Drawn Through the Telephone

Answer the phone to our free original zine!

Drawn Through the Telephone, a 175 page zine where artists, writers, and musicians re-interpret prompts based on mystery sources, is out now! Our creators didn't know which stories they were reimagining when they started, but now it's time to reveal all - with some unexpected answers in store.

The zine (and music tracks) are free to download on itch right now.

Happy five year anniversary to Vinegar Zines!

To celebrate, we've put together an anthology of relationship horror. Fourteen writers look at the bad, sad, and horrific side of love through stories, poetry, and comics. ❤️

We're looking for your writing about the horror of relationships!

Vinegar Zines is turning five years old this April 1st, and to celebrate we'll be putting together an anthology with your stories of something going horribly wrong in happy ever afters. Stalkers, loss, possession, loneliness, violence, and tears. We want it all!

We want finished original fiction - short stories, poems, comics, etc.

We'll be awarding the paid Vinegar Zines From the Eisel Short Fiction Award for 2026 to one piece from the anthology. Get published, potentially win a literary award!

FAQS / Submit

Consider yourself cordially invited...

Want to be part of a classic murder mystery? Vinegar Zines is seeking writers and artists to build a story set in 1930s Britain in the style of traditional golden age crime fiction. Contributors will be creating their own suspects and playing out a killer story!

We're looking for your writing about the horror of relationships!

Vinegar Zines is turning five years old this April 1st, and to celebrate we'll be putting together an anthology with your stories of something going horribly wrong in happy ever afters. Stalkers, loss, possession, loneliness, violence, and tears. We want it all!

We want finished original fiction - short stories, poems, comics, etc.

We'll be awarding the paid Vinegar Zines From the Eisel Short Fiction Award for 2026 to one piece from the anthology. Get published, potentially win a literary award!

FAQS / Submit

Consider yourself cordially invited...

Want to be part of a classic murder mystery? Vinegar Zines is seeking writers and artists to build a story set in 1930s Britain in the style of traditional golden age crime fiction. Contributors will be creating their own suspects and playing out a killer story!

A short [scene from] an imaginary play I produced as part of the 'Drawn Through the Telephone' zine in July 2025. I rather liked the end result here.

The conceit of the zine was to produce writing, art, and music in response to prompts that were ambigous explanations of existing published works. I had a lot of fun working on it!

The prompt was: "A "A distant father leaves behind a complicated inheritance, and his children immediately begin fighting over the terms and conditions." I thought it might have been King Lear at first...but I was rather surprised by what it turned out to be! I'll include it at the end of this post.

“Wise Children”

CAST

ALEX WINTHROP- to be played by an MTF actor. Thinnish, long hair, feminine presenting. Spiky and guarded.

ROBIN WINTHROP- to be played by an FTM actor. Rangy, shortish hair, dressed-down. Feels like he’s the one in charge.

SAM WINTHROP- to be played by a cis male actor. Rather unkempt, but clearly comfortable in his own skin. A Bohemian type.

[Curtain opens on a large drawing room, dressed in the slightly austere fashions of a nebulous by-gone time. It would be suitable to introduce deliberate anachronism among the set dressing; for instance, a large, 1950s black and white set with a distinctly modern DVD player installed beneath. The audience ought to be unsure if; this play is set in our times, and the owner of the house is doing it for the aesthetic, or it’s deliberately muddled.]

[ALEX and ROBIN are both seated on overstuffed armchairs. SAM is standing up, immersed in the contents of a cellular device.]

ALEX: Read it again.

ROBIN: I don’t think it’ll help, much.

ALEX: Go on. Indulge me.

[ROBIN unfolds the paper in his hands with a theatrical little snap]

ROBIN: [Slowly and clearly] I, Marvin Winthrop, being of sound mind and body, do hereby leave my estate entire to my favourite son. [Shuts the paper again with a little snap.]

ALEX: And that is it? You didn’t turn over two pages, nothing’s been mislaid-

ROBIN: Yes, quite sure. I telephoned Mr. Waxcomb directly and he assured me. That’s all he wrote.

ALEX: Well. That’s us in a pretty pickle.

ROBIN: Quite. [A pause]. This- this will sound silly-

ALEX: Go on.

ROBIN: -but are we quite sure he was aware of…well, what we’d done?

ALEX: You can say ‘transition,’ you know. It isn’t a crime. [Darkly] Well, not yet.

ROBIN: Well, that we’d *both* transitioned, then. You know how Father was.

ALEX: He had to know. He must have been aware. I posted a picture in the family group chat. Flags and everything. Hardest thing I ever did, but, well. He saw it. He reacted to it, even.

ROBIN: What was that reaction?

SAM: [Without missing a step] A ‘shocked’ emoji.

[The other siblings look at him in surprise]

ALEX: Are you sure? I could have sworn it was ‘disgust’…

SAM: Father wouldn’t have expressed himself anywhere like as clearly as that. It was all a game to him. Otherwise he’d have said something.

ROBIN:  Sam’s right. he didn’t say anything. No further comment. [Pause] You might have paid him a visit, you know.

ALEX: How was I supposed to after that?

ROBIN: *I* did. He seemed alright with me.

ALEX: Alright enough to have started referring to you as ‘son?’

ROBIN: It’s…ah, it’s hard to say. Maybe. He did ask if I would take some dresses back with me-

ALEX: Ah-ha!

SAM: [Mildly] No call for that, sis. We’re not in a Victorian melodrama.

[ALEX reddens]

ROBIN: I assumed he meant would I take them back for Daisy, you know, the girl who does the cleaning. It didn’t cross my mind that he might have meant… [gravely] me.

SAM: [Gently] How do you know he didn’t mean Alex?

ROBIN: I beg your pardon?

SAM: He might. Look, we both know that Alex was his favourite.

ALEX: His favourite little boy.

SAM: Yes, I do remember him saying that, actually. [With sadness] He never said that to me, you know.

ROBIN: Well, look, we both know that the will Father left didn’t mean you, Sam. No- [He means to say ‘no offence,’ but leaves it a little too late]

SAM: [jumping in, angry] Do we really, Rob? You’ve decided that, have you? Just as you’ve apparently decided the old man was keen to pop down to Stonewall and throw a rock at the nearest copper?

ROBIN: Don’t take that tone with me, Sam.

SAM: I’ll take whatever bloody tone I like. You’ve been standing here discussing, and you haven’t given me any thought at all!

ALEX: Well, Sam…you did have that screaming row with Daddy-

SAM: It wasn’t a row. A discussion.

ROBIN: Yes. A discussion that left a mark in the skirting board an inch deep, and left Father one Wedgewood set poorer.

SAM: He wasn’t too keen on discussing things properly.

ALEX: Too true. Remind me…how long had it been since you spoke with him?

SAM: [ashamed] Fifteen years.

ROBIN: Well, that rather settles it.

SAM: Are you sure? Perhaps by favourite son he meant the son who had the good sense to sod off while the sodding was good.

ROBIN: Look, this isn’t getting us anywhere. Father’s legal people are going to pester me nonstop until we get this sorted. So we have to at least agree-

ALEX: [Glumly] I feel as though the matter’s already decided.

SAM: I’m not surprised. Alex, you always do this. Can’t you for once assume that the old man had his heart in the right place?

ROBIN: I’m sure he did. Like I say, he always seemed alright with me…

ALEX: There’s a key word in that sentence, brother. Rhymes with ‘preened.’ [ROBIN takes a second to work this one out] And that’s the issue, isn’t it? No hard evidence, no testimony, nothing. Just a sentence to decide our father’s will. So, I’m going to ask you all outright. What ought we to do?

[The siblings are silent for a moment- long enough that the audience ought to get a sense of their discomfort. Then, all at once, SAM breaks the silence.]

SAM: Got it. [He fumbles with his phone.] I’ll ask Echo.

ROBIN: Oh come on now-

ALEX: [At almost the same time] That’s not a real solution, Sam-

SAM [ignoring them]: Echo, please tell me- who was Marvin Winthrop’s favourite son?

[He squints at the phone screen.]

It- ah- it says it was…

ROBIN: Well?

SAM: …someone called Alan. [He is clearly shocked by this ‘revelation’]

ROBIN: [A tad unsure] Are you- is it suggesting that Father-

SAM: [Excitedly] It’s not out of the question, is it? It says Alan was an English mathematician who… [He goes silent]

ROBIN: Who what?

SAM: [Sheepish] …who is considered the father of theoretical…er…computer science.

ALEX: I think I know what happened there. Daddy always was an admirer of Turing. Wasn’t there some speech he gave where he mentioned…

SAM: Yes. Right, well that’s me out of ideas.

[There is a silence while the three digest this, broken eventually by ROBIN]

ROBIN: Well, we’ve asked the oracles. Now who is there left to ask?

ALEX: That’s just it. There isn’t anyone.

ROBIN: Now now, sis, don’t fret. There are angles here we haven’t considered, I’m sure. What of Father’s confidants?

ALEX: Unlikely that any of them discussed this with him. Remember? I bumped into that business partner of his, and when he’d quite finished leering, he told me that as far as he was aware Daddy didn’t *have* any daughters.

ROBIN: Children, wasn’t it?

ALEX: Yes, you’re right. No children at all. And this from a man who had attended all three of our christenings, it later transpired.

ROBIN: What? But-

ALEX: Apparently he thought they were product launches. But I think that story rather proves the point, don’t you?

ROBIN: Then I suppose it rests with us.

ALEX: It does?

ROBIN: Yes. We simply decide who we feel Father meant, and award accordingly.

ALEX: So you’re saying my choices are to decide for myself how Father felt about me, honestly, or to let you do it? So I essentially choose between…interpretation or negotiation?

ROBIN: [By now a little exasperated] Well, there isn’t any other choice. Unless you fancy trying your hand at necromancy?

ALEX: Don’t be flippant about this. It’s perfectly all right for *you*.

ROBIN: How d’you mean?

ALEX: Don’t be dense. If you’re the favourite, then Daddy accepted you for who you are.

ROBIN: Well, what exactly do you want?

ALEX: More than anything I just want to know, now. Damn it all, Daddy. Why couldn’t you have just used our names?

SAM: [Has been quite quiet, but now interjects] I mean…perhaps he forgot them. I mean, I shouldn’t put it past him.

[Despite herself, Alex snorts with laughter at this, and R]

ROBIN: Quite.

SAM: Didn’t he refer to me as ‘Sandra’ once?

ALEX: Yes! We all wondered if that was his secretary’s name.

ROBIN: Oh, Father…

[The tension notably eases. Robin crosses to the desk, while ALEX sits nearer SAM.]

Well. I shall need to tell the lawyers something.

ALEX: I suspect we’ll be debating the terms and conditions for some time to come.

ROBIN: I suppose that will just about do it…

[Robin picks up the telephone and dials, as he goes to answer the lights fade]

END OF SCENE

Seeking submissions for an original writing anthology zine about the dark side of nostalgia! Deadline 27/09.

Full FAQ available here.

Submit your work here.

Any type of nostalgia is welcome. Maybe it involves the internet. Maybe it’s about a book, a game, a video tape. Maybe it’s about your childhood friends and the town you grew up in and the family you no longer speak to. Maybe it’s how things felt before that one big world event, and maybe it’s all a locked room regardless of how soft the carpet feels against your cheek. Think of this as speculative fiction for people who are too tired to speculate.

Seeking submissions for an original writing anthology zine about the dark side of nostalgia! Deadline 27/09.

Full FAQ available here.

Submit your work here.

Any type of nostalgia is welcome. Maybe it involves the internet. Maybe it’s about a book, a game, a video tape. Maybe it’s about your childhood friends and the town you grew up in and the family you no longer speak to. Maybe it’s how things felt before that one big world event, and maybe it’s all a locked room regardless of how soft the carpet feels against your cheek. Think of this as speculative fiction for people who are too tired to speculate.

Time Worn // Weary // Wilting

Now that Drawn Through the Telephone is out and available for download, I wanted to share the poem that I wrote for this zine! I usually opt to join the art team when I work on zines, but for this one, I chose to join the writing team to challenge myself to write to a prompt. And it was so much fun! I'm really proud of what I wrote, and thankful to the writing mods for helping me to refine the piece.

More spot art from @telephonezine!

Spot art pieces from @telephonezine!

Can you guess by looking what films / games / books these pieces were inspired by? Probably not, haha.

Seeking submissions for an original writing anthology zine about the dark side of nostalgia! Deadline 27/09.

Full FAQ available here.

Submit your work here.

Any type of nostalgia is welcome. Maybe it involves the internet. Maybe it’s about a book, a game, a video tape. Maybe it’s about your childhood friends and the town you grew up in and the family you no longer speak to. Maybe it’s how things felt before that one big world event, and maybe it’s all a locked room regardless of how soft the carpet feels against your cheek. Think of this as speculative fiction for people who are too tired to speculate.

Drawn Through the Telephone!

Bought to you by @vinegarzines , Drawn Through the Telephone is a collaborative zine full of wonderful art and writing, and other media contributions!

This zine is a telephone style zine, where prompts were given and interpreted, and source material was revealed at the end. This was so, so much fun to work on, and I'm very proud of my contribution!

This zine is free and available for digital download, and you can get it on Vinegar Zines Itchio page! Do check it out because it's a wonderful project!