The Digital Age of Enlightenment
Chen Qiufan and Kai-Fu Lee's much-lauded short story collection is more interested in AI boosterism than real inquiry by Esteban Hernandez In 2019, “State of Trance,” a short story co-written by Chinese science fiction author Chen Qiufan, took top prize in a
Can Andor Save Star Wars From Itself?
Andor succeeds as art by throwing corporate synergy to the wind by Josh McNamee Over the last decade a single concept has come to define popular cinema: the cinematic universe. Pioneered—or at least re-pioneered, since it cannot be said to be new—by
Omelas, Je T’Aime
Le Guin’s timeless tale of cruelty and inaction poses a question that none of us can answer. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying. by Kurt Schiller // Illustration by J.R. Bolt [For more discussion of "The Ones Who Walk Away From
Gray Mars: Space Exploration In The Hands Of The Billionaires
If billionaires are the ones leading us to Mars, we're better off not going By Eli Horowitz Over the past decade, a curiously inverted ideology has spread across the political spectrum. From American conservatives to Canadian leftists to Chinese government officials, every
Grey
POETRY by Ashely Adams // Illustration by J.R. Bolt I am NOT saying Raytheon is perfect or great. I am saying that this is probably more grey than it initially seems. I used to
Interview: Gretchen Felker-Martin on Manhunt, and Refusing to Hide the Violence of the Everyday
By Claire Davidson Gretchen Felker-Martin has an intimate knowledge of horror, and one that spans many different lenses. A fiction author, film critic, and film curator through her Deadlights Theater Discord server, Felker-Martin has made it her life’s objective to expand
Brain In A Jar: The Revolution Of Unplayability
The obtusion of Cruelty Squad forces players to confront the alienating horror of life as a tool of capital by Julia Norza You don’t notice the first time Cruelty Squad lowers your difficulty. After a rickety cutscene introduces your bed-unframed
The Writing On the Wall: Sci-Fi’s Empty Techno-Optimism
Before "offering solutions," sci-fi must actually grapple with the material realities of our present by Eli Horowitz The year was 2011, and the award-winning sci-fi author Neal Stephenson was drinking himself maudlin on the sweetened wine of nostalgia.
Rated “G” for “Globalization”
How the drive for easily marketable, mass-consumable children's media stifles complexity and creativity by Malcolm Rambert Cartoon Network’s Infinity Train is a unique show. Each season of the show—which were called “Books” in production—follows a vast, extradimensional train as
Because They Could Not Stop
SHORT FICTION by Dennis Mombauer The seed plummets back toward the womb. V. Clinzell watches the atmosphere grow, the endless ocean and the ruins rising from below. The position lights shine from under the waves, the signal arrays have drowned decades ago. Because they