Welcome to Tube Talk!
The place for those who love learning & talking about weird history, offbeat entertainment, & brain-twisting books.
Become a Tube Talker, get your zine, sticker, and join a cool community.
Become a paid member and get exclusive deep dives, the ability to comment on posts, and more!
Get over 2 months free if you subscribe now!
Here’s what you’ll get as a paid Tube Talk subscriber:
For annual subscribers, the members-only zine, “Pneumatic Tubes and Where to Find Them” delivered via snail mail!
A Tube Talk sticker (mailed to annual members with the zine) to stick where you see fit.
Exclusive posts delivered to your Inbox; you also get to help decide what topics I dig into!
The ability to comment on all posts; let your discourse fly!
The fuzzy feeling you get supporting independent creators and an online community that doesn’t suck.
Are you a Tube Talker?
Raise your hand if one (or more) of the following describes you:
📺 You watch something on TV and wonder how the heck the cast and crew created a certain scene, place, or moment. 📺
😀 Finding out a piece of history that’s new to you makes you involuntarily smile. 😀
📚 You love fiction with intricate worldbuilding that makes you look at our world in a new way. 📚
🚀 You think space is cool, both the Doctor Who version and the real-life exploration happening today. 🪐
👯 You’re looking for something more than the internet can provide; like perhaps a community of likeminded folks and/or stories (and stickers!) delivered to you via the mail, items that bring a bit of intrigue and joy to your day. 📬
If your hand is raised, welcome! You’re one of us. Come join the fun!
Why I started Tube Talk
I'm Vanessa, a freelance journalist with bylines at places like The New York Times, Smithsonian magazine, and Vulture, and I wanted to create a place for people who crave a little bit of weird in their life.
From this, Tube Talk was born: Here, I cover things that are a little bit off-kilter, including surprising histories, offbeat entertainment, and books that make your brain twist in unexpected ways. One of my first deep-dives, for example, was on how mail in NYC used to travel via underground pneumatic tubes. I also love pneumatic tubes (don’t worry, you’ll learn all about them here if you’re not familiar) which is how Tube Talk got its nore detail on what Tube Talk covers.
What Tube Talk covers
📺 TV!—> Interested in shows within shows, why the theremin always shows up on television, or interviews with showrunners? I've got you.
📜 History! —> For those curious about scientific seances, the 100-year journey of space mirrors, and how a 19th-century book makes you see ghosts.
📚 Books!—> Interviews with authors, recommended reading, and more.
🔍 Pneumatic Tubes!—> My newsletter's name is partly inspired by my obsession with pneumatic tubes. They were used to move mail, are still used in hospitals, and also show up on TV quite a bit. I love them! You'll see that if you get my zine.
