Queerly Yours
Queerly Yours is a Yu-Gi-Oh! zine by adults and for adults about characters that have grown up and are experiencing their identities in a new light. There are not many Yu-Gi-Oh! zines that focus on a mature audience, even though the fandom has many older fans that have been here for years. We all see ourselves to varying degrees in the characters we love and we believe there is value in a project that lets us have them grow like we have. Queerness is something that doesn’t stop when we get older, in fact the majority of our life as queer people takes place after we enter adulthood. This zine seeks to highlight grown up queer characters doing grown up queer things, whether that’s getting married, hooking up on Grindr, medically transitioning…that part is up to our contributors to bring to the pages!We’ll be donating our proceeds to Lambda Legal, an organization that helps make the United States legally safer for those who are queer and/or living with HIV.
Meet the Mods
REDAC || Art and Team Lead
@akabirdie || He/they
My name is REDAC and this is my third time modding a zine, second time as an art mod, second time leading a project like this. Queerness is important to us as a DID system. You know that joke that’s like, “This character is LGBT” “What, all at once?”? That’s us. We are the character that is LGBT+ all at once.
We really love Yu-Gi-Oh! and being queer and all we’ve been through as an adult, and we wanted to marry that all together into this project. We can’t wait to get people together to make this zine.
Flame || Writing and Organisation
@the-kings-of-games || He/they
I’m Flame, old time fic writer, YGO newcomer. You might know me from other YGO zines such as Heart & Soul, Connected, and Sideline✰Stars. I very much look forward to working with the YGO fandom once again because I personally know that it's full of highly skilled and passionate fans—some of whom I now consider my friends so I hope to see you soon!
Jenivi7 || Finance and Social Media
@jenivi7 || She/her
Hiya! This is Jenivi7, your social media mod, finance mod and fandom old lady! I started writing YGO fanfiction back when Play the Damn Card was still a thing on Livejournal and Yugioh Abridged had just started its second season. One of my favorite things about modern fandom though is zine culture! It's so much fun to see art and writing come together in a physical form. This is the second zine I’ve modded for and, as an older bisexual woman, am super excited to see how everyone interprets all my favorite characters as adults doing adult queer things!
Noble Bear || Layout and Graphics
@noblebearart || He/him
Good friends, good art, good pizza —and bears!
(Noble Bear is a professional illustrator and graphic designer and has experience laying out book covers as well.)
Zex || Shipping
@michio_mokota || She/her
Coming Soon(Zex has done the shipping for a number of zines in the past, and has experience shipping to many countries around the world.)
Aideryn || Merch
@AiderynDdraig || They/them
Hello! I’m Aideryn and I’m your merch mod and local funky lil guy! I’ve been a contributor for a fair amount of zines these past couple years and have been a mod on a few too! I grew up watching YGO and as a queer adult this zine means a lot to me. I can’t wait to work with you all to make a great project!
FAQ
What is this zine?Queerly Yours is a Yu-Gi-Oh! zine focused on queer adult experiences. It is a project for adults by adults.Queer is a slur!Queer is no more a slur than any other term for queer identities, and it has long been reclaimed. The push to not use it is rooted in radical feminism. It is the only term that is both inherently inclusive and enshrined in the community’s history. If this answer does not satisfy you, this zine is not for you, and that’s okay.What kind of content are you looking for/will be included?Content types: Art, comics, fiction, and poetry will be allowed.Series: Season 0/Duel Monsters through VRAINSThemes: Put simply, we’re looking for queer experiences of adult queers. This can and should be interpreted broadly! We would love to have content reflecting a range of identities. Ages depicted must range from early adulthood to late adulthood, and therefore, all characters included must be depicted/written as adults if they are not already of age.Both SFW and NSFW are allowed, and ships are welcome.What will not be included?We will restrict graphic/explicit abuse and trauma depictions. Trauma relevant to the theme is allowed, but it should not be heavily detailed. We want to keep the zine relatively positive in tone.Pride flags are welcomed as supplemental details.Why are you allowing NSFW?Adulthood is messy, and not easily sanitized. We believe it shouldn’t be. NSFW depictions are meant to capture the theme in full by elaborating on aspects of adult queerness.NSFW works will be portioned in the second portion of the zine.Who can participate in this zine?Those who are 18 and over. We greatly encourage queer (or LGBT+ if you prefer) creators to participate.Anyone under the age of 18 caught lying to participate in the zine will be blocked and removed from any related servers.Our policyWe employ the “No Harassment” rule; contributors caught breaking the rule on the zine Discord, or publicly found to be encouraging or perpetuating harassment, will be promptly blocked. There are no exceptions to this rule, and will also apply to the mods. By applying as a contributor, you agree to follow this policy.In addition, we understand wanting to keep one’s privacy so we are more than happy to allow contributors to be credited anonymously.Why specifically adult issues?Yu-Gi-Oh! is over 20 years old (the first episode of DM first released in 1998), and so many of its fans are now adults. Adult experiences are not often central in many fan projects, much less queer adult experiences. So this project was born, simply because we are adults who love Yu-Gi-Oh! and who want to give adult experience in the spotlight for once.Tell us about the charity of choice.Lambda Legal is committed to achieving the full recognition of civil rights for LGBT+ adults and those living with HIV. We encourage you to learn more on their website here.I have a question/I have a suggestion/I would like to address a concern about inclusivity of participants or content.We would love to help you. Please send an ask to our Tumblr or an email. Both are linked in the icons at the bottom of the page.
Schedule
Mod apps: 05/01-05/21
Contributor Apps: 06/01-06/30
Emails Send: 07/07
Contributor Confirmation Due: 07/13
1st check-in: 07/27
2nd check-in: 09/28
3rd check-in: 12/07
Final submission: 12/14
Preorders: Jan 2023
Release: June 2023