FAQ

FLAMING HYDRA is a cooperative of 60 writers and artists who’ve banded together to publish a newsletter, launching on 30 January 2024.

FLAMING HYDRA is for the freedom of all kinds of people who like to read and write what we want, and who want to connect with others in an unmediated, private way, with no weirdo surveillance or profiteering, like the old internet used to be.

$3/month, or $36/year, for a brief, absorbing, ingenious daily newsletter each weekday. The price is low because we want everyone to read this thing.

The price is low, but not free, because we don’t want to have to answer to anyone but our readers. There’s no owners, advertisers, or investors in FLAMING HYDRA. Just writers and artists trying to do good work.

Subscribers may comment on newsletters, and we look forward to conversing with you there. There's just one rule, which is: Please be cool, or we will have to remove your comments.

You may have noticed how media keeps shrinking. Tons of places where we used to work—alt-weeklies, local newspapers, beloved blogs—no longer exist. As more and more independent outlets fail or are brought down, the whole culture grows poorer and more vulnerable to exploitation; less smart, and less fun.

We think it’s time we started shaping the future of media ourselves, to protect our freedom, independence and integrity. Also we are having a lot of fun creating a high quality, artist-owned publication.

For the first few months Maria Bustillos, one of the founding members of the group, will be the lead editor, with the help of many other members who are pitching in on editing, illustrations, getting the word out, and all that jazz.

TREVOR ALIXOPULOS, The New Yorker, Lipstick Traces

YEMISI ARIBISALA, Longthroat Memoirs

EMILY BELL, Columbia University, Guardian

LEILA BRILLSON, NYLON, Refinery29

MATT BUCHANAN, Eater, The New Yorker, The Awl

MARIA BUSTILLOS, Popula, The Awl, The Nation

DESSANE LOPEZ CASSELL, Seen Journal

AMY CHU, Camoot Journal

JIM COOKE, Los Angeles Times, Gawker

TOMMY CRAGGS, HBO, Mother Jones, Deadspin

A.J. DAULERIO, founder and editor of The Small Bow

BEN EHRENREICH, Desert Notebooks, The Way to the Spring

B.K. EPLER

EMILY FLAKE, The New Yorker, Mama Tried

CARRIE FRYE, The Awl

HAFIZAH GETER, The Black Period

MYRIAM GURBA, Mean, Creep, Tasteful Rude

D.D. GUTTENPLAN, The Nation

SHUJA HAIDER, The Nation, Popula

JENNIE ROSE HALPERIN, New York University

K.E. HARLOE, Media x Capital

JOHN HERRMAN, The Awl, New York Times, New York Magazine

BRIAN HIOE, New Bloom, No Man Is an Island

JAZMINE HUGHES, New York Times Magazine, The Hairpin

MIRA JACOB, Good Talk

BRANDY JENSEN, The Outline

LAURA JUNE, New York Magazine, The Verge

JONATHAN M. KATZ, Gangsters of Capitalism, The Racket

KIM KELLY, Teen Vogue, Fight Like Hell

MILES KLEE, Rolling Stone, MEL Magazine

SARAH LAMDAN, Data Cartels

JOE MACLEOD, Indignity

ARWA MAHDAWI, Guardian

COLIN MCGOWAN, RealGM, Sports Illustrated

ANNA MERLAN, Vice, Jezebel, Village Voice

DAVID MOORE, Sludge

DIANA MOSKOVITZ, Defector

TERRY NGUYEN, Vox, Dirt

HAMILTON NOLAN, Guardian, In These Times, The Hammer

OSITA NWANEVU, The New Republic, Guardian

LUKE O'NEIL, Welcome to Hell World, A Creature Wanting Form

YONI PORTUGALI, Poraz Books

DAVID J. ROTH, Defector

OLAJIDE SALAWU, OlongoAfrica

JOHN SAWARD, Mic, The Believer, Vice

TOM SCOCCA, Indignity

FAHAD SHAH, Guardian, The Nation

JULIANNE ESCOBEDO SHEPHERD, Pitchfork, Vogue

HARRY SIEGEL, FAQ NYC, Daily Beast, NY Daily News

JJ SKOLNIK, Bandcamp

GABRIEL SNYDER, The Fine Print, The New Republic, Gawker

SAM THIELMAN, Slate, The New Yorker

CLIVE THOMPSON, New York Times, Wired

KỌ́LÁ TÚBỌ̀SÚN, OlongoAfrica

SHIRLEY WANG, Brick House, NPR, 99 Percent Invisible

LAURIE WOOLEVER, Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography, World Travel

MARK YARM, Everybody Loves Our Town, Blender

The more money we can raise for FLAMING HYDRA, the better and stronger it will be. We greatly appreciate your help and support.

Donate here. Subscribe here. Give a gift subscription here. And contact us with questions, comments, or the odd observation here.

Here. This feed displays new pieces that are posted, up to the paywall.

Subscribers can get the full text of posts over RSS, a feature we added building on open-source code from the great folks at 404 Media and Outpost Publishers Coop.

Subscribers can sign in to Flaming Hydra in a web browser (for example, in the upper-right-hand corner of our homepage) and then visit their Account page (flaminghydra.com/account). There, they can find their special full-text RSS feed, which works in RSS readers. Questions welcome! Email: rss at flaminghydra dot com.