The Newsstand of 2055

Despite raging illiteracy, magazines aren’t out of style in the 2050’s. (Some, though, specialize in the iconerate segment of the population who can just barely sound out words so they can order from the video catalogue.)

These can easily become background flavor for your campaign; however, runners could easily get caught up in a photo shoot for Guys and Guns or a simulated assault for a Barbakane article.

Street Style

The street style magazines are only read by people who can afford to read magazines, which means they actually require about an 8th grade reading level. (The market of people interested in street style who can’t read and can afford magazines is too small to cater to.)

Femmes and Firepower

This periodical is like a cross between the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and Guns and Ammo. Beautiful women pose with the latest high-tech weaponry, with different inset panels giving a woman’s height, weight, and measurements or a gun’s dimensions, mass, and caliber. Depending on availability, the women vary from cheesecake specialists wearing extremely minimal excuses for swimsuits to attractive members of police forces and militias in specially tailored body armor that shows off their curves. (Articles include “The Girls and Guns of Desert Wars 2055” and “Ares Presents the Miss America Contestants”. Many of the models who know how to use the guns admit they posed because they got to keep the really nice body armor.)

Guys and Guns

A Femmes and Firepower for those who prefer beefcake to cheesecake. Lots of hunky, muscular guys carrying lethal hardware.

Newsleak

A pirate ’zine with no corporate affiliations, Newsleak is a weekly periodical that also sponsors a one-hour trideo show. They expose a great deal of corporate dirt, pry into the private lives of everyone from government officials to trideo stars, and piss lots of people off.

High Society

The modern world has an impressive panoply of the rich from old European nobility to modern corporate climbers.

Skyglow

The Sunset magazine for city dwellers. Has fantastic ideas for making miniscule apartments stylish, for turning your prefabricated condominium into a chic entertainment spot, and advice for decorating that 137th floor living module.

Barbakane

From the German word for “barbican”, a xxxxxx of a castle, this magazine has been nicknamed “Better Moat and Castle”. The modern need for defense against the unruly segments of society has created a renaissance in the fortress look, and proper medieval-style castles are all the rage.

Monolith

The magazine of the latest incarnation of the Art Deco movement. The shadows just wouldn’t be the shadows if they weren’t cast by massive, brooding towers echoing the classical monuments of ages past, with ponderous dirigibles docking at the top for the megarich élite to step out without setting foot on the grungy street level. (Remember that all these buildings are seen at night, as black silhouettes against the orange skyglow, strips of lit windows lifting the eyes to envy those at the top. It rains all the time in Seattle, after all...) Everyone who is anyone dresses to the nines to match the styles that decorate the halls of power. Let’s just hope that next year isn’t synthsilk kimonos with illumi strips to match the new neon torii gateways...

Academia

I’m ripping off genuine scientific publications for this because it’s fun.

Paranature

The premier magazine for the study of supernatural phenomena.

Thaumaturgical Review

There’s also Thaumaturgical Review Letters.

Proceedings of the AAAT

The American Association for the Advancement of Thaumaturgy, AAAT, is one of the widespread organizations concerned with the study of magic.

Tector

A major journal in cybertechnological research, named after the micromechanical “tectors” (believed to be a corruption of the words “architect” and “constructor”) used in creating and installing cyberware.