Welcome to Hyperlink 🐇

Down the rabbit hole we go…

Welcome! I’m Julian, and this is Hyperlink, a newsletter for people with too many tabs open in their brain, and a way for me to try to organise the plethora of pinballing ideas, creative tangents and cultural references that have colonised my mind.

Beyond that, I reckon the best way to fill in gaps around the project is to answer some quick FAQs, observing the five Ws:

1) What is Hyperlink?

Many things! It’s a creative diary, a cultural moodboard and a catalogue of connections. We will, inevitably, touch on a cornucopia of topics, and there’s no telling what could spark an edition of the newsletter – it could be a film I’ve watched, a poem I stumbled across, whatever book I happen to be reading or a painting that struck me.

Wherever an article may start, the joy is in following the thread of thought and seeing where it leads, what connections we forge.

2) Why is Hyperlink?

Because, in the words of Douglas Coupland, my favourite multihyphenate, I miss my pre-internet brain. More to the point, I reckon an informal, lightly-structured newsletter like Hyperlink seems like a good way to organise and scrutinise my creative impulses. Writing allows me to exercise/exorcise my ideas, obsessions and anxieties, to pin them down, interrogate them and then let them go – and to make space for new ideas.

3) Where is Hyperlink?

Here, that’s it. There’s no dedicated Instagram account, no separate website, nothing of the sort. For the time being, you’ll only find us on Substack.

4) Who is Hyperlink?

Howdy, Julian here. Out there in the real world, I’m a copy editor. I also host a fledgling podcast called The Story Kiosk, which may come up occasionally in editions of the newsletter. More relevant to Hyperlink, I’m also a ‘culture vulture’, a magpie for titbits, obscure references and fun facts, and also [some third species of bird, because I subscribe to the rule of three in writing and rhetoric… a burrowing owl, maybe, just a weird little guy. If you can think of a more fitting bird, let me know.]

5) When is Hyperlink?

In the early going, we’re aiming for one article per week, maybe per fortnight – you know, sometimes life just gets in the way. It’s free to subscribe, and anyone and everyone is welcome to dip in and out at their leisure. Hopefully at least one element in each newsletter will spark something in your mind, too, to set your brain whirring.

If you like the sound of that, please consider subscribing. Happy reading, and thanks for checking in!

- Julian