ALMOST REAL

ALMOST REAL: A Speculative Biology Zine returns with the ALL-NEW VOLUME 6 and a remastered collection of VOLUMES 1-5!

Back in the mid 2010s, illustrator and Runaway to the Stars creator Jay Eaton incepted the idea of hosting a speculative biology anthology: a small magazine collecting uniquely-made entries from pool of fellow artists and authors who loved all the possibility and creativity that the world of spec bio had to offer. Together with Hye Mardikian, their idea and collaboration brought forth ALMOST REAL: A SPECULATIVE BIOLOGY ZINE's first volume all the way back in 2017. 

In 2018, we took to the skies with our second volume FLIGHT. Volume 3 took you under the waves with AQUATICS, Volume 4 introduced all sorts of inventions from BIOTECHNOLOGY, and legends came to life in from Volume 5's MYTHOLOGY.

Now, in 2026, we RETURN: featuring our sixth volume with 12 new entries all about POP CULTURE and a remastered omnibus of BOOK 1 that collects all 5 of our previous, some out-of-print issues, and we need YOUR HELP to print these books and pay our artists!

Sign up now to be notified the moment we drop!

Something ✨🌿speculative 🌿✨ is coming this summer …

Almost Real Vol. 5 has reached all its stretch goal tiers and has THREE DAYS LEFT before its campaign ends Thursday 6 • 16 at 9AM PST!

Free itslittletunny sticker sheets, 6x9″ prints of our cover critter’s patch design, and artist bonuses for all: what’s better than this?! 

Almost Real: A Speculative Biology Zine’s 5th Volume all about mythology has passed its second stretch goal! 

Thanks to your help and pledges, every backer at the “CONFOUNDING CREATURES” tier and up will have a FREE complimentary 8.5x11″ sticker sheet of our issue’s entries drawn by campaign guest artist @itslittletunny!

Barely over 24 hours and Almost Real is sitting at over 50% FUNDED with 200+ backers!

We can’t thank you enough for your support already! 😭✨Check us out today to see our campaign previews, artist roster, stretch goals, and MORE: only on Zoop.gg!

🦄✨Almost Real: A Speculative Biology Zine Vol. 5 (BIOTECHNOLOGY) is now LIVE on Zoop.gg! ✨🦄

Legends new and old come to life in Almost Real’s fifth mythological volume, powered by our contributors’ speculative imaginations.

> CONTRIBUTOR LIST <

✨🌿🦄Almost Real: A Speculative Biology Zine (Vol. 5 - MYTHOLOGY) launches May 16th on ZOOP! 🦾🌿✨

Legends old and new come to life with Almost Real’s fifth volume; bringing a dozen speculative entries examining all sorts of fantastical creatures!

Head to Twitter to see the full announcement thread and extended sneak peeks from the @FortunaMedias account, but for now: mark your calendars and save the date for Almost Real’s 5th installment on the Kickstarter-alternative platform Zoop: a crowdfunding site dedicated entirely to comics and graphic novels (without the pledge to blockchain)!

Our contributors for Volume 5:

Laura Wilson (twitter: @LauraMakesArt)

Sophie Morse | SOPHARIUM (twitter: @Sopharium)

October Seagrave (twitter: @Zoophagous)

Kory Bing (twitter: @KoryBing)

Bree Paulsen (twitter: @breebird33)

CrabdominalPain (twitter: @CrabdominalPain)

Shirley Jackson | LIONINTHETREES (twitter: @LionintheTrees)

E. “Papermonkey” Jokinen (twitter: @Paperiapina)

Genystar (twitter: @GGenystar)

GEN H. | PAPAYAYA (twitter: @_papayaya)

Lonnie Garcia (twitter: @Sixgilis)

Cy (twitter: @TheCydork)

Iben Krutt (twitter: @IbenKrutt) (cover artist)

Mar Spragge (twitter: @ParasiteBeans) & Puzzled Jay Productions (insert poster)

We’ll see you May 16th with another legendary volume of Almost Real: A Speculative Biology Zine!

Almost Real’s 4th Volume, all about Biotechnology, has come to a close!  🤖🌿🎉

We ended on an incredible three stretch goals broken (with two of those being well-deserved artist bonuses for all involved contributors!) None of this would’ve been possible without our artist’s imaginations and our backer’s support, and thanks again for helping us make Almost Real... real!

Check out the Kickstarter update here with more info, watch for backer surveys going out in mid-May, and we’ll see you soon!

DAWN OF THE FINAL DAY For Almost Real’s 4th Volume- All about BIOTECHNOLOGY! 🤖🌿

Back us before time runs out (and to see if we can’t break our 3rd stretch goal of a 2nd Artist Bonus for all contributors)!

Almost Real: A Speculative Biology Zine VOL 4 (BIOTECHNOLOGY) is ENTERING ITS FINAL HOURS! Sticker Sheet Stretch Goal Unlocked! 🤖🌿✨

Ending on Monday April 19th at 12PM (PDT), we'll be closing out Almost Real's 4th Kickstarter! Since our last update, we broke our 2nd stretch goal of free 8.5x11" sticker sheets illustrated by V Swain if you're a backer of the SCANNED BLUEPRINTS tier and up!

As it says on the battery, our next stretch  goal is our 2nd artist bonus for contributors at $24,000! We'd be more than thrilled at the idea of paying our contributors as much as we can, so get your last minute pledges and/or adjustments in before Monday.

FINAL WEEK for Almost Real Vol. 4! First Stretch Goal Reached!

Our Kickstarter has officially started its last week, formally ending on April 19th at 12PM PDT! Thank you all so much for your rousing support to put us at our goal already- your pledges mean the world to us creating this corner of spec bio, and we hope you enjoy what biotechnological wonders our contributors have to offer. 

In other exciting news: in the wee hours of the morning, we hit our first stretch goal of $19,500, which means 💰 artist bonuses 💰 for all our contributors!

Our next goal will be at $21,000, in which we'll have V Swain illustrate us an 8.5"x11" sticker sheet featuring every design from the entry! And after that? Another artist bonus at $24,000, so let's see how much we can crank out in our final week!