First Edition●Autumn 2026●The Unauthorized Issue

COVER STORY

A battered paperback with a cracked spine, a blank title bar and a feather quill across a faded sunset

Every great story needs a good cover.

CA
Cover StoryContentsp. 3

In this
edition

  1. 06The Borrowed FaceA coin that looks like it lifted its jacket off a paperback rack, and says so.
  2. 12ProfilesThe Cover and The Editor, interviewed separately. Neither would share credit.
  3. 18The Reprint DeskHow a rumor becomes the sequel. Stamp included.
  4. 24Letters to the EditorHe read them. He stamped them.
  5. 30ColophonThe small print. The contract address lives here.
Cover StoryFeaturep. 6

The Cover Story

The Borrowed Face

Most coins hide where their art came from. This one prints it on the front.

Somewhere, a coin wore a paperback jacket as its face and hoped nobody would notice. The jacket had nothing to do with the coin. It just happened to share a word with the news. People noticed.

Cover Story is what happens when you stop hoping and start printing. The face is a battered paperback with a cracked spine, a sun-faded sky, a single feather quill and a title bar left blank, because a title would be a claim, and this cover makes no claims.

The picture was drawn for this project. It only looks lifted from a rack. That is the whole bit: a cover worn on purpose instead of by accident.

Every new chapter is a new edition. Every lore drop is another dust-jacket, allegedly stolen. Every rumor is bound, stamped, and shelved as the sequel nobody ordered.

There is no author photo on the back flap. There are no blurbs from famous people, because famous people were not asked. There is only the jacket, and the stamp.

“A cover that admits it’s borrowed. This printing: slightly cracked, fully unauthorized.”

(starred review)
Cover StoryProfilesp. 12

Profiles

The Cover: a battered vintage paperback with a cracked spine and a blank title bar

The Cover

Face of the operation. Cracked spine. Blank title bar.

Deadpan about being “borrowed.” Declines to name the shelf it came from. Has been reprinted more times than it has been read, and considers that a compliment.

“I am not stolen. I am on loan, indefinitely.”

The Editor

Red rubber stamp. Head of reprints. Reads the credits.

Stamps every page APPROVED FOR REPRINT, including this one. Obsessed with the credits nobody reads, which is why the colophon at the back is longer than it needs to be.

“Approved. Next.”

Cover StoryThe Reprint Deskp. 18

The Reprint Desk

How a rumor becomes the sequel, in four steps and one stamp. Tap the sheet to lend The Editor a hand.

  1. I.

    A jacket turns up

    A new lore drop arrives as a new dust-jacket. Nobody asks where it came from.

  2. II.

    The title stays blank

    No words on the bar. A title would be a claim, and claims need sources.

  3. III.

    The Editor stamps it

    APPROVED FOR REPRINT, in red, slightly crooked. Every time.

  4. IV.

    Shelved as the sequel

    The rumor is bound and filed as the next edition. Same worn spine.

Cover StoryLettersp. 24

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, is the art actually stolen?

No. Every picture here was drawn for Cover Story. It is made to look lifted from a paperback rack, because that is the joke. No real titles, authors or cover art appear anywhere. Approved.

Dear Editor, what is $STORY?

The ticker of Cover Story, a meme coin that wears a borrowed-looking jacket on purpose and reprints a new one with every drop. It is a story, not an investment prospectus. Approved.

Dear Editor, where do I find the contract?

In the colophon at the back of this issue, and in the barcode on the cover, where the small print always goes. Copy it from there and nowhere else. Approved.

Dear Editor, which publisher is behind this?

None. No publisher, no author and no famous reviewer endorsed this edition. The starred reviews are ours, and we star them ourselves. Approved.