In celebration of Orbit Magazine’s 25th anniversary, Detroit-native author and radio host Rob St. Mary has successfully raised more than $20,000 to produce a book on the magazine’s history.
The “heavily illustrated” book, “Re-Entry: The Orbit Magazine Anthology”, will showcase the local legacy of three iconic Detroit magazines: Fun, White Noise and Orbit. Before local blogs were covering Detroit happenings, these landmark print “zines” delivered the latest updates regarding local music, news, politics, film, satire, art and food.
(Orbit Magazine was published from 1990-1999, with Fun and White Noise as its niche predecessors.)
In an attempt to raise funds for the book’s production, St. Mary hosted a crowd-funding campaign via Patronicity, which has received approximately $24,000 as of November 12 (meeting the original goal of $17,000). However, the majority of the campaign’s online pledges were received all at once, when Detroit’s own Kid Rock offered a whopping $20k to ensure the project’s funding. Kid Rock appeared in more than 25 issues of Orbit, first appearing in Issue No. 9, December 1990.
“Re-Entry: The Orbit Magazine Anthology,” which will be published via Wayne State University Press, is still offering a long list of unique rewards, including: postcards, reissued t-shirts, pre-order book copies, an evening of drinks with Orbit food writer Jimmy Doom, wine tasting with Orbit food writer Chris Kassel, an original piece of art from Orbit publisher and artist Jimmy Vile, dinner with Vile and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist M. L. Elrick and more.
The Patronicity campaign for “Re-Entry: The Orbit Magazine Anthology” ends on November 21. Donate to the project here and watch the campaign video below: