Topic

Topic serves up first-person stories from unusual characters in a lively layout. Part voyeuristic, part educational, and wholly entertaining, each issue regales readers with highly unique harangues. The current issue focuses on "Sin" — an authoritative, writerly take on masturbation, necrophilia, and gambling has never been closer at hand. -Toby Warner

Art Prostitute

Texans are known for being plainspoken, and the fellas behind this call-it-like-they-see-it art magazine are no exception. Started in 2003 by Brian Gibb and Mark Searcy, the quarterly Art Prostitute features work by artists who "depend on their creativity to survive." Each issue's production values are high — including heavy paper, full-bleed color spreads, cool design, and pull-out posters — so even at $20 bucks a pop, you more than get what you pay for. -Annette Ferrara

n+1

When four brainy boys started n+1, a new biannual with a smidge of fiction and heaps of sharp and elegant essays on an impressive range of topics — including society, books, music, art, and ideas — they could've easily been dismissed as pipe dreamers. Three issues in, they're proving they've got the goods, and then some. -Daniel Reid

Arthur

This free bimonthly harkens back to the days when "counterculture" was more than just a marketing demographic. Topically, it casts a wide net — politics, music, art, transcendentalism, the occult — and regularly features long-form articles from alt-cult biggies like J.G. Ballard, Thurston Moore, and Daniel Pinchbeck. Expect Arthur's influence to grow, now that it also includes a record imprint (Bastet) and music festival (2 Million Tongues). -Annette Ferrara

CHOW

For the modern gourmand who doesn't give a rat's ass about baking the perfect crust, there's a fresh magazine out there that views food as pop culture, not just nourishment. CHOW offers ways to procure illegal cheeses, recipes for homemade Twinkies, and tips on where to get the best holiday takeout. -Stephan Paschalides