Unwinnable Monthly – February 2026
This is a reprint of the letter from the editor in Unwinnable Monthly Issue 196. You can buy Issue 196 now, or purchase a monthly subscription to make sure you never miss an issue!
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Dear Reader,
If you follow us on the socials you’ll have noticed a brand-new campaign. One new subscriber every day, all year. Honestly, this is a modest goal but one we think really matters because it centers something we’ve been about for years, building a sustainable audience and finding our way to even just one new person as often as we can do it. If you’re reading this, you’re likely one of our best friends and I hope you would share the good word. There’s a reason you like us, be the reason someone else likes us too.
This month we’re featuring David Cole and his time as the unlikely leader of a small country somewhere desperately trying to do the best possible for the people.
For our normal rogues we’ve got…Elijah Beahm heading to the Borderlands. Jay Castello climbs up a big rock and notices the view isn’t all that great. Maddi Chilton heads off to Mooninvalley. Emma Kostopolus reviews Terminal. Matt Marrone smolders among the Embers in Cyberpunk 2077. Natasha Ochshorn says solidarity now, solidarity forever. Emily Price goes Station to Station. Justin Reeve just tries to stay in the air a little longer. Rob Rich is Pathologic(al). Levi Rubeck splits lanes. Phoenix Simms draws out the Seventhblade. And Alyssa Wejebe brings us all sorts of unicorns.
As we march towards Final Fantasy x Politics something I want to make sure I say out loud is that all art is political. While that issue itself will be very heavily FF focused, the grand vision of the way that politics permeates the media we love, that the any creative endeavor reflects its moment to some extent, and that a core mission of the magazine will always be “this stuff is worth thinking about” have always been themes of every issue.
So, dear readers, get out there, be political animals, bring about the better world we all want.
David Shimomura
Chicago, IL
February 13, 2025
