Solace House’s Unsettling Tale of Coming-of-Age in Liminal Spaces
The horror in Will Maclean’s Solace House is informed by preoccupations as diverse as Usborne Books’ Mysteries of the Unknowm, The Backrooms, Shirley Jackson, and Donna Tartt.
Books
Features, reviews, interviews, and lists about books including cultural commentary and history, non-fiction, literature, and more.
‘Recomposed’ Performs a Fundamental Interpretation of the Music Industry
Recomposed explores how musicians and entrepreneurs of the “great recomposition” attempt to reconcile ecological responsibility with financial self-preservation, revealing the difficulty of pursuing climate action within market logic itself.
Vampires and the Ecstasy of Consumer Submission
Vampires once symbolized aristocratic tyranny, but now mirror decadent late-capitalist enthrallment. Our ecstasy of submission – to the vampire, the corporation, the franchise reboot, the Kickstarter campaign – offers relief from the heavy burden of autonomy.
Staging Cultural Erasure in Ukraine’s Borderland
Journalist James Verini resurfaces the stories of those who sheltered from Putin’s war in the iconic Ukrainian theater, peeling back layers on a microcosm of the country’s struggle for cultural survival.
Ethel Barrymore’s Stifling Familial Obligation
Kathleen Spaltro’s biography of Ethel Barrymore explores how her acceptance of her familial fate as a serious actor came at great cost to her creativity.
The Spoils of War
Among the most coveted spoils of America’s wars, critic Andrew Cockburn argues, is the money pulled from taxpayers’ pockets never to be returned to the country’s social welfare.
William Lessard on Vibe Coding Poetry in Our Era of AI
Pre-Musk Twitter drew writer/visual artist William Lessard back to poetry. He adapts to current AI tech with his latest “vibe coding” project, /face.
Stephen King’s Nightmares are Personal and Real
A Shakespeare scholar’s deep dive into Stephen King’s 1970s work illuminates the elemental nature of fear.
‘The Midnight: Shadows’ Renders Nostalgia’s Dangers in Neon
In their music and now their graphic novel, The Midnight: Shadows, this synthwave duo weaves a distinct emotional identity around the narcotic effects of nostalgia.
Edmund White’s Longing for Being and Nothingness
The sexual world in Edmund White’s The Beautiful Room Is Empty expresses the tension between being and nothingness: the body insists on presence, yet the self remains elusive.
The Black Dahlia Is a Victim of Time
Journalist and historian William J. Mann tries to conjure who the “Black Dahlia”, Elizabeth Short, really was, but time is a powerful killer.
‘Rock of Pages’ Argues for the High of Literature in the Low of Heavy Metal
Rock of Pages makes a lively case that the theatricality of 1980s heavy metal concealed a more literate imagination than its critics would admit.