O R B I T A L

A Queer Gaining & Encouraging Publication

[orbitalzine]

Hello Gainerverse! The Orbital editorial team has a quick survey to share with our community. It’s been two years since we first started working on the Orbital Zine celebrating different perspectives in the queer gainer and encourager scene. We’re immensely proud of the two issues we’ve published so far. As we begin work on Issue 3, we’d like to get to know our readers, contributors, and potential editorial team members a bit better, and gather some feedback on what we've done well and how we can improve. We’ve prepared a short survey for each of these three audiences - if you’ve engaged with Orbital in the past or would like to in the future, please take a few minutes to share your thoughts.

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We’re back again to share new perspectives on gaining, encouraging, and the admiration of larger bodies. Following our first issue on, well, Firsts, we wanted to take some time this year to focus on the elements of Play familiar to gainers and encouragers.

Playfulness speaks to an often underrepresented side of this community. Playing freely invites - perhaps demands - a temporary reprieve from stigma and shame. It asks the player to be imaginative, to be transgressive, and to explore all that there is, has been, and may someday come to be. Whether collaborating with others based on shared rules or playing by (and with) oneself, we take this space to celebrate it all.

The works in this issue feature pixelated characters that first sparked an interest in expansive bellies, proposals to incorporate G&E themes in tabletop and video games, reflections on playing and performing in larger bodies, and a retrospective on games held by Fat Men’s Clubs in New England at the turn of the 20th century. We also offer a fictional account that plays with time and possibilities, as well as a new interactive Twine game that explores the way games and weight can form new, intimate bonds.

We’re glad you came to play with us and hope you have fun!

The Orbital Team

Read both our published issues at orbitalzine.com

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Incoming Transmission: We Have Lift-off!

Orbital Issue 1 has now launched into the gainerverse - we're excited to share the work of all who contributed in this issue.  To view or download on a laptop or mobile device, click here.

[orbitalzine]

Incoming transmission – Launching soon

Our initial exploration of the gainerverse is nearly complete. We hope the results of our mission have been worth the wait. 

We’ve set a launch date of September 10, 2021. Next Friday, you’ll finally be able to read Orbital Issue 1. 

For now, we want to share our cover design. It’s a shot of our fat-stronaut, already in orbit. Start the countdown!

[orbitalzine]

A new transmission from Orbital! This week, we’re looking for your best (worst) gainer/encourager puns. We know you’ve got some XLent ones, some real gut-busters.

STUFF OUR INBOX HERE

What’s Orbital? A queer gaining & encouraging zine! Find out more at www.orbitalzine.com

[orbitalzine]

You don’t have to serve us a feast to get published in Orbital. We’ve got some snack-sized prompts for you too, like this one. SHARE YOUR MILESTONE in a sentence or two.

What’s Orbital? A queer gaining & encouraging zine! Find out more at www.orbitalzine.com

[orbitalzine]

Welcome to ORBITAL, a new queer gaining and encouraging zine. We are a digital zine of curated community content and are currently open for submissions!

www.orbitalzine.com

Check out the website for more information. Want to contribute to Issue #1? Our submissions are open until May 31.

Why Orbital? We think the word speaks to our love of all things massive, bodies that give off their own gravitational pull. And we want this publication to be a place we can all gather round and share stories, art, essays, and other work reflecting the whole galaxy of gainer/encourager experience.