podcast because of its sheer mystery, and how odd it sounded! It turned out to be one of the most interesting things I’ve ever listened to. You need to have a look at it, it’s here! The concept of people being blind on the phone works really well, as once I had stopped being on my phone myself, all I could see was how much people are on them, hardly looking at the world around them and the wonderful views that sometimes come by on the train route! I’ve had people bump into me, not stop to look at something, and even take too long to show their tickets for inspection, because they’re engulfed by their phones. [A day at the beach] The quote is anecdotal, following a conversation I’d had after visiting the beach. I’d started working on this project, and with the help of mark making, I’d created a super cute illustration of a goose! I’d gotten together more elements of the sea and a beach scene - and then was stopped and asked why there was a goose on the beach. I love the sense of play and real-life that comes into my work here! [Shadows] ‘Wait. Do vampires have shadows?’ came along during a Discussion Forum during class - the discussion came around to shadows and how they’re used and considered in illustration, as well as society. The concept of mystery and mysterious, villainous creatures was being discussed, and I’d blurted out with ‘You'd s*** yourself if you saw your shadow move. Wait, if vampires don’t have reflections, do they have shadows?’ and all of a sudden, everyone was howling before I could realise how stupid I sounded. Unfortunately, this is part of how I see the world and take in information around me - and part of my whacky, bright work. But, I embraced this! Sharing this with context, here, and without context as if someone were to look through the zine as it would be - would be entertaining within itself. [Bats can swim, so batman can, right?] As an avid fan of both bats, and batman, it’s no surprise that during a lecture (which I promise, I was listening through), my daydream turned to this essential question. I had been doodling and doodled over a coffee stain on my sheet of paper - working with it, I drew batman as if he were diving into it! My wonderful mind then brought me to thinking about what he’d actually wear if he were doing so. Hence the cute little swimming cap and trunks! [Three minutes] Travelling by train every day, I won’t be alone in being familiar with the term ‘the .... service to .... will be delayed by approximately ....minutes’. I felt that this captures transport, as well as commuting perfectly. Luckily, at the time, I was drawing on location at Manchester Piccadilly at the platform as this was said. Continuous line drawing, with mark making, as well as ignoring any set rules of composition of typography gave this page the character I’d intended to give it. [Fascinating] One of many train journeys I was drawing on included this one. Listening to the people around me gave me spontaneous pieces of information for my work! As I listened, two men were having a right good talk about their workplace. You'd honestly never expect it! I was sat in front of them, and had to turn my neck to the most ridiculous angle to draw them through reflection. The lovely illustration of Donald Trump that I’d chosen to include just couldn’t not fit the ‘stupid’ part of the quote. It was originally part of a larger, neater composition of the man, however it had been shown in a group crit previously and I didn’t think it worked. The composition of his hands and head like this were part of the outlines I’d scanned in, and rushed together in one document as I’d had to finish early at one point! I felt that them being mashed together like this gave him a ridiculous character about him (hard to top, it would seem), and fit in with the aesthetic of my zine. [Daydream] Another lecture-driven daydream proceeded to me doodling a new skateboard trick that I’d invented - I’m still amazed at how I even came up with it now, however this was one of the things I loved about shortening the link between mind and pen for this project! Long boarding is something I love doing, and I remember thinking as I was doodling this, I’m either daydreaming whilst thinking about skating, or lucky enough to actually be doing it! [Start here?] The last page, and the epitome of the concept behind this zine and whole project, perhaps even my whole mind! Including extracts from the original doodle page that started this whole idea off - at the end of the book, and an ode to where this all came from.  I’m really really proud of how this project has come out. It was terrifying working with an authorstrator response, and everything coming together last minute, however it’s really given me confidence in working to a shorter time schedule as if I were working in editorial. Buying the paper from GF Smith and really making the effort came out so well! I had some struggles with getting the InDesign template to the right order between the pages and print spreads with Print Services on the last day before the deadline, however I overcame this myself!  I really am so happy with how hard I’ve worked and I hope you can all appreciate this. This semester in particular has really opened some doors for me in terms of working for myself after university, and sorting out problems I may face as an illustrator myself.

[viralhottopics]

Six-month-long stretches of seven-day work weeks and looming deadlines: What it takes to be a strategy guide author

Image: Christopher Mineses/mashable

Ancient map-making required mastery over the disciplines of mathematics and astronomy, the means and courage to venture into dangerous uncharted territories, inhuman patience, artistry and attention to detail, and the ability to perch on the cutting edge of every new technological advancement your cultures most talented minds could muster. David Hodgsons job is arguably more difficult and certainly more tedious.

Hodgson makes video game strategy guides which, much like ancient cartography, is a lost art of primitive methods and painstaking processes.

Not that Hodgson would complain. He started working at gaming magazines in the 90s, but was always drawn back to the world of strategy guides. Currently working on contract for Prima Games, the largest strategy guide publisher in the US, he gets access to some of the biggest games in the world months before the public. And he slaves over their every detail, spending months and months gorging on each new obsession.

I think it’s one of those jobs that you kind of have to pinch yourself, he told me in his workshop a converted guest house behind his Spanish-style Southern California home. The room is equipped with comfortable seating, a large wraparound desk housing three monitors, countless books most of them strategy guides lining floor to ceiling shelves on one wall, and various macabre knick-knacks, from Lovecraftian posters to the crown jewel: Two replica Egyptian sarcophagi flanking the flatscreen like golden guardian deities.

It’s one of those jobs that you kind of have to pinch yourself.

Exact statistics about strategy guide sales are closely guarded info, Douglas Walsh, another longtime strategy guide author, told me over Twitter. As you can imagine, the sales today have consolidated around a few big hits: Skyrim, Grand Theft Auto, things like that, he said. [Sales] have also dropped off considerably, especially for shooters. The Call of Duty and Gears of War books sell a fraction of the copies they used to. But a big hit, especially as a Limited Edition hardcover, can crack Amazon’s top 25. Fighting game books in particular (and Skyrim, GTA, etc.) have even cracked the top five.

Despite those isolated successes, the number of guides produced each year is down along with sales to about 60 every year, half of what the figure was in the PS2 era, Walsh said.

Like vinyl records, the strategy guide as we once knew it all but died as a medium with the internets rise, transforming by necessity into a niche market for hardcore collectors and hobbyists. Hodgson said hes one of around a dozen remaining strategy guide authors.

In the middle of the afternoon, the rays of golden California sunlight barely grazed the exposed rafters of Hodgsons lair. He wore a black t-shirt with the words Who are you a ghost of? a reference to his brother Ian Hodgsons experimental musical act, Moon Wiring Club, described on its own labels website as confusing English electronic music. Hodgson often speaks wistfully of his succulents, and hes frequently sarcastic, though in the dry English way that you barely register after a while.

Each guide Hodgson authors is a massive undertaking involving a six-month-long stretch of seven-day work weeks and looming deadlines, gargantuan organizational conundrums, word counts and page limits, two-week spans of 12-hour days spent hunched over monitors far from home in a game studios back room, trying to beat every quest in a 100-hour RPG. Hes been doing this long and well enough with somewhere over 100 guides to his name (he lost count around 80) that he gets to pick what games he tackles. He mostly chooses massive role-playing games like The Witcher 3 and Fallout 4, simply because he loves diving deep into overwhelmingly huge projects. These are the types of games that seem to get more complex with every release. Each new feature Hodgson must chronicle and quadruple-check is another grey hair in his tangled beard.

I have a very understanding wife, Hodgson said.

***

The process of creating a video game strategy guide is shockingly complex. Look, for example, at what it takes just to make the hundreds of maps that go into the average guide on which Hodgson works.

In the old days the 90s hed draw maps freehand on graph paper and hand them over to a designer. But the games back then were significantly smaller than the ones he writes guides for now.

He starts by doing fly-overs in a special debug version of the game that still contains developer tools, taking screenshots of every single inch of the games exterior locations. In the case of Fallout 4, that included 3.82 square miles of irradiated wilderness and crumbling city streets.

What I’ve done is I’ve flown over the entire tiles of the map, multiple times, inch by inch. I do a north-south pass, I do an east-west pass, over the course of a week, he said. This isn’t playing the game. This is me floating above each sector in the game and plotting it out.

This isn’t playing the game. This is me floating above each sector in the game and plotting it out.

The game wont be out for several months, and its still very much in development, which unfortunately means that dozens of the points he and his assistants and co-authors have plotted in these exteriors could change.

Then you have 500 maps that need to be drawn of all of the different interiors in the game, he continued. You have to figure out first how many interiors there are in the game. So you go to every location in the game, and you see how big it is, then you estimate it, then you tell [strategy guide maker] Prima, ‘It’s going to be about this big. Find more mappers please.

At this point, hes still far from done. I’ve figured out how many primary locations there are. I’ve then figured out how many secondary locations there are that don’t appear on your worldmap. Those are just like, Oh, it’s a shed. Does it appear as an icon on the world map? No. Shit. Well, it has to go in the guide, he said. I’m talking about stuff that isn’t even a quest-related location. I’m talking about a pond with some barrels in it. Maybe he doesnt have to be that thorough not all strategy guides take inventory of every nonessential part of the environment the author can find. But thats just his personality, and its part of the reason hes so good at this job.

With the exterior and interior maps more or less complete, the rough versions based on screenshots are sent to a team of around 20 designers. Its now been weeks since Hodgson first received the early build of the game, and he hasnt even written anything yet.

He hasnt catalogued, sorted and described every single gun, sword, helmet, potion, blueprint, material, artifact, food, enemy, character, spell and skill in the game; he hasnt completed every possible branch of each and every quest, mission, side-quest, bounty, treasure hunt and optional objective; he hasnt compiled strategies for every mini-game, tactics for every boss, solutions to every puzzle and tricks for every fight; and he hasnt taken the hundreds screenshots that need to accompany it all.

A lot of it isnt playing a game necessarily its just checking something in a game and then checking it against an Excel document or a map or something like that, he said. If Im playing Skyrim for 6,000 hours over ten months with a co-author, Im not Woohoo! playing Skyrim; Im going here and checking to make sure that the guides accurate at that location.

The part of my brain that says ‘You don’t need to be this meticulous’ doesn’t work.

The games change in sometimes major ways, even after the guide goes to print. In that case all they can do is update the guides online component and point readers to the web should anything in the final book prove inaccurate. Whenever possible, though, Hodgson redoes a lot of work every time he gets a new build. For 2001s 007: Agent Under Fire, for example, he had to retake all of the screenshots two days before the game was going to go to print because they changed the color of one of the lasers, he said.

The part of my brain that says ‘You don’t need to be this meticulous’ doesn’t work, Hodgson told me.

***

Hodgson began working in the video game industry in the mid 90s after graduating with a history degree from the University of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. Hed wanted to become a history teacher, but instead used a PlayStation fan zine hed started called PlayStation Frenzy to get a job at Maximum, a new gaming magazine from a media company called EMAP.

He wrote massive 40-page features on individual games a precursor of things to come in his career while living on a disused German fishing trawler called the St. Michael that he says was moored illegally on the River Thames in London. They had to siphon power from a nearby car scrapyard.

It sounds quite idyllic, but it wasn’t, he remembered. It was dripping with different weird poisonous acid from roofs that hadn’t been sealed, and it was sort of slowly dissolving.

I kept my PlayStation, but not my sanity, he continued.

Maximum folded after seven issues, and Hodgson went on to a brief stint at Official Nintendo Magazine before receiving a call from Dave Halverson, publisher of the popular GameFan magazine.

Hodgson moved to LA and worked on his first strategy guides at GameFan for games like Super Mario 64, Soul Blade and Doom 64 under the magazines GameFan Books division. He flitted among various publishers and magazines until 2000. He called Prima, at the time one of the biggest strategy guide companies (its main competitor, BradyGames, would later be bought by publisher Penguin Random House and folded into Prima). He sent Prima his Metal Gear Solid guide, and they assigned him Armored Core.

That was 16 years ago and I’m still doing it right now, he said.

***

Hodgson flipped lovingly through his creations as we chatted, pointing out where hed embellished a simple description with some flowery joke, or where hed really gotten into it and written entire sections in the voice of a character from the game.

That love goes both ways CD Projekt Red, developers of The Witcher 3, built Hodgson his own tribute in the form of book merchant Marcus T.K. Hodgson, a character in the games Free City of Novigrad.

We just wanted to honor David for all the awesome work he does, CD Projekt PR Manager Radek Grabowski told me over email. This is just a tribute.

The Witcher 3 tributes Hodgson in the form of book merchant Marcus T.K. Hodgson

Hodgson seems to always go above and beyond. His humor is often self-deprecating, but hes also proud when he talks about some of the things hes accomplished within the limited medium of strategy guides, like the note he received from Hideo Kojima about his Metal Gear Solid guide in 1998.

Strategy guides were usually just go here, do this, go here, do that. I wanted it to be a bit more of an ‘official mission handbook.'”

He loved the guide. He liked the fact that I’d put box-outs for the history of the forklift truck in the first level, Hodgson said. Strategy guides were usually just go here, do this, go here, do that. I wanted it to be a bit more of an ‘official mission handbook,’ we called it. Kojima said hed shown the guide to his mother, who didnt really understand video games but of course knew what a book was.

For 2004s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II Hodgson planned and orchestrated an easter egg on the strategy guides DVD pack-in: Pressing a secret combination on your DVD player remote results in a special menu where you can access videos in which the voice actor for HK-47, a popular droid from the games, quotes other famous fictional robots and AI. Hodgson was excited to get the voice actor involved for a secret he deemed so obscure although his assertion that Nobody A) cares or B) has ever found that, because we never published the easter egg code is more self-deprecating than accurate, based on the above YouTube video and this forum thread.

But he nevertheless lit up when he talked about it, or about the more creative work hes gotten to do, like A Fractured Land: Tales of the Northern Realms, a 96-page lore book that came with the hardcover edition of the official The Witcher 3 guide, or The Improved Emperor’s Guide to Tamriel, a 224-page illustrated guide to the lands of Bethesdas The Elder Scrolls Online that was packed in with the games Imperial collectors edition.

Hodgson wrote the Emperors Guide in character as the scholar Flaccus Terentius, conjuring the characters imagined journal entries as he walked the games fictional lands. It has annotations like Strange to find such Daedra worship among the devout, nestled next to detailed sketches, diagrams and paintings.

I studied history. Its sort of finding the evidence for something and then writing about it, and that was my transferrable skill, Hodgson said. If I wasn’t going to become a history teacher, I was going to maybe become a travel writer or something like that. And in a sense I am, except the places that I write about don’t really exist.

But travel writers dont go to Paris and painstakingly catalog every street sign and boulangerie.

Though travel writers much like strategy guide authors have been made obsolete. Why read a book about a place when you can simply search for photos of it on Instagram? Likewise, why buy an expensive book when everything you could want to know about every game ever made is a Google search away?

For one thing, you only have to look at one of Hodgsons guides to see the value for collectors and hardcore fans. And while the internet is always playing catch-up to catalog new releases in YouTube guides and Wikis, the official strategy guide arrives on day one (or earlier). That makes the physical strategy guide, ironically, the first choice for players who want instant, day one gratification.

“There’s a nice archaic nature to strategy guides that I enjoy. I can write about something that’s cutting edge, like Fallout 4, but I can publish it using 16th century technology.

Hodgson has his own reasons. I can’t show you the writings I’ve done for Maxim.com and Gamespy, because those sites aren’t there anymore, he said. Stuff disappears when you’re on the net. But this Akuji the Heartless strategy guide on paper, or in fact the Fallout 3 strategy guide that’s in the Library of Congress. So even after the bombs drop and we’re in the future apocalypse, you can go to the bunker down below the Library of Congress or even now, if you’d like to do it properly [and] you can search my books out. I think I’m the only person who will ever do that, but there’s a nice archaic nature to strategy guides that I enjoy. I can write about something that’s cutting edge, like Fallout 4, but I can publish it using 16th century technology.

***

Hodgson works on guides ten months out of every twelve, and he rarely plays video games for fun anymore. At the end of a long stretch, Im just sick of staring at screens, so I just go outside or I go and buy another aloe tree or an agave or a different type of succulent, he said. I maybe go on Facebook, but just to see what some of the people that I never get to see do. Friends.

You are suffering from extreme fatigue, and the dogs looking at you going I need to be fed and walked. Immediately, he said.

But if he quit tomorrow, hed still play games after a six-month sabbatical, at least. After your first week [off] youre just like Ah, sort of semi-retirement, this is great. This is fantastic, he said. And then another week goes by and youre sort of starting to get an itchy feeling. Cabin fever sets in. Youre like, whats next?

Hodgson recently wrapped up work on the Complete edition guide to The Witcher 3 and the official Watch Dogs 2 strategy guide, and at the time of writing hes putting the finishing touches on his Ghost Recon Wildlands guide. You can find his work wherever strategy guides are sold.

Mike Rougeau is a freelance journalist who lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend and two dogs.

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