Readers of Coilhouse: our new interview with Karen Meisner at io9 just went live. “Crime, Cryptohistory, Cthulhu, Culture, & Cyberpunk: Inside Coilhouse Magazine“. Check it out!

Readers of io9: WELCOME. Here are some categories you might enjoy: Cyberpunk, Technology, Cthulhu, Uncanny Valley, Gaming, Geekdom, Future, Steampunk, Sci-fi, and End of the World.

Readers of Coilhouse and io9 both: we have a special treat for you. Since we’re now offering DRM-free, downloadable PDFs of our back issues, we’d like to offer a few free samples. In the next two weeks, we’ll be releasing free PDFs of our favorite articles from Issues 01-05 to give you a sense of what the magazine is like. This Friday, we’re publishing our interview with Ron D. Moore, creator of Battlestar Galactica. You can download the entire article for free here. This interview ran in Issue 03, the rest of which can be purchased here for a mere $5, or however much you’d like to pay.

To those of you who already downloaded some of the back issues, thank you. It’s been wonderful to see past editions take on a new life. We hope you’re enjoying them.

Today’s a big day! Coilhouse’s newest media experiment is ready for your delectation and appraisal.

From now through April 21, anyone, anywhere in the world with reasonable internet bandwidth will be able purchase DRM-free, high quality PDFs from the Coilhouse web store. This is the first time back issues of the magazine have been available in a digital format. Here it is: our brand-new PDF Shop.

For $5 USD a pop, you can download And Other Curiosities (01), Beauty Is A Choice (02), The “Hold My Gold” Issue (03), Onaim, Perantes, Rasonastos (04), and Let All the Children Boogie (05) as individual digital issues, or at a discount price of twenty bucks for all five. Also, should ye be feelin’ flush and generous, you’ll have the option to pay a bit more, because this is an important fund raising push for us.

Some thoughts:

As paper gourmands who have been touting the Magazine-As-Art-Object aspects of our production from the get-go, we know there’s nothing quite as scrumptious as holding a tangible, finite paper edition of Coilhouse in your hands.  We also realize that as we’ve continued to grow and evolve from a teeny wee indie publication to a somewhat less teeny (but still wee!) indie publication, there has consistently been more demand than supply of our limited run print issues as well as other merchandise, leaving a lot of forlorn readers crying out, “What do you mean it’s sold out ALREADY?!” And we must acknowledge, with regret, that our as-of-yet limited overseas distribution, combined with high international shipping costs, has made it prohibitively expensive for much of our global readership to afford copies of the Coilhouse print issues. We’re still working out these kinks as we go along. Thank you, comrades, for your continued understanding and kind suggestions on how we can improve.

Rest assured that we remain, first and foremost, resolutely committed to producing high quality print editions. But with your feedback, we’ve ascertained that high res PDFs are the best, most affordable solution we have currently for giving an ever-increasing readership access to our past print content. Depending on the success of this trial run digital sale, we may go in any number of directions: offering perennial PDF downloads, developing multimedia applications for smartphones and iPads, maybe even creating snazzy limited edition print digests for fellow diehard bibliophiles. Full disclosure: in recent weeks, we’ve been in multiple meetings with trusted mentors, friends, and publishers, discussing all of these possibilities, and more. SO EXCITING.

All proceeds from this initial three-week PDF sale will go directly back into the Coilhouse coffer. As previously mentioned, you’ll have the choice to purchase them at five bucks a pop, twenty for all five, or more if you can afford to and would like to further support our business. Every dollar you spend on them will help ensure that our upcoming Issue Six (currently being designed) is Coilhouse’s most lustrous, densely-packed and gorgeous production yet. Please know how grateful we are for the unflagging support of our beautiful and vibrant grassroots community. We’re still here, and still growing, because of you.

Once more, repeated for emphasis: this initial foray into PDF sales is a limited-time fund raising effort, so if you’re interested, don’t delay! GO GIT ‘EM.

Special thanks to art star Courtney Riot for designing the new shop, and Nicole, Ian, Jacquie, Whittles, Nyx, Steph, Slim and Audrey for countless hours of testing/support.

Image by SHOHEI

We love Japan. A lot. So much that our “Japan” tag contains 77 items. This morning, help we are auctioning off a special merch package fror Japan on Ebay. The package includes the coveted, remedy ultra-soft Coilhouse Inform/Inspire/Infect unisex hoodie, decease available in S, M, L or XL (you specify  the size you want when you win the auction). Also included in this auction: nine Coilhouse buttons, an I/I/I mug, and a mint-condition copy of Issue 05. All proceeds from this auction will go to the Red Cross to support disaster relief efforts to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan and tsunami throughout the Pacific. Click on the images to bid!

More images of the items, after the jump. Many thanks to our Grettkins for coming up with snapshots of the Japan care package on such short notice.

Stay tuned today for more big news.

Thank you, all, for your feedback about our upcoming PDF Download Launch Sale. It was great to hear that there’s a lot of interest, and we look forward to sharing the back issues of Coilhouse with all of you. We’re putting the finishing touches on the download site and the PDFs, and we can’t wait to unveil the new shop this coming Monday. Get ready!

Meanwhile, we noticed that our mailing list was broken. Yikes. It has now been fixed. So please, join our mailing list. The main purpose of this list is to distribute REALLY HUGE NEWS – like this upcoming release of downloadable PDFs, new issues of Coilhouse coming out, crucial new developments, etc. Who knows – you might even get a sneak peek of some upcoming Coilhouse articles before they’re posted on the blog! We may very occasionally email you with other announcements, such as limited-edition new merch releases and Coilhouse events. But it’s not going to be annoying or spammy, we promise. It goes without saying that we will never share your email, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Join the mailing list! DO IT!

Many of you have asked: “will back issues of Coilhouse ever be available again?” We’re well aware (and gratified) that there’s a lot of interest in the now sold-out Issues 01-05. Since we printed Issue 01 in the summer of 2008, thousands more readers have joined us, and we’ve been eager to find a way to share the old content in a way that’s affordable for everyone. While our printing budget remains solely devoted to new issues at this time, we’re delighted to announce that as of next week, we will be offering DRM-free, high-quality PDFs of our back issues for sale on this site.

This coming Monday, March 28th, we’ll begin a special sale offering all of our previous issues of Coilhouse Magazine, available for purchase as separate issues, or at a discount on all five. This post is just a heads-up to let you know it’s happening soon. If you’re potentially interested in buying one or more PDF back issues, now would be a great time to join the mailing list so that you get a reminder when the issues go on sale. The other great reason to join our mailing list right now is to stay informed about the release of print Issue 06, which is coming along nicely.

As always, we’re incredibly curious to get some feedback from our readers! Any opinions or advice for us about about PDFs, e-readers, phone apps, iPad editions, and whether or not we should offer something like this perennially in our online store? Please, by all means, fire away in comments. As always, the Coilbiz’s learning process is greatly enhanced by direct communication with our community.

Join Our Email List Email:

On Saturday, LA townsfolk will be able to feed their Twin Peaks obsession at Clifton’s Brookdale, a cafeteria extraordinaire brought to you by Andrew Meieran – the very man who birthed our beloved Edison. Curated by Good Apple in celebration of Twin Peaks’ 20th anniversary, In the Trees will feature art by Coilhouse friend and contributor, Jessica Joslin, who created a a beautiful owl of brass and bone named “Cooper” for the occasion.

Cooper by Jessica Joslin

Cooper will be shown alongside the work of Glenn Barr, Tim Biskup, Scott Campbell, Amy Casey, Paul Chatem, Ryan Heshka, Stella Im Hultberg, Alice Lodge, Chris Mars, Elizabeth McGrath, Margaret Meyer, Brooke Weston, Eric White, and Ashley Wood. Get all that? Good. Additionally, the show will include art by Grace Zabriskie (Sarah Palmer) and Richard Beymer (Benjamin Horne), as well as a map of Twin Peaks, created by David Lynch himself.

A Damn Fine Cup of Coffee byPaul Chatem

The recently-reopened Clifton’s, known for its comfort food and strange, woodsy interior, is the absolutely ideal location for this event. “It’s reminiscent of the show’s creative universe and captures the spirit of the show perfectly”, says developer Meieran of his new baby, which makes this recently-initiated Twin Peaks fiend anticipate In the Trees with even more vigor. I bet there will be coffee and pie!

FYI: this exhibition only runs from Saturday, February 12 to Sunday, February 13 – don’t miss it!

Related posts:

• Twin Peaks Ads for Georgia Coffee
• Season’s Greetings From Twin Peaks
• An Anecdote of No Small Amusement
• This Pie’s So Good It Is A Crime

An Egyptian anti-government activist kisses a riot police officer following clashes in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 28, 2011. Image by Lefteris Pitarakis/AP.

Shit’s going down in Egypt. Since January 25th, the streets of Cairo have been flooded with protesters demanding the resignation of Hosni Mubarak. For a clear and comprehensive overview of what’s been happening in Egypt these past several days, we recommend Nick Baumann and Siddhartha Mahanta’s post on the Mother Jones blog, titled What’s Happening in Egypt Explained.

One of the scariest elements of this situation has been the ease with which the Egyptian government was able to wipe out citizens’ access to information and communication nationwide. Last week, one by one, ISPs surrendered to the will of the state, depriving thousands of the Internet access that so many of us take for granted. And through Internet connectivity was restored for many Egyptians today, there remain concerns of surveillance. Eva Galperin writes on the EFF blog, “given the potential dangers, it is absolutely critical that Egyptian protesters take precautions when communicating online. To reiterate, social networking tools have given activists a powerful voice, which can be heard well beyond Egypt, but activists should also remember that the Egyptian government could use these same tools to identify and retaliate against them.” Phobos at the Tor Project blog adds, “we are concerned because it is possible that traffic crossing the Egyptian border is being recorded and possibly saved for future use. Correctly using Tor to and from Egyptian destinations will keep your traffic anonymous.”

The Tor Project, a system to enable online anonymity, has been crucial in aiding activists around the world. Thanks to this week’s fundraiser to help Tor fight the blackout in Egypt, Tor has begun experimenting with ways to improve performance over satellite and mesh networks as well as VSAT and BGAN connections. The results of this research, Tor reports, will “benefit those with little to no Internet access, whether due to political unrest, natural disasters, or remote locations, who nonetheless seek to keep their online activities safe.”

This week, we’ll be donating to support Tor’s efforts. We invite you to do the same. And there’s a way for you to contribute to Tor and receive something from us in return. We’ve just put up one rare, mint-condition copy of Issue 01 on Ebay. The original issue 01, typo on the cover and all. The highly NSFW version that was only sold on our site. Only 1,000 copies of this version were ever printed (an alternate version went to the stores), and we have a mere 10 left in stock for the rest of our lives. It will never be reprinted in its current form. 100% of the proceeds will go to Tor. (Also of interest: Zoetica’s own Tor auction for a tentacle-painted denim jacket.) Bidding starts at $15.00 (not to be confused with this vendor’s $119 auction for Issue 02 – that’s not us – we’re flattered and somewhat appalled). The auction is here. GO!

Coilhouse can be found in over 2,000 retail locations. For specific details of our distribution, click here. Photo by rickiep00h on Flickr.

Coilhouse Magazine Issue 06 is coming. It’s been coming for a long time, and that’s because we’ve challenged ourselves to put more care and effort into this issue than ever before. You won’t have to wait much longer: 06 will be out in early spring! For those of you interested in advertising in Coilhouse, now is the time to get in touch and reserve your spot. The deadline for reserving an ad in Issue 06 is February 1st.

Who’s advertising in Coilhouse?  Increasingly, it’s not just businesses – it’s also artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, designers, art galleries and publications. Take a look at November’s “Support Our Advertisers” blog post, which outlines the 69 participants in Issue 05’s Small Business Advertising Program. It’s an inspiring, eclectic collection of products and people.

Magazines with production quality on par with Coilhouse are usually chock-full of corporate advertising, but we’ve made it part of our mission to prioritize our cherished community base, enabling less profit-driven entities to appear in our pages. Though we’ve raised all our full-page rates as of 2011, a beautifully-designed ad square in our Small Business Program still costs only $99-149.

Magazine reader response to the catalog style layout has been very positive. We hear a lot of people say that they spend as much time poring over the scrumptious small biz grid pages as they do over the articles themselves. You can see examples of what the ad grid layout looks like in the magazine here and here.

If you’re new to the advertising in Coilhouse, check our Advertising FAQ. For specifics about our distribution, circulation and pricing, check out our 2011 Media Kit. If you’ve made up your mind to take out an ad, all you need to do in order to get the ball rolling is email our wonderful Ad Manager, Samantha.

The Coilhouse venture remains, first and foremost, a labor of love… with lucre a very distant second. Rest assured that when beloved members of this community participate in our Small Business Ad Program, it’s a mutually beneficial partnership that keeps us all striving. (And hey – if you’re a small business, but you still want to take out a full page ad, come talk to us – we’ll be happy work something out.)

As always, thanks for reading. See you in Issue 06!

This Thursday, decease Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles will host the reception for The Ghost of Delilah and Other Stories. Conceived by the mystical brain[s] of Travis Louie, illness the unique show will feature paintings and drawings by Travis with Craola, Chet Zar, Lola, Fred Harper, Molly Crabapple, Dave Chung, Ewelina Ferruso, John Park, Lisa Gloria and yours truly.

Kim Boekbinder as The Impossible Girl by Travis Louie

Travis Louie collaborated with each artist to create drawings that merge different styles and concepts in a sort of exquisite corpse format. The result: playful, distinct graphite amalgams unlike anything any of these folks have done before.

Travis working on his section of the collaboration with Ewelina Ferruso, Phelps Dreams of Being a Rabbit

The Ghost of Delilah and Other Stories opens at 7pm this Thursday, December 2. See you there!

It’s Nadya’s birthday today! Wheeeee:

On a recent intercontinental Skype call, overwhelmed by a dozen disparate tasks and simultaneous preparations for conducting her most high profile Coilhouse interview to date with a certain world-famous filmmaker, Nadya expressed some anxiety and uncertainty to Mer. Mer’s reply, paraphrased: “Nadya, you may look like some fragile, doe-eyed forest creature, but everyone knows you’re an iron fist cast in velvet. You’re gonna nail it all to the floor. Baby, you’re the Bambinator.”

And so it was that a new nickname was born. Definitely fits, right?

Artist’s rendering of Nadya Lev! (Actually, no, it’s Lisa Black taxidermy. But still.) COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO BLOG.

Nadya did indeed nail that interview to the floor. Can’t tell you anything more about it quite yet, but it’s guaranteed to be one of our most fascinating and high-profile features to date, you’ll see! It’s been great to share Nadya’s joy and excitement over this particular success, perhaps because we recognize that a lot of the work that she does for Coilhouse has traditionally been the least glamorous and the most thankless, most time-consuming and wallet-robbing. Behind-the-scenes stuff.

This year especially, she’s really gone down into the trenches for us, managing the majority of the Coilhouse empire’s recent growing pains: advertising, financing, digital mag formatting training, merchandise and content development, staff restructuring and expansion, publisher and distributor re-negotiations. Additionally, our girl’s kept up her usual globe-trotting antics for that other full-time job of hers, and even found time to help build a huge-ass interactive kinetic sculpture in her nonexistent spare time.

We are so proud of our wee Bambinator. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for her, and for Coilhouse.

As always, love on ya, Lev.