Editor's Note

written by Vivian Murphy

Polybius' Square is a zine dedicated to the love of secrets, mysteries, and the solving of them! Born out of a desire to see more of an appreciation for otherworldly puzzles, we'd like to integrate the process of solving into as much of our zine as possible-- sometimes that means a true puzzle, other times that means a mystery to solve. There are even secrets within the zine itself, if you know where to look.

Our first issue is broad in scope, and tries to cover every bit of what we like to see here at Polybius' Square. Hopefully, we can get puzzlers more interested in mysteries, mystery lovers more interested in puzzles, and those interested in neither more interested in both!

Each piece is meant to give a little slice of the endless theme possibilities that future issues could hold. Our cornerstone is dedicated to puzzlers--although it's meant to help introduce methods of cipher solving. The book review is dedicated to spreading the love of the mystery genre, to generate interest in specific pieces of media. Lastly, the commissioned piece is prose centering around the unknown and is about reading between the lines. Each of these are ideas that future issues can follow up on in their own specialized light.

This zine was inspired by mysteries, of course, but its philosophy of hidden features and strange prose comes directly from what I like to call the "old internet." The name even has a triple meaning, part of it being reference to a Polybius Square (used to solve ciphers), part of it being a play on words Polybius' (referring to the historian) Square (referring to a central plaza or forum of discussion), and the last part being in reference to Polybius, the arcade game conspiracy theory born out of the internet.

As a creator, I've always been enamored with online conspiracy theories and the thought that maybe your favorite website has a secret spooky page that houses lost souls, ever since I was a child. Later, I would get into reading mystery novels and even writing and solving ciphers. Polybius' Square is the intersection of all of these ideas--and I hope you love it just as much as I do.

Presenting this zine on a website is part of that dedication to the old internet. Its editing, though, was a process I was less familiar with--but happy to begin learning. I fear I may have been too hands off on the commission, but Polybius' Square is for everybody, even those who are learning, so I think that's alright.

Thanks to Ethan McReynolds for writing the commissioned piece, stepping out of your comfort zone to do some prose, and putting up with my odd nature. I think it works very well and really pushes the boundaries of what I was initially working on. I'll also give thanks to Riley Allen, who I wrote for in Composition Notebook No. whatever. The piece I wrote there opened my eyes a little bit to why I was going for such a strange idea. Frankly, it's nothing more than what I would have loved to have done as a child.

And thanks to you, dear reader. The fact that you've even bothered to look this far into this zine means a lot to me and the effort I put in to build it. I understand that many of you might not be as interested in this as I am, but I really do hope that you can appreciate cipher solving, secret hunting, and mystery tracking just a little bit more after reading this. And don't forget to let your imagination loose--because fun little secrets are hidden all around us.


Thanks for reading,
Vivian Murphy