With AU’s reputation for political and international engagement, not many would assume there are sci-fi and fantasy lovers on campus as well.
However, this may change with the rebranding of The Griffin, AU’s first and only student-run sci-fi and fantasy magazine, according to library archives.
The Griffin was first founded in spring of 2011, but was known as Toadstone. The previous name was based on the concept from medieval alchemy that toads would grow stones on their foreheads and could cure all poisons, according to The Griffin’s Vice President Mariel Stratford, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
However, senior members decided to rebrand the magazine this semester to be more AU-spirited, according to Stratford.
“So we are The Griffin because it’s like The Eagle but with mythological ties,” she said.
The magazine was created to give students a venue for writing science fiction and fantasy, President Brendan Williams-Childs, a junior in the School of Communication, said at the publication’s general interest meeting on Sept. 4.
The Griffin publishes art, literature, commentaries, reviews (for books, films, and music), editorials, photography and personal essays, according to Stratford. The only requirement for submissions is that they must have a sci-fi or fantasy element.
“We don’t want to put too many limits because there is so much potential for creativity,” Stratford said. “We’re not even asking you to think outside the box. We are refusing to give you a box at all.”
While other publications such as AmLit provide students with creative outlets, they focus on real issues in today’s settings, the Griffin allows students to expand beyond real world scenarios, according to Williams-Childs.
“Somebody might relate better to the time traveling lizard wife from Doctor Who than to somebody in a sitcom situation or a real life situation, because [sci fi/fantasy] is all about writing how you feel,” Williams-Child said. “You’re not constrained by the realities of the situation.”
The Griffin will publish two issues per semester this year with the first issue debuting at the end of October with a horror theme, according to Stratford.
Submissions go to TheGriffinZine@gmail.com
pseremetis@theeagleonline.com
