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I’ve been struggling a lot lately with the concept of purpose and–related to that–value. In classical thought, particularly within the Aristotelian tradition, purpose is intrinsically linked to telos, or the inherent end goal of a being. Aristotle argued that everything in nature has a specific function or purpose, and achieving excellence—or arete—within that function is […]
Emily R. Austin’s Is This a Cry for Help centers on a woman whose life is increasingly defined by her own chaotic impulses and a complicated relationship with the concept of truth. After a series of questionable decisions lands her in a precarious position, she finds herself attempting to navigate a social and professional landscape […]
Introduction American schooling is often described in binary terms: either a benevolent public good that lifts children out of ignorance and poverty, or an assembly line that manufactures compliant workers for an unequal economy. Neither framing survives close scrutiny. Institutionalized education is better understood as a single structural mechanism — hierarchy, authority, ritual, and conferred […]
1. A Guide for Successful World-Building in Fiction — Sarah Frances Hicks (Writing Cooperative)A practical, encouraging guide framing world-building as something every novel does, not just fantasy/sci-fi — even a story set in “Kansas City, Nebraska” needs a distinct world. Argues writers should feel free to spend as much space as the story needs (citing […]
Trauma theory began, as so much of modern literary criticism does, with Freud. In Studies on Hysteria, he and Joseph Breuer proposed that an extreme event isn’t traumatic in the moment so much as it becomes traumatic later, surfacing during a latency period when some unrelated trigger calls the repressed memory back up. Decades later, […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about the cruelty of bureaucracy–it keeps showing up in the books I’m reading, and what is required to combat it. On a basic level, recognizing how these systems operate is crucial: they thrive on isolation, compliance, and the exhaustion of the individual. When a system treats people as data points, […]
The argument that schooling produces workplace-abuse tolerance Bowles & Gintis’s correspondence principle is the foundational claim here: they argued school structure isn’t incidentally similar to workplace structure, it’s designed to mirror it — hierarchical authority, rewards for compliance over creativity, fragmented tasks, external motivators (grades) standing in for intrinsic ones (pay), and a legitimizing ideology […]
What does it mean to be hurt by the world — and to carry that hurt forward? Five recent books, wildly different in form and register, circle this question from opposite ends of the literary spectrum. The End of the World As We Know It is at turns tragic and funny, romantic and gross, sentimental […]
It began, as so many things do, with a map. I began with a world already dreaming — fairytales stitched together at the borders, folklore pressed up against mythology, a realm where Neverland sits in the Cerulean Sea and Narnia shares a mountain range with the Highlands and somewhere in the Impassible Desert, a boy […]
The evolution of contemporary speculative fiction has sparked a profound debate over what truly drives a narrative. Historically, Western literature prioritized the plot—a tightly structured sequence of cause, effect, and human choice that propelled characters toward a definitive internal transformation. In recent decades, however, the spectacular rise of video games, tabletop role-playing games, and sprawling […]
The concept of the “cruelty of bureaucracy” rests on a terrifying paradox: it is not driven by active, personal malice, but by the complete absence of human empathy. When a system prioritizes rigid metrics, automated rules, and procedural efficiency above human dignity, it inevitably morphs into an engine of psychological and physical violence. This dynamic […]
The case that institutionalization moderates power A single adult with private, exclusive access to a child (a parent, a guardian, a private tutor) holds nearly unaccountable power over that child. Institutionalizing education distributes that access: multiple teachers, coaches, and staff observe the same child across a year; there are witnesses, schedules, and paper trails; a […]
I really wanted to love this one. Kritzer has proven she can write smart, character-driven speculative fiction, and the premise — an OB-GYN, already prosecuted for performing a life-saving abortion, kidnapped by a fundamentalist cult that needs an obstetrician — felt like it had real teeth. The problem isn’t the setup. It’s that the book […]
Okay, the premise alone got me: a small Massachusetts town gets a “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND, SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER, THIS IS NOT A DRILL” alert, eighteen minutes of pure panic, and then… false alarm. Everyone’s fine. Except they’re not, because of what they did and said in those eighteen minutes. That’s the hook, but the […]
While Cathy Caruth’s 1990s model was foundational for bringing trauma into literary criticism, it faced heavy pushback starting in the late 1990s and 2000s. Critics from psychology, history, and postcolonial studies argued that her definition of trauma was too narrow, politically limited, and overly reliant on Western, white, and middle-class frameworks. The primary criticisms and […]
In The Art of Story as Worldbuilding, author Nathan Nance addresses the common pitfall where writers get so trapped in researching and documenting their fictional universes that they forget to write an actual story. He argues that worldbuilding should never exist in isolation; instead, it must be filtered entirely through character perspective and plot necessity. […]
Baker is entirely correct about the financial reality of modern publishing and Hollywood. Tightly wound, single-volume stories with absolute finality are difficult to monetize over a decade. Media corporations desperately want open-ended intellectual property that supports merchandise, spin-offs, and theme parks. Instead of dismissing heavy worldbuilding as just “bad writing,” Baker gives it due credit. […]
McCurdy’s fiction debut follows Waldo, a seventeen-year-old in Anchorage living with her single mother, a Safeway bagger cycling through one needy relationship after another. Waldo manages her own loneliness through compulsive online shopping, treating a Shein order like it might fix something deeper. Then Mr. Korgy arrives as her new English teacher, introducing himself to […]
Set in mid-1980s Longview, Texas, this is small-town suburban noir with a Southern accent. Nellie Anderson is the beautiful, entitled daughter of the town’s wealthiest family, counting down the days until she can escape it, even as her own ugly streak keeps her on the outside of the social circle she was born to rule. […]
“Never Flinch” is the fourth Holly Gibney novel, and King gives her two cases to juggle at once. In one thread, Buckeye City police receive a chilling letter promising thirteen dead innocents and one dead guilty party, in twisted retribution after a wrongfully convicted man is killed behind bars. Detective Izzy Jaynes brings Holly in […]
Six books in, the Dungeon Crawler Carl series keeps proving it’s smarter than its absurdist premise suggests, and Gate of the Feral Gods might be the darkest entry yet. Dinniman continues to use the game-show dungeon as a brutally effective metaphor for systems that consume the people trapped inside them, and this installment leans hard […]
Christopher Moore takes a wild premise—Lilith (a.k.a Judith), freshly unfrozen from a block of Arctic ice in 1911 Vienna, crossing paths with a young Carl Jung—and uses it as scaffolding for something more ambitious than his usual comic romp. At its best, the novel is a sharp interrogation of who gets to own a story, […]
There’s a particular kind of vertigo that comes from opening an 800-page anthology set in one of horror fiction’s most beloved universes. The Stand is at turns tragic and funny, romantic and gross, sentimental and nihilistic — a pandemic story, a Christian allegory, and an attempt to craft a distinctly American epic fantasy all at […]
An Arcane Inheritance arrives with considerable pedigree: Kamilah Cole’s debut adult novel after a well-regarded YA duology, set in the rich soil of dark academia, and draped in praise from some of fantasy’s biggest names. It has all the ingredients for something genuinely unsettling and intellectually resonant. Which makes it all the more disappointing that […]
“We Don’t Talk About Carol” by Kristen L. Berry is an engaging and thought-provoking family drama that explores the complexities of sibling relationships and long-buried secrets. Through Sydney’s grueling IVF journey, the book deeply examines the visceral desires, vulnerabilities, and identity crises tied to trying to conceive and build a foundation for the future. The […]
In the third book of Matt Dinniman’s chaotic LitRPG series, Carl and Princess Donut find themselves on the Fourth Floor of the World Dungeon: The Iron Tangle. This floor is a massive, mind-bending network of subway tunnels and shifting train lines that require intense logistical planning to navigate. While dodging the usual array of homicidal […]
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, the second installment in Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series, continues the story of Carl and Princess Donut as they delve deeper into the deadly game that has replaced Earth. After surviving the chaos of the first floor, our unlikely heroes must navigate increasingly complex and dangerous dungeon levels while competing against […]
Sylvain Neuvel’s The Test is a masterwork of concise, powerful storytelling that will leave you breathless. In under 100 pages, Neuvel delivers a gut-wrenching examination of immigration, identity, and the cruel machinery of bureaucracy. The story follows Idir, a young man from an unnamed Middle Eastern country, as he takes the British citizenship test—a seemingly […]
Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl is a wild ride that somehow manages to be both deeply unsettling and darkly hilarious. When Earth is suddenly transformed into a galactic reality show dungeon crawl—with 99.9% of humanity obliterated in the process—ex-bouncer Carl finds himself fighting for survival alongside Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend’s cat. Together, they must descend […]
Avana Gray’s I, Medusa offers a compelling reimagining of the classic Greek myth, centering Medusa’s perspective in a narrative about transformation, trauma, and reclaiming power. The novel follows Medusa’s journey from a young woman devoted to Athena’s temple to her infamous transformation into the snake-haired Gorgon. Gray explores how Medusa’s monstrous form emerges not from […]
Annalee Newitz’s delightful novella, Automatic Noodle, is a masterfully crafted piece of near-future speculative fiction that manages to be both deeply comforting and razor-sharp. It seamlessly balances the warmth of “cozy sci-fi” with a thoughtful, hard-hitting exploration of freedom, dignity, and systemic prejudice. The story takes place in a San Francisco working to rebuild itself […]
The story follows 17-year-old Medusa, nicknamed “Meddy,” who lives on a secluded island. Unlike her immortal parents (the minor sea deities Phorcys and Ceto) and her sisters, Meddy is mortal and feels like an outsider. Yearning for adventure and a purpose beyond her family’s expectations, she leaps at the chance to leave the island when […]
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman is a fast-paced, darkly comedic LitRPG (Literary Role-Playing Game) novel that kicks off an incredibly popular apocalyptic survival series. It blends high-stakes action, absurd humor, and a critique of corporate greed and reality television. The story begins on a freezing night when alien syndicates suddenly flatten every building on […]
risten L. Berry’s gripping debut novel, We Don’t Talk About Carol, follows Sydney Singleton, a former crime reporter who returns to North Carolina following her grandmother’s death to help her family sort through the estate. While clearing out the house, Sydney discovers a hidden photograph of a teenage girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to […]
Annalee Newitz’s delightful novella, Automatic Noodle, is a masterfully crafted piece of near-future speculative fiction that manages to be both deeply comforting and razor-sharp. It seamlessly balances the warmth of “cozy sci-fi” with a thoughtful, hard-hitting exploration of freedom, dignity, and systemic prejudice. The story takes place in a San Francisco working to rebuild itself […]
The second book in Matt Dinniman’s series is titled Carl’s Doomsday Scenario. Picking up immediately after the events of the first book, the novel transitions the characters from the basic tutorial phases into a complex, open-world environment that satirizes classic MMORPG mechanics. Carl and his sapient, magic-casting feline partner, Princess Donut, arrive on the third […]
The Test by Sylvain Neuvel is a dystopian sci-fi novella that functions as a dark, psychological examination of state bureaucracy, immigration, and human morality. The Premise The story is set in a near-future United Kingdom, where the government has implemented the rigorous British Values Assessment (BVA). Only male immigrants between the ages of 16 and […]
In this volume, Carl, Donut, and their growing alliance descend to the dungeon’s fourth floor, known as The Iron Tangle. Instead of traditional fantasy landscapes, this floor is a mind-bending, impossibly complex labyrinth constructed from the subterranean subway and rail systems of countless conquered worlds. Space, distance, and direction are entirely warped—up is down, close […]
A lush jungle teeming with danger. Savage dinosaurs seeking blood. A fallen princess intent on vengeance. A mysterious, end-of-floor celebration for the top crawlers, dubbed “The Butcher’s Masquerade.” The sixth floor. The Hunting Grounds. As the remaining crawlers battle for their lives, a new, terrible threat looms. Outside tourists are finally allowed to enter the […]
Vienna, 1911. Gustav Klimt, the most famous painter in the Austrian Empire, the darling of Viennese society, spots a woman’s nude body in the Danube canal. He knows he should summon a policeman, but he can’t resist stopping to make a sketch first. And as he draws, the woman coughs. She’s alive! Back at his […]
New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure. You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that’s talent. A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps. It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four […]
When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to ‘kill thirteen innocents and one guilty’ in ‘an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man’, Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of […]
Ellory Morgan is a 21-year-old freshman beginning her first semester at the prestigious Warren University. She dreams of going into journalism, but the high expectations of her parents back home in Jamaica have pushed her toward a law degree. After growing up between Jamaica and Queens, working twice as hard for half the recognition, Ellory […]
Since its initial publication in 1978, The Stand has been considered Stephen King’s seminal masterpiece of apocalyptic fiction. It has sold millions of copies and has been adapted twice for television. Generations of writers have been impacted by its dark yet ultimately hopeful vision of the end and new beginning of civilisation, and its stunning array of […]
It’s the mid-1980s in the tiny town of Longview, Texas. Nellie Anderson, the beautiful daughter of the Anderson family dynasty, has burst onto the scene. She always gets what she wants. What she can’t get for herself… well, that’s what her mother is for. Because Charleigh Andersen, blond, beautiful, and ruthlessly cunning, remembers all too […]
Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Forceful. Hurting. Perceptive. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of all: Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesn’t […]
A roofing family’s bonds of loyalty are tested when they uncover a long-hidden secret at the heart of their blue-collar town―from Amy Jo Burns, author of the critically acclaimed novel Shiner It’s 1990 and seventeen-year-old Marley West is blazing into the river valley town of Mercury, Pennsylvania. A perpetual loner, she seeks a place at […]
An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally […]
An enchanting novel about a witch who has a second chance to get her magical powers—and her life—back on track, from the national bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches . Sera Swan was once one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very […]
In the cult classic novel Bunny, Samantha Heather Mackey, a lonely outsider student at a highly selective MFA program in New England, was first ostracized and then seduced by a clique of creepy-sweet rich girls who call themselves “Bunny.” An invitation to the Bunnies’ Smut Salon leads Samantha down a dark rabbit hole (pun intended) into […]
