Paper Airplane magazine
@paperairplane.pub
The grown-up version of the magazines you loved as a kid—fun, fascinating, uncynical, and human. No ads. No A.I. PaperAirplane.pub
Pinned
#PaperAirplane is here!
It’s the grown-up version of the magazines you loved as a kid.
Writing, games, comics, photos, art, and activities by a dream team of contributors.
No cynicism.
No ads.
No A.I.
Available exclusively at PaperAirplane.pub by donating to support refugees and immigrants.
It’s the grown-up version of the magazines you loved as a kid.
Writing, games, comics, photos, art, and activities by a dream team of contributors.
No cynicism.
No ads.
No A.I.
Available exclusively at PaperAirplane.pub by donating to support refugees and immigrants.
Editorial meetings can get intense but later we snuggle.
November 7, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Editorial meetings can get intense but later we snuggle.
Interview with Laid Off!
laid0ff.substack.com/p/laid-off-a...
laid0ff.substack.com/p/laid-off-a...
Laid Off: And Launching an Indie Magazine
"In my experience, traditional digital media roles aren’t super jump-back-intoable right now."
laid0ff.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Interview with Laid Off!
laid0ff.substack.com/p/laid-off-a...
laid0ff.substack.com/p/laid-off-a...
“The exact opposite of doomscrolling.”
This is how I like to describe the magazine, but I’m curious—what parts of your life feel like that to you?
For me, most of them have to do with creativity and simple pleasures.
This is how I like to describe the magazine, but I’m curious—what parts of your life feel like that to you?
For me, most of them have to do with creativity and simple pleasures.
October 10, 2025 at 5:07 PM
“The exact opposite of doomscrolling.”
This is how I like to describe the magazine, but I’m curious—what parts of your life feel like that to you?
For me, most of them have to do with creativity and simple pleasures.
This is how I like to describe the magazine, but I’m curious—what parts of your life feel like that to you?
For me, most of them have to do with creativity and simple pleasures.
We're so close—help us get over the finish line!
Support refugees. Get a magazine.
Nick Norlen’s Paper Airplane is raising $10K for USCRI—and we’re just $2,500 away.
Donate now and get the debut issue FREE: PaperAirplane.pub
Nick Norlen’s Paper Airplane is raising $10K for USCRI—and we’re just $2,500 away.
Donate now and get the debut issue FREE: PaperAirplane.pub
September 30, 2025 at 5:16 PM
We're so close—help us get over the finish line!
I just nominated Paper Airplane’s lead article, “The Shape of Color” by @korystamper.bsky.social, for next year’s Best American Science & Nature Writing! Here’s a preview.
September 30, 2025 at 4:11 PM
I just nominated Paper Airplane’s lead article, “The Shape of Color” by @korystamper.bsky.social, for next year’s Best American Science & Nature Writing! Here’s a preview.
Microfiction? Too long. Six-word short stories? Hold our baby shoes. With the right context, you can conjure an entire saga with just a few words. It’s called Venmo Nanofiction, and it’s just one of the madcap amusements awaiting you in the debut issue of Paper Airplane magazine.
September 25, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Microfiction? Too long. Six-word short stories? Hold our baby shoes. With the right context, you can conjure an entire saga with just a few words. It’s called Venmo Nanofiction, and it’s just one of the madcap amusements awaiting you in the debut issue of Paper Airplane magazine.
Guess I gotta brush up on my words now 😅
On Sept. 16, #ThatWordChat welcomes Nick Norlen, founder of “Paper Airplane,” a magazine that’s the grown-up version of the ones you loved as a kid—fun, fascinating, uncynical, and human.
Register to attend: ThatWordChat.com
#Publishing #WritersCommunity
Register to attend: ThatWordChat.com
#Publishing #WritersCommunity
September 9, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Guess I gotta brush up on my words now 😅
Reposted by Paper Airplane magazine
What it comes down to is: Should beautiful, interesting, entertaining things exist in the world, and should we spend our time making them?
August 25, 2025 at 1:39 PM
What it comes down to is: Should beautiful, interesting, entertaining things exist in the world, and should we spend our time making them?
⭐ a Guinness World Record-holding mazemaker
⭐ an Amazon Book of the Year recipient
⭐ a Hugo and Locus Award finalist
⭐ an Eisner-nominated graphic novelist
⭐ multiple international award-winning photographers
⭐ a self-proclaimed “science goober”
Dream team lineup for Paper Airplane vol. 1.
⭐ an Amazon Book of the Year recipient
⭐ a Hugo and Locus Award finalist
⭐ an Eisner-nominated graphic novelist
⭐ multiple international award-winning photographers
⭐ a self-proclaimed “science goober”
Dream team lineup for Paper Airplane vol. 1.
September 5, 2025 at 12:59 PM
⭐ a Guinness World Record-holding mazemaker
⭐ an Amazon Book of the Year recipient
⭐ a Hugo and Locus Award finalist
⭐ an Eisner-nominated graphic novelist
⭐ multiple international award-winning photographers
⭐ a self-proclaimed “science goober”
Dream team lineup for Paper Airplane vol. 1.
⭐ an Amazon Book of the Year recipient
⭐ a Hugo and Locus Award finalist
⭐ an Eisner-nominated graphic novelist
⭐ multiple international award-winning photographers
⭐ a self-proclaimed “science goober”
Dream team lineup for Paper Airplane vol. 1.
Reposted by Paper Airplane magazine
We desperately need more media that's "the opposite of doomscrolling." Love it! #ACESChat
A4: I want Paper Airplane to feel like the magazines you loved as a kid. Low-stakes but high-quality. Familiar but completely new. Something you can pick up and put down or pore over. Most importantly, I want you to feel better after spending time with it. The opposite of doomscrolling. 1/2
September 3, 2025 at 8:19 PM
We desperately need more media that's "the opposite of doomscrolling." Love it! #ACESChat
ASK ME ANYTHING!
Join us tomorrow on #ACESChat for "How I Spent My Layoff Sabbatical," Nick Norlen's story about how he started @paperairplane.pub after he got laid off as senior editor of dictionary.com. Talk about reinvention! Sept. 3, 4 pm ET, on Bluesky.
September 2, 2025 at 3:52 PM
ASK ME ANYTHING!
Spoiler: I made a magazine. Come ask me questions about it!
Set your calendar for #ACESChat on Sept 3, "How I Spent My Layoff Sabbatical" with Nick Norlen of @paperairplane.pub right here on Bluesky.
August 28, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Spoiler: I made a magazine. Come ask me questions about it!
*Smuggling smoked provolone into a No Smoked Provolone Zone*
“HEY, you there, you got smoked provolone in that bag?”
[Nervously] “Ha ha, in THIS bag? Nope, no way, no smoked provolone in here, nosiree.”
“HEY, you there, you got smoked provolone in that bag?”
[Nervously] “Ha ha, in THIS bag? Nope, no way, no smoked provolone in here, nosiree.”
August 22, 2025 at 8:12 PM
*Smuggling smoked provolone into a No Smoked Provolone Zone*
“HEY, you there, you got smoked provolone in that bag?”
[Nervously] “Ha ha, in THIS bag? Nope, no way, no smoked provolone in here, nosiree.”
“HEY, you there, you got smoked provolone in that bag?”
[Nervously] “Ha ha, in THIS bag? Nope, no way, no smoked provolone in here, nosiree.”
Wordplayers, hear me out: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but instead of connecting actors, you connect words. From the debut issue of Paper Airplane magazine: I attempt to link “Kevin” to “bacon” in just six steps.
August 22, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Wordplayers, hear me out: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but instead of connecting actors, you connect words. From the debut issue of Paper Airplane magazine: I attempt to link “Kevin” to “bacon” in just six steps.
Almost every afternoon, my cat Rolo nudges my legs under my desk to signal that it’s time for me to pick him up and hold him while he purrs loudly and does “air muffins” and I just sit there without trying to think or do anything for several minutes. This is the best creative advice I can offer.
August 13, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Almost every afternoon, my cat Rolo nudges my legs under my desk to signal that it’s time for me to pick him up and hold him while he purrs loudly and does “air muffins” and I just sit there without trying to think or do anything for several minutes. This is the best creative advice I can offer.
Wordsmiths: Enjoy this word puzzle—by acclaimed author Alec Nevala-Lee!—from the debut issue of Paper Airplane magazine.
August 11, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Wordsmiths: Enjoy this word puzzle—by acclaimed author Alec Nevala-Lee!—from the debut issue of Paper Airplane magazine.
Duel Airbags
#MildHorror
#MildHorror
VENIAL SINNERS
#MildHorror
#MildHorror
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW NOISE COMPLAINT #MildHorror
July 31, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Duel Airbags
#MildHorror
#MildHorror
What’s the best part of making something? The creative collaboration? The tinkering? Releasing it into the world? Seeing it be enjoyed by people you’ve admired for years? By people you’ve never met?
Yes.
Make the thing. Release it into the world. See what happens.
Yes.
Make the thing. Release it into the world. See what happens.
July 30, 2025 at 4:27 PM
What’s the best part of making something? The creative collaboration? The tinkering? Releasing it into the world? Seeing it be enjoyed by people you’ve admired for years? By people you’ve never met?
Yes.
Make the thing. Release it into the world. See what happens.
Yes.
Make the thing. Release it into the world. See what happens.
Mulder, there's got to be a plausible explanation for why I'm in this 1930s anatomy pop-up book.
A large anatomical ‘fugitive leaf’ from Cassell’s People’s Physician, Vol. 5, published in the 1930s. These kind of anatomical illustrations with fold out sections functioned as paper dissections, and were intended to help non-medical audiences learn about anatomy.
July 29, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Mulder, there's got to be a plausible explanation for why I'm in this 1930s anatomy pop-up book.
SUCCESS!
"Paper Airplane makes me want to create art, a puzzle, a story or tell someone a cool fact just because." 🤩
"Paper Airplane makes me want to create art, a puzzle, a story or tell someone a cool fact just because." 🤩
It was a delight to learn about the existence of @paperairplane.pub last month. Reading it was even better. Just as the DIY punk zines I read as a teen made me want to make my own, Paper Airplane makes me want to create art, a puzzle, a story or tell someone a cool fact just because.
My review:
My review:
Paper Airplane, Vol. 1 (edited by Nick Norlen, Paper Airplane Publishing, 2025)
Any time I try to get the attention of a group of kids by hand-whistling, I’m surprised by how well it works. I can make a shrill enoug...
thetallrobreport.blogspot.com
July 29, 2025 at 2:21 PM
SUCCESS!
"Paper Airplane makes me want to create art, a puzzle, a story or tell someone a cool fact just because." 🤩
"Paper Airplane makes me want to create art, a puzzle, a story or tell someone a cool fact just because." 🤩
Can you ESCAPE THIS PAGE using only the clues hidden in the map? Hint: You’ll probably need some hints. Get hints (and the full-page map) in the debut issue of Paper Airplane, only available at PaperAirplane.pub.
Puzzle by @pzlr.org. Map art by @laurbarian.bsky.social.
Puzzle by @pzlr.org. Map art by @laurbarian.bsky.social.
July 28, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Can you ESCAPE THIS PAGE using only the clues hidden in the map? Hint: You’ll probably need some hints. Get hints (and the full-page map) in the debut issue of Paper Airplane, only available at PaperAirplane.pub.
Puzzle by @pzlr.org. Map art by @laurbarian.bsky.social.
Puzzle by @pzlr.org. Map art by @laurbarian.bsky.social.
A great reminder to ignore “rules” when writing is that one of the most distinctive and impactful lyrical intros in rock history rhymes “masses” with “masses”
July 23, 2025 at 1:12 AM
A great reminder to ignore “rules” when writing is that one of the most distinctive and impactful lyrical intros in rock history rhymes “masses” with “masses”
Summertime is for getting lost on purpose.
July 21, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Summertime is for getting lost on purpose.