Key facts
- Flaming Hydra seeks $30,000 through Kickstarter for The Phoenix Project, with the campaign ending November 27.
- The Phoenix Project includes a one-off print magazine, an e-book service for libraries and a newsletter archiving program.
- Libraries would buy and own e-books and lend them through Lenny for Libraries, an open source system.
- The Phoenix Foundry Archive would convert paywalled newsletter posts into EPUB documents for library lending, starting with Ghost.
- Flaming Hydra is starting with five e-books from its writers, including collections from The Awl and essays by Tom Scocca and Maria Bustillos.
- Bustillos said she is talking to library consortiums and author groups about the project.
Flaming Hydra, an online culture and commentary magazine, launched a Kickstarter campaign on November 15, 2026 for The Phoenix Project, an initiative it describes as the "return of the human internet." The campaign seeks $30,000 and ends on November 27.
The project bundles three efforts: a one-off print magazine, a new e-book service for libraries and a newsletter subscription and archiving program also aimed at libraries. Lead editor Maria Bustillos told the publication that the projects are "basically all one thing," tied to protecting freedom of information and the early internet's promise of wide access while letting authors make a living.
Bustillos said Flaming Hydra has covered related issues, including writer Tal Levin's account of finding AI-generated clones of his book on Amazon. She said the project aims to build an ecosystem controlled by the people offering the work, which she said would not allow others to create and sell AI-generated clones. "AI is not this unstoppable force," she said.
The e-book service would let libraries buy and own e-books rather than license them, then lend them to patrons through Lenny for Libraries, an open source "library in a box" system. Bustillos pointed to a 2020 example in which a school paid $27 per student per year for continued access to copies of "The Diary of Anne Frank." She said ownership comes down to whether a party can shut a book off: "If you are at the mercy of somebody who can shut the book off, you do not own it."
The Phoenix Project is starting with five e-books from Flaming Hydra writers, including collections of writing from The Awl and essays by Tom Scocca and Bustillos. She said she is talking to library consortiums and author groups and that the goal is to "change the conversation" around e-books and digital archiving.
The Phoenix Foundry Archive would make paywalled newsletter content available to libraries. Newsletter writers, starting with those using Ghost, would be able to offer subscriptions to libraries, and Phoenix would convert selected posts into EPUB documents for digital lending.
Bustillos said Flaming Hydra had worked on the project before the Kickstarter and was grateful for financial support from backers including Anand Raganathan, Brewster Kahle and Paul Ford. She said crowdfunding helps protect the work's sustainability and editorial independence.