THE WHOLE McSWEENEY’S PERIODICAL FAMILY (COMBO SUBSCRIPTION)

$195.00 $175.00
Giving this combo subscription as a gift? Click here to download an official printable PDF gift notice.

This is the combo subscription for The Believer, McSweeney’s Quarterly, and Illustoria magazine. To subscribe to any of these on their own, or for multiple variations thereof, click here.

“Ever shape-shifting and ambitious, McSweeney’s has redefined what a literary institution can be.”
—Catherine Lacey

“There are few examples in publishing that equal the care and inventiveness McSweeney’s offers their readers—the industry at large should take note.”
—Bookends and Beginnings, Evanston, IL

“Brilliant and always surprising.”
—Detroit Free Press

We love periodicals. You love periodicals. We could all use periodicals. Available to all for the first time, get all three of the official McSweeney’s-published periodicals in one compact (and economically-priced) subscription bundle: three issues of Illustoria, four issues of McSweeney’s Quarterly, and four issues of The Believer magazine.

From the newly resurrected, twelve-time National Magazine Award finalist Believer magazine; to the always cutting-edge, form-shattering, and award-winning behemoth that is McSweeney’s Quarterly; to the beloved imagination- and inspiration-inciting Illustoria (named a best gift for kids by the New York Times three years and running); satisfy every reader in your life and keep the unforgettable and award-winning content coming all year long.

Readers will receive::

Illustoria #26: Blue
Welcome to the blue Issue! Explore the many hues and moods of this fascinating color, with cover art by Isabelle Arsenault—made with a cyanotype print process using sunlight to create turquoise tints.

Learn how to make blue ink from copper pennies and a slurp-tastic blue Slime Drink with Dog Chef (Illustoria’s in-house celebrity cook). Try a blue-themed fill-in-the-blank writing game, and capture wild ideas in your own story-planning diagram. Learn about dangerous blue creatures like the popevine swallowtail butterfly and the blue dragon sea slug. Read myths about how the sky became blue, written by young authors around the globe. Check out interviews with our cover artist and an ink-maker from Toronto.

Find all this plus ponder how blue feels with our guest poet; revel in all the shades of blue: azure, indigo, cobalt, and ultramarine; find blue-hued music, book, and art supply recommendations from Illustoria’s staff and contributing artists; and that’s just the tip of the (blue) iceberg!

The Believer Issue 149
In our 149th issue: Kristin Keane explores the surprising intimacies and revelations of the animal web cam; Eskor David Johnson revisits Trinidad and Tobago’s brief but fateful coup led by Abu Bakr in the summer of 1990; Joel Whitney chronicles novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s imprisonment at the Buru Island “Humanitarian Project,” an Indonesian labor camp for communist sympathizers; and photographer Adalena Kavanagh stops by a small New York City establishment that offers portraits taken by a peculiar piece of hand-sensing technology. We also have interviews with writer Suzanne Scanlon; legendary actor Delroy Lindo; book publisher Lisa Lucas; and Fargo series creator Noah Hawley who speaks to actor Jason Schwartzman about Moog synths, Alien’s class consciousness, and his entrepreneurial approach to Hollywood.

You’ll also find a brand-new two-page poem by Ocean Vuong, Aria Aber’s late-night writing routine, Chris Gayomali on the transcendence of “Like a G6,” and Carrie Brownstein on the plight of the baby-faced professional. In addition to all this, these pages—perfectly bound for your readerly pleasure—feature games, book reviews, lyrical verse dedicated to poorly executed films, a meditation on Joey Lawrence’s sartorial impact, and still more.

McSweeney’s Issue 77
Three-time National Magazine Award-winning McSweeney’s Quarterly returns, now helmed by new Editor Rita Bullwinkel. Inside this ecstatic paperback you’ll find a stunningly exuberant and delirious portfolio of paintings by former Quarterly Editor Claire Boyle, and new work by seventeen writers. Gasp in awe at a story by Mieko Kawakami told entirely through the lens of overheard phone calls; a sci-fi epic by Yuri Herrera; fresh, heartstopping, and scathingly beautiful prose by Venita Blackburn, Joanna Howard, and Icarus Koh—a never-before-published fiction writer; and brilliant letters from Nell Zink, Jennifer S. Cheng, Elisa Gonzalez, and more! Get through the winter blues with this issue’s vibrating, radiant, maximalist energy and stand squarely in opposition to the literary vogue de jour of cold, minimalist austerity.

McSweeney’s 78: The Maker Believers
In McSweeney’s 78: The Make Believers (guest edited by Thi Bui and Vu Tran), ten writers of the Vietnamese diaspora write from the eclectic hodgepodge that is their shared imagination of what it means to be “Vietnamese.” Packaged in a beautiful foil-stamped cigar box (with art by Bui on each and every surface), and including two booklets, one menu, and a glossary of broken Vietnamese, the work in this issue spans from highbrow to lowbrow, proper to naughty, logical to absurd, and painful to funny. Published on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, its contributors work across perspectives and multiple languages. In this completely singular, nothing-else-of-its-kind anthology, these artists write (and illustrate!) from a place of collective loss and joy.

And then?

Keep a watchful eye on your mailbox as you wait for two more issues of McSweeney’s Quarterly , three more issues of The Believer, and two more issues of Illustoria. The future is full of surprises, but one guarantee is more literary wonderment that McSweeney’s readers have come to expect over nearly a quarter century.

IMPORTANT LOGISTICAL INFORMATION: This is a one time combo price, all subscriptions to McSweeney’s Quarterly automatically renew after four issues, at 15% off the price of a regular sub (currently $80.75), while Believer subscriptions renew after four issues at a price of $51, and Illustoria after three issues at a price of $40. In the event of any future rate changes, we will notify you via email. If you’d like to cancel any of the three subscription at any time prior to its auto-renewal, you can log in to your account and adjust your subscription settings. Or send an email to custservice@mcsweeneys.net with the subject lines “End Quarterly Renew,” “End Believer Renew,” “End Illustoria Renew,” or “End Family Renew” depending on your desires. Refunds will be accepted only up until the first issue of your renewal is shipped. All subscriptions placed by April 10, 2025, will begin with McSweeney’s Issue 77, Illustoria #26: Blue, and The Believer Issue 149. Any subscription purchased with the “gift” option marked at checkout will not be enrolled in autorenew.

International shipping costs for the full eleven-publication combo subscription: $75

For Issues 1-8 of Illustoria, and to keep up on the latest news and blog updates, visit Illustoria.com.

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