Media

Books, academic articles, movies, comic books, any work of static media about plurality. This would also include static websites.

Many Voices Press

Many Voices was founded by Lynn Wasnak in 1989. Their "bimonthly newsletters, books, and website offer healing resources to people recovering from child abuse or severe trauma" (n.d.)

Quick Details

Type: Website, newsletters, books
Dates Active: 1989-2013
Location: http://manyvoicespress.org/ Cincinnati, Ohio

Lynn Wasnak ran Many Voices Press in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1989 until 2012, and she died in May 2013 from "an illness" (https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/cincinnati/obituary.aspx). According to her wishes, Many Voices was given to the ISST-D (International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation) and the entire newsletter archive was put online for free to read and download (n.d.).

The entire newsletter archive can be found here: http://manyvoicespress.org/newsletter.html

Citations

Cincinnati Enquirer. (2013, May 17). Lynn Iverne (Koehler) WASNAK [Obituary].  Retried 2019/03/13 from https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/cincinnati/obituary.aspx?pid=164821361

Many Voices Press. (n.d.).  Home page.  Retrieved 2019/03/10 from http://manyvoicespress.org/

Cuckoo

Cuckoo was a series of comics books and a play created by Madison Clell about her experience with DID.

Quick Details

Type: Autobiographical comics, play
Created: 1996-2010
Location: http://madisonclell.com/cuckood-i-d/

Circumstances of Cuckoo's Creation

Cuckoo's co-publisher, Kim Hecht, wrote, "Some time ago Madison approached me and said she was planning to write and illustrate a comic about her experiences as an individual with Dissociative Identity Disorder (D.I.D), or 'Multiple Personality Disorder', as it was called at the time. [...] I wondered how anyone could illustrate such a 'serious' and 'complex' experience as D.I.D. in a comic format?  And would she really be able to not only look all those rough experiences in the eye and lay them out on paper?" (Cuckoo #1, inside front cover)

Cuckoo #1 was published by Green Door Studios (formed by Clell and Hecht) in Fall 1996.  It sold for $2.75 ($3.50 in Canada).

Comics' Art Style and Content

Cuckoo was originally solely in black and white, with heavy chiaroscuro style inspired by the work of Frank Miller, specifically Sin City (citation needed).  Starting with Issue #4, the covers became color paintings.

Cuckoo chose to depict system members as separate people in corporeal space, interacting like anyone else.  Non-system members (that is, corporeal people like Clell's boyfriend) were distinguished from system members with a symbol on their clothes resembling a cartoonish planet Saturn or a circle with a diagonal narrow rectangle superimposed on top of it.

Many of the comics were short strips and stories reflecting on topics including individual trauma, individual system members, and slice-of-life tidbits focusing on things like banking while multiple, health insurance woes, and commentary on "Autobiography in Five Short Chapters" by Portia Nelson (or, as Clell subtitles it, "Therapists' Favorite Metaphor for Their Struggling Clients").  However, starting in Issue #5, the series starts on "the Long Story," a more involved narrative about Clell's discovery of her multiplicity and trying to deal with it; the comic never completes this story.

Asides from the actual story content of the comics, the floppy issues of Cuckoo also included various ephemera, including:

The Comic's Printing History

Cuckoo ran for thirteen floppy issues, with the final issue coming out in summer 2002; in that final issue, there is an excited announcement: "CUCKOO COMPILATION BOOK TO BE PRINTED IN SUMMER, 2002--more than 250 pages from issues 1-13!!!" (Cuckoo #13, inside front cover).

Indeed, in 2002, the trade paperback of Cuckoo was published by Green Door.  It was 291 pages, and while it included most of the floppy comics' content, it did not contain all of it.  It had an introduction from Dr. "Patch" Adams.  A second volume was supposed to come out to complete the story, but the comic was never completed (citation needed).  Thus, to learn the full story of Cuckoo, one needs to read not just the comics, but the play.

The Play

There's some conflict over when the play debuted.  On her website, Clell says 2008 (n.d.), but in the trade paperback version of the play script, it reads, "CUCKOO debuted in February 2009" (pg. 9).  And yet, a newspaper article from 2007 says the show was already running (Staff Report, May 31).  Regardless of the year, it debuted in San Francisco (Clell, n.d. and 2013). "The director was Rebecca Longworth, and the movement coach was Paoli Lacy.  Production design was by Mike Lewis, lighting design by Neil Satterlund, and sound design by George Mauro.  The stage manager was Daniel Schultz.  Animators were Justin Willow nad Rebecca Longworth.  Master electrician was Irish Schimandle and board operator was Zack Leuchars" (Clell, 2013).

In the play, system members were played by different actors, and one system member, Fairy Child, had no body actor at all, but instead was a drawing projected on a screen with a voice actor (pg. 12).

In the "Direction & Production Notes," the play states, "In the original production, alters wore converse [sic] tennis shoes to distinguish themselves from non-alters.  Alters' shoes were one solid color, but Adriene's [the host's] were either multiple colors, or sparkly.  Whenever an alter pops out, Adriene becomes completely floppy.  Projections from CUCKOO comics, as well as newly-drawn pictures, were utilized in this play." (pg. 11)

The play's script became its own trade paperback, printed in 2013 by JUMP! Theatre and Green Door Studios.  Due to the inherent difficulties of "trying to stuff years of experiences into two hours of entertainment," the play does not go as in-depth as the comics do, though it does have a complete story, ending with Clell's integration.

Inner Mythos

Cuckoo is one of the few places where the power of story or an inner mythos in plurality is discussed at all.  In the play, system member Adriene describes it as "the Epic Sci-fi story" to her headmates: "That whole universe STAMPED in our head since forever!  I tried and tried to write it down as a kid, but it was terrible!  Now I can see that I was doing it alone!  Duh!  But NOW, with your extra energy and brains, we can do it!  Maybe you can give tips on drawing.  Maybe you guys can help give SUGGESTIONS to ME on what to say." (pg. 79) The rest of the system snickers, and Adriene's headmate Lisa responds, "You're just gathering the FACTS, now!  Soon we can write the entire story of us!" (pg. 80) That story becomes Cuckoo.

A 2007 newspaper article goes into a little more detail. "Madison Clell, as many youngsters often do, developed an elaborate imaginary world as a child. The world was so spectacular it warranted documentation and at age 7, Clell, an aspiring novelista, began her first attempt at crafting 'the epic novel.'

"'Every year I started to write it, but thought it sucked. I’d wait and try it again the next year. I thought for sure by fifth grade I’d have it,' she says.

"Fifth grade came and went, and Clell had yet to complete her grand opus. By the timeshe reached high school, she discovered comic books and decided to chronicle her fantasy world in graphic novel form instead.

"Fast-forward to the tail end of college — a series of events led Clell to seek therapy and it was there that she discovered her make-believe world was actually rooted in reality; she was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder.

“'It struck me as a tremendous metaphor for my life. Once I knew that these fantasy characters were actually alters, I knew that I couldn’t go back and do this as a fantasy epic,' Clell says." (Staff Report, 2007 May 31)

Awards

The Cuckoo comics were nominated for three Ignatz Awards, but never won any of them: in 1999 for "Promising New Talent," (Comic Book Awards Almanac, 1999) and in 2000 for "Outstanding Series," and "Outstanding Comic" (Comic Book Awards Almanac, 2000).

Citations

Clell, Madison. (n.d.). Purchase Comics [web page].  Retrieved 2019/03/14 from http://madisonclell.com/purchase-comics/

Clell, Madison. (1996, Fall).  Cuckoo #1 [comic].  Green Door Studios.

Clell, Madison. (2001, Autumn).   Cuckoo #12 [comic].  Green Door Studios.

Clell, Madison. (2002, Summer).  Cuckoo #13 [comic].  Green Door Studios.

Clell, Madison. (2013).  Cuckoo [play].  JUMP! Theatre and Green Door Studios.

Comic Book Awards Almanac. (1999). 1999 Ignatz Award Nominees and Winners [web page].  Retrieved 2019/03/14 from http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/ignatz99.php

Comic Book Awards Almanac. (2000). 2000 Ignatz Award Nominees and Winners [web page].  Retrieved 2019/03/14 from http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/ignatz00.php

Staff Report. (2007, May 31). Jump! Theatre goes 'Cuckoo' [newspaper article] San Francisco Examiner.  Retrieved 2019/03/14 from http://www.sfexaminer.com/jump-theatre-goes-cuckoo/

Plural Pride Symbol

ouregaiya-PluralPridesymbol.png

[Image Description: the original version of ouregaiya's multiplicity pride symbol, showing four interlocking, equally sized ovals inscribed by one larger one, along with the words "Living Multiple" and "Many minds... One body."]

Quick Details

Created By: Tracee of ouregaiya and/or Iris of Astraea
Time Created: October 2011
Location Created: The Plural Activism group on Yahoo? (citation needed)

Circumstances of Creation

Ouregaiya created the image for possibly the Plural Activism Yahoo group (2011, October 11).  They spread the word to as many systems as possible via private email and Livejournal.  Astraea made some minor edits of it with slightly different typography and also circles, rather than ovals, which they posted a few days later on Livejournal (n.d.), and had it on their own website by January 21, 2012, probably helping it spread.

Who made it?

In their Livejournal post and in their email to healthymultiplicity.com (private communication, 2011 October 17), ouregaiya stated that "we came up with an emblem," but on their own website, they write, "Thanks Iris of Astraea's Web for the original, and Jim Bunkelman and our own Tracee for spiffing it up a bit!" (2016a) which implies Iris may have first made it, rather than later edited it.

Use

"This design is copyright-free and has no registration or trademark. It is free and open to the public. Please post it on your web sites and blogs. You can personalize it as you see fit... words, colors etc. But the symbol needs to remain the same." (ouregaiya, 2016).

Ouregaiya specifically intended the symbol to be used by all sorts of plurals-- "It in no way says you have to self identify [...] there's always the 'I have a friend who...'" (2011, October 11).  Although they use the more ableist Pavilion Hall definition of plurality (2016b), since that definition is not used as often, it doesn't seem too big a stretch to presuppose that any plural under the greater umbrella may use this symbol.

Merch

The Plural Pride Cafepress uses Astraea's Livejournal designs on various merchandise, including mugs, fanny packs, and stickers; it's been in existence since at least March 2013 (Plural Pride, 2013 March 11).  SpaceRobot Studio also sells colorful pendants with the symbol, and has been since August 2013 (SpaceRobot Crew, 2019, March 23).

Citations

Astraea [ksol1460]. (n.d.) Plural Logos [Livejournal Scrapbook Page].  Retrieved 2019/03/22 from https://ksol1460.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/1933/

Astraea. (2012, January 21). Plural Pride symbol with gold background [image]. http://www.astraeasweb.net/images/symbol-light_sm.gif Internet Archive. Retrieved 2019/03/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20120121184227/http://www.astraeasweb.net/images/symbol-light_sm.gif

Ouregaiya [ouregaiya]. (2011, October 11).  Emblem [locked Livejournal post].  Originally posted on multiplicity.livejournal.com; retrieved 2019/03/22 from (also locked) mirror at https://multiplicity-archives.dreamwidth.org/962653.html

Ouregaiya. (2016a). Activism [web page].  Retrieved 2019/03/22 from http://www.ouregaiya.com/activism.html

Ouregaiya. (2016b).  Healthym Multiplicity [web page].  Retrieved 2019/03/22 from http://www.ouregaiya.com/healthy-multiplicity-.html

Plural Pride. (2013, March 11). Plural Pride - Celebrating Multiple Personalities [Cafepress]. https://www.cafepress.com/plural_pride Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/03/23 from https://web.archive.org/web/20130311112624/https://www.cafepress.com/plural_pride

SpaceRobot Crew [spacerobotcrew]. (2019, March 23).  Yes! I just looked back through my etsy history and it looks like August 2013 was when I started selling those. [locked Dreamwidth comment].  Retrieved 2019/03/23 from https://spacerobotcrew.dreamwidth.org/1848448.html?thread=6932096#cmt6932096

The Multiple Code

A goofy little old-school meme that allowed multiples to condense an immense amount of information about their system into a string of esoteric nonsense.

An example: MuC N- [f] S.H+/Hf+/Uz&Uv;/Sa/Sg+/Sh/Rg A(b+ r---!/++) Os/c Wm+ Cc- OF- Pspi!/pre Fxb/s/pc^/a T+ Jm Dg R(--/+) C+++ S--

See also: the Soulbond Code

Quick Details

Created By: The Consortium
Time Created: 2001
Location Used: Disenchanted Forest website, Livejournal

Circumstances of Creation

"There are many Codes across the net, [...] aimed at communicating a lot of info in a short block of letters, numbers and symbols.  Feeling that Multiples/Hosts, of all people, needed to be able to condense an incredible amount of information into a small amount of space [...], I took it upon myself to create The Multiple Code (MultiCode or MuC). But I knew I couldn't do it alone, so I asked some of my system-mates to help me. ;)" (Consortium, 2001 June 13)

Original Version

This version started with MuC, to declare itself a multi code, and then contained sections for the following criteria: system size (N), body and system member genders [in brackets], system member species (S.), body and system member ages (A), origin of system members (O), headspace environment (W), level of co-consciousness (CC), how out of the closet they were (OF), paranormal experiences (P), religious practices (F), how romantically/sexually available they were (T), their job (J), dietary needs (D), how into roleplaying they were (R), how much they liked computers (C), how social they were (S), and whether one is a singlet ally (MF).

There were also modifiers ? for unknown, or * for variable.

Revisions

By August 2002, the Consortium added feelings about integration and sexuality to the code, using the markers I and X (2002, August 2).  The code remained unchanged until their website went down by 2003.

In January 2004, Astraea picked the code up again and put it on their own website (2004, April 27).  They claimed that they made "edits and updates" (ibid), but there was only one: the addition of the modifier "Vanilla Sex, no kinks" to the sexuality section (2004, May 5).

On July 6, 2006, Astraea made some additions of actual substance:

On August 11, 2006, Astraea added the following religions to the faith section:

Citations

Astraea. (2004, April 27).  The Multiple Code [web page]. Internet Archive. http://astraeasweb.net/plural/code/welcome.html Retrieved 2019/03/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20040427201419/http://astraeasweb.net:80/plural/code/welcome.html

Astraea. (2004, May 5).  The Multiple Code: Sex [web page]. http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/code/sex.html Internet Archive. Retrieved 2019/03/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20040505045843/http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/code/sex.html

Astraea. (2007, April 23).  The Multiple Code: Gender [web page].  http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/code/gender.html Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/03/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20070423230449/http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/code/gender.html

Astraea. (2008, April 23).  The Multiple Code: Gender [web page].  http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/code/gender.html Internet Archive. Retrieved 2019/03/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20070423230449/http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/code/gender.html

Astraea. (2008, May 13).  The Multiple Code: Integration [web page].  Internet Archive. http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/code/integration.html Retrieved 2019/03/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20080513124030/http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/code/integration.html

Astraea. (2016, August 7).  The Multiple Code: Integration [web page].  Internet Archive. http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/code/integration.html Retrieved 2019/03/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20160807183840/http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/code/integration.html

Consortium. (2001, June 13). The Multiple Code, Beta V1 [web page]. http://disenchantedforest.com/code/ Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/03/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20010613184657/http://disenchantedforest.com/code/

Consortium. (2001, August 2). The Multiple Code, Beta V1 [web page]. http://disenchantedforest.com/code/ Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/03/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20020802012204/http://disenchantedforest.com/code/

The Soulbond Code

"Basically, it's a little bit of text included at the end of signatures and such which can be decoded to reveal information about people and their involvements in various fandoms and the like. [...] we thought it would be useful to have a code with specific information on the SBing aspects of the system" (Amorpha, n.d.).

See also: The Multiple Code

Quick Details

Created By: Amorpha
Time Created: 2001
Location: http://soulbonding.tripod.com/sbcode.txt

Circumstances of Creation

"The SBers' [Soulbonders'] Code was inspired by seeing the Multiple Code [...] and thinking that it would  be useful to tailor something like that specifically for SBers. (For the record, while we also have a Multiple Code and many multiples also SB, we thought it would be useful to have a code with specific information on the SBing aspects of the system.)" (Amorpha, n.d.)

It was created in 2001 (Eclective, December 25).

Original 2001 Version

This version prefaced itself with SBC to declare itself a soulbond code. (Eclective, 2001 December 25).    It contained sections for the following criteria: system size (N), body and bond genders (G), origin of soulbonds, such as insourced, outsourced, from what kind of media (O), bond species (S.), involvement of bonds in the bonder's life (i), opinion of self-insert fic (SI) how into roleplaying they were (R), how social they were (S), and how much they liked to draw (A) or write (W).

There were also modifiers ? for unknown, or * for variable.

Undated (2004?) Revised Version

This version has no date; however, seeing as soulbonding.tripod.com was declared inactive by 2004, the edits must predate the abandonment (Eclective, 2004 June 6).  It is also unclear whether Amorpha or Eclective are responsible for the edits.  Among the changes (all from Amorpha, n.d.):

Citations

Amorpha. (n.d.) The Soulbond Code [web page].  Retrieved 2019/03/24 from http://soulbonding.tripod.com/sbcode.txt

Eclective. (2001, December 25). the soulbond code [web page]. http://childofmana.tripod.com/sbcode.htm Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/03/24 from https://web.archive.org/web/20011225183245/http://childofmana.tripod.com:80/sbcode.htm

Eclective. (2004, June 6). we're leaving here tonight.... [web page]. http://soulbonding.tripod.com/ Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/03/24 from https://web.archive.org/web/20040606093747/http://soulbonding.tripod.com/

The Creature of Habit, A Journey

The Creature of Habit is the magnum opus of the Troops for Truddi Chase, a lavishly illustrated fable about overcoming trauma and PTSD habits intended to protect against harm, but which instead "place us inside a compound with walls so tall there's no way to escape. It is only in the breaking free from these habits that we begin to grow and discover our true selves" (pg. ii).

The Creature of Habit was posthumously self-published by Truddi's daughter, Kari Ainsworth, after the Troops' death in 2010.

Quick Details


Date Created: December 2014
Created By: The Troops for Truddi Chase
Location: truddichase.com

Circumstances of Creation

According to Truddi's daughter in the foreword, "A few years after the release of When Rabbit Howls, Truddi and The Troops finished their psychotherapy with Dr. Phillips and began a journey of self-discovery in order to prove to themselves that there is 'life after therapy' for multiples. Out of this discovery process, they created Creature of Habit, A Journey. Creature would give Truddi and The Troops a new way to speak into other's [sic] lives; to reach out to those struggling with the aftermath of trauma; to let them know that they aren't alone; and that through their own journey, they might find strength, knowledge, and freedom. [...]

"Back in the late 1990s, way before our current technology boom, Truddi and The Troops were told that Creature was too long and had too much artwork to publish. [...] Creature was packed away, never to be seen or heard from again. [...] By 2010, Truddi's health was in serious decline. With this knowledge, I desperately wanted to give her the gift of seeing all of her beautiful words and artwork in published from before she left this earth. [...] Unfortunately, Truddi was not to see the finished work. She passed away before it was completed. After her death, I knew my purpose in life was to see Creature through to the end" (pg. ii)

Story

This section contains SPOILERS.

The story follows the Creature of Habit in his escape from a highly-walled compound ruled by an abusive, spiteful vine. The vine has steadily grown larger and larger, until the compound is almost completely sealed, but some of the sky is still visible. The Creature's sight of the moon and night sky inspire him to one day disobey and flee the compound, determined to find his way to the moon and freedom, in the form of "unfettered thought."

Escape is not easy. Long after the Creature escapes the Vine, he is ensnared in his own thoughts and habits, created to survive the Vine's outbursts and adapt to its needs, even though the Vine itself is left behind. He compulsively writes "Chastising Lists" of his every flaw and misbehavior, and still sees things from the Vine's point of view, rather than his own. He tends to be unpleasant to the creatures he meets, since he believes that anything that likes him must want to abuse him, or be contemptible since he himself is contemptible.

Along the way he meets Bragnificense, a large dragon-like being who speaks in rhyme and has very high self-esteem (much to the Creature's horror), and ghosts of old souls, who perished on their own journeys in pursuit of personal freedom. After various travails, he finds himself with this motley crew in a special valley, which may or may not literally exist, inhabited by the Sleeping Pool (which shows the viewer a reflection of his true self, and thus provides freedom) and a Voice (which is later discovered to be his own subconscious). The Voice helps the Creature along in breaking old habits, though the Creature is skeptical and reluctant at first. It also tries to cajole the Creature into looking into it, but he is terrified of what he might see.

The Voice tells the Creature the story of how his people came to be, and how they came from a different planet to the ones where the Vines ruled. The Vines were appalled by the Creatures' creativity and goodness, and thus enslaved their minds, using habit and fear to control them.

Meanwhile, through all of this, the Vine is warping space and time to bring all Vines, all Creatures, and all other forms of life together for a climactic battle for freedom. The Creature of Habit is frightened, but rises to the occasion, defeats the Vines, burns them, and finds freedom and happiness. Unfortunately, none of the other Creatures are saved; they are still enslaved to their Vine habits and must find freedom their own way. The Creature of Habit, meanwhile, looks into the pool, finds freedom, and goes his own way, free of the ghosts of the past and his constricted habits.

Illustrations

The book is filled with the Troops' lavish paintings of the animals, plants, and scenery that the Creature of Habit encounters. Vines are depicted, though it's unclear whether they are ordinary plants or the antagonist of the book. However, the Creatures themselves, the old souls, the Voice, and Bragnificense are never depicted; nor are the battle or other plot events.

Idiosyncratic Spelling/Formatting

"The various spellings (British, Middle English, Old English, etc.) originate from Ean, one of Truddi Chase's personalities. Ean, the Irish Troop member simply said that they are part of his background, his heritage." (Troops for Truddi Chase, 2014, copyright page)

The book also has erratic margins and line-breaks; some are clearly intentional, but others are less certain.

Citations

The Troops for Truddi Chase. (2014). The Creature of Habit: A Journey. Delaware: Moonbeams Unlimited Publishing.

Kinships Magazine

"Kinships was the first in print magazine for Otherkin and other 'people who exist anyway'" (Joyner, 2006 May 10a).  It was "a quarterly magazine of stories, comics, reviews, and poetry" (Joyner and Silva, 2001 April 7) and ran for eight issues, including Issue #0.

Though plurality was not a focus, otherkin plurals did take part in the magazine--most notably Criss Itterman, AKA the Crisses of Kinhost (Joyner and Silva, 2000 October) and Doltaghey House, writing under the name Ficanoss (Various, 2001 fall).

Quick Details

Creators: Katrina Joyner (AKA Spearcarrier) (Editor, whole series), Gynn Stella (Submissions Editor for Issues #0 and #1) and Rick Silva (Marketing Director, Issues #0-#5)
Time Published: 2000-2002 (original run), then 2004-2007
Location: Originally at spaceports.com/~tocosar/kinships (2001), then Pentegram Komix (2001-2002), and finally anotherotherkin.tripod.com (2006-2008)

Circumstances of Creation

According to Joyner's website, "Kinships started in 1999 when Katrina Joyner and Rick Silva met and decided to form a partnership. Katrina let Rick into her small business, Pentegram Komix and Graphix.  With a public Otherkin demand for their own magazine, Katrina and Rick stepped up to the task and a full-fledged magazine was born" (2006, May 10a).  It's not clear what became of Gynn Stella.

Print Dates and Contributors

Format

Kinships never had an ebook version; it was only print.  Under Joyner and Silva, Kinships printed Issues #0-5, a full-sized, black and white, saddle-stitched magazine filled with comics, fiction, poetry, reviews, and personal experiences.  It also had a lot of ads for various New Age, geek, and otherkin/paranormal websites.

Sometime between February 4 and August 2, 2002, "through unfortunate circumstances, Rick and Katrina had to part ways and Kinships as a magazine ended" (Joyner, 2006 May 10a).  However, in 2004, Joyner set off on her own, and "Kinships made a small comeback as a desktop magazine/newsletter. [...] Kinships remains an Otherkin-friendly paper with emphasis on metaphysical living and philosophies" (ibid).  In this format, another two issues, #6 and #7 were put out, in rougher half-size format, more zine-like.  The last issue came out in July 2007 (Dagstine, 2007).

Kinships seemed to have gotten distributed through a fair number of stores, including Barnes and Noble (Joyner, 2006 May 10), and it paid submitters, though less and less over time.  Originally, the pay rate was 2 cents per word, $10 per poem, and $5-$20 per comics page or for black and white artwork (Joyner and Silva, 2001 April 3).  Later, the prose rate was halved to 1 cent per word, $5 per poem; the art and comics rate remained the same (Joyner and Silva, 2001 November 23).

By the end of its run, Kinships was paying $6 for prose, $6 per page on comics, and $2 per illustration (Joyner, 2006 May 10b).  Despite the cost-cutting, the magazine was not a lucrative endeavor.  According to Joyner, "Kinships and every other part of Angelicpress [Joyner's small press] is not about profit. Maybe someday if enough people read us we can change our minds, but let's face it. We spend 300 percent more than we make off of this baby. Why do we still do it? Because we love it" (2006, May 10b).

Content

Content over time ran mainly towards short speculative fiction, along with some poetry, personal anecdotes, and reviews of various books, games, and magazines.

There were two comics series that ran through multiple issues, including Ficanoss of Doltaghey House's "Casteglan," following the misadventures of an elven bard headmate (Doltaghey House, 2001 July 9), and Joyner's "Battle of Angels," a comic following a tribe of elf-like angels, heavily influenced by Elfquest, of which Joyner was a fan and made her own fancomic, A Bird in the Bush (Joyner, 2001 April 22).

Advertisements

The advertisements in Kinships cover a wide variety of geek, otherkin, and pagan shops and websites from the time, making it a useful time capsule for the culture.  Among them:

Citations

Dagstine, Lawrence. (2007). Kinships #7 (Now Available; Final Issue) [blog post].  Retrieved 2019/04/22 from https://lawrencedagstine.com/2007/07/16/kinships-7-now-available-final-issue/

Doltaghey House [Ficanoss]. (2001 July 9).  Casteglan [web page]. www.stormpages.com/wolfglade/arhuaine/casteglan.html Internet Archive.  Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20010709125341/http://www.stormpages.com/wolfglade/arhuaine/casteglan.html

Joyner and Silva. (2000, October) Kinships Magazine Issue #0.  Pentegram Comics.  Cover image retrieved 2019/04/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20010611034738/http://www.spaceports.com:80/~tocosar/kinships/issue0.jpg

Joyner and Silva. (2001 April 3).  Pentegram Komix and Graphix, Kinships Submission Guidelines. http://www.pentegramkomix.com:80/kinships/submission.html Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/04/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20010430194358/http://www.pentegramkomix.com:80/kinships/submission.html

Joyner and Silva. (2001 April 7).  Kinships: the magazine for people who exist anyway [web page]. www.spaceports.com/~tocosar/kinships/kinintro.htm Retrieved 4/22/2019 from https://web.archive.org/web/20010407004804/www.spaceports.com/~tocosar/kinships/kinintro.htm

Joyner and Silva. (2001 April 19).  Fantasy & Comics Anthology [web page]. http://www.spaceports.com/~tocosar/kinships/kinretail.htm Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/04/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20010419164702/http://www.spaceports.com/~tocosar/kinships/kinretail.htm

Joyner and Silva. (2001 November 23).  Pentegram Komix and Graphix, Kinships Submission Guidelines. http://www.pentegramkomix.com:80/kinships/submission.html Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/04/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20011123072202/http://www.pentegramkomix.com:80/kinships/submission.html

Joyner, Katrina. (2002, February 4). Kinships Magazine [web page]. www.pentegramkomix.com/kinships/kinships.html Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/04/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20020204152114/http://www.pentegramkomix.com:80/kinships/kinships.html

Joyner, Katrina. (2002, April 22). A Bird in the Bush: An Elfquest Worldpool tale [web page]. http://www.pentegramkomix.com/elfquest/bird.html Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/04/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20010901092500/http://www.pentegramkomix.com/elfquest/bird.html

Joyner, Katrina. (2002, August 2). Kinships, The Magazine for People Who Exist Anyway, is no longer in publication. We regret the inconvenience. [web page]. www.pentegramkomix.com/kinships/kinships.html Internet Archive.  Retrieved 2019/04/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20020802201304/http://www.pentegramkomix.com:80/kinships/kinships.html

Joyner, Katrina. (2006, May 10a). Kinships [web page]. http://anotherotherkin.tripod.com/angelicpress/Kinships/index.htm Internet Archive. Retrieved 2019/04/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20060510111138/http://anotherotherkin.tripod.com/angelicpress/Kinships/index.htm

Joyner, Katrina. (2006, May 10b). Submissions Guidelines [web page]. http://anotherotherkin.tripod.com/angelicpress/submission.htm Internet Archive. Retrieved 2019/04/22 from https://web.archive.org/web/20060510111015/http://anotherotherkin.tripod.com/angelicpress/submission.htm

Various. (2000, October).  Kinships Magazine Issue #0.  Self-published.

Various. (2001, fall).  Kinships Magazine Issue #4.  Pentegram Komix and Graphix.

Various. (2001, winter).  Kinships Magazine Issue #5.  Pentegram Komix and Graphix.