An Illustrated Guide for Unhinged Times

Every day, it gets more unhinged.

From tech giants pushing AI at the expense of humanity to military commanders bracing U.S. troops for the return of Jesus as the Middle East unravels, I don't know how much more evidence we need that our government no longer cares about us, if they ever did. In fact, it looks more and more like they're trying to ignite some kind of apocalypse. They want to start doomsday early. We have enough receipts.

With that, I'd like to announce a few things. First, you can go here and order the beta version of our illustrated survival guide.

It's printed and spiral-bound.

Before you order:

That's the most recent version of the guide. I've added a table of contents and a few other important things, including a Creative Commons license.

I'm doing this for several reasons. First, printing costs have gone up significantly. So if you want to take this guide somewhere to have it printed and bound, you should be able to do that under this license. You officially have my permission.

I just ask one thing in return:

If you haven't, please support my work.

You might be able to find a way to print this guide cheaper than ordering it online. And btw, I only make a couple of bucks for each hard copy anyway. So it really doesn't matter to me at this point what you do. I'm not interested in becoming a millionaire bestselling author (not anymore). That's not my path. I'm interested in making a living, and surviving, and for me, it has always worked best when I give first.

Another reason:

A few publishers have come to me asking to collaborate on this project. They're international, based in Canada, Europe, and the UK. Many readers outside the U.S. have wanted a more internationalized version, and I can't think of a better way than to let these small publishers build their own teams to adapt this guide for international contexts. The best and most expedient way for us to do that, I think, is to put this guide under creative commons and let the world have at it.

(Just give me due credit.)

I'm following up with publishers this week. If you're a small, independent publisher and you want to start a Survival Illustrated project, tell me. I'll send you the InDesign file. You can support me back however you want.

There's another reason I'm doing this:

You know, back in November, I had no idea what I was going to do next. I figured I would preside over the slow demise of this newsletter and try to find some kind of job to keep things afloat. Then I got the idea for this guide, and readers stepped up with support. And then the AKET Fund stepped in, and it made a huge difference. That tells me my future lies in that direction, giving first.

Like millions of others, I've certainly struggled over the last few years, but one thing has held true. Enough people have come together to help me that I'm doing okay. When I offer my work to the world, the world has generally paid it back and paid it forward. There's no shortage of selfish jerks out there, and I encounter them every week. But they're not the majority. That's what matters.

I've wondered if I'm rushing it, and I don't think so. Like I said, the work continues no matter how many versions we publish. I've been doing the research for this guide for almost two years now. It took me nearly three years to learn Blender, the main design software I've been using. I mean, look at this thing:

I'm proud of what we've accomplished here, and it's going to keep going. It doesn't matter if I become an electrician in the process. It doesn't matter what batsheet crazy wars our government starts next. We're going to keep at it.

As long as we can.

Let me know what you think.

Take care,

Jessica