Andy Weir in the Spirit of Jules Verne
Andy Weir, sci-fi author of The Martian, cites Asimov and Clarke as inspirations, but he’s more likely the cosmic literary incarnation of Jules Verne.
books feature
‘Damaged People’ and the Inescapability of Intergenerational Trauma
Joe McGinniss, Jr.’s memoir, Damaged People takes on intergenerational trauma, familial curses, and true crime’s tenacious hold on art.
Video Game Storytelling Is a World-Colliding Reinvention
Whereas the novel specializes in psychological interiority, video game storytelling allows players to experiment outwardly in world-colliding fashion.
Dickon Edwards of the Dandy Underground Surfaces
Dandy diarist extraordinaire Dickon Edwards talks about how his diary writing is a queer, articulate, and pointed retort to the pressures of conformity.
Nancy Drew’s Forever American Girlhood
Will the iconic Nancy Drew character created 95 years ago be left in the past, or will she make her place in today’s ideal of American girlhood?
Adrian Mole’s Very English Portrait of Male Anguish
In Sue Townsend’s hands, comedy doesn’t soften despair; it sharpens it. Her creation, Adrian Mole, is a most perfectly flawed portrait of loneliness and failure.
John Patrick Higgins’ Spinal Fantasy
Humor writer John Patrick Higgins talks about the fading art of painful self-deprecation and other sore subjects in his new “Misery Memoir”, Spine.
Gatsby’s Defeat and America’s Status Quo
Gatsby’s fictional legacy is a reflection of America’s all-too-real, relentless ambition, its bottomless hunger for reinvention, and its cruelty toward those who will never reach the upper class.
Healing Fiction from Japan and South Korea Is Comforting Yet Complex
The origins of Japanese and Korean healing fiction are intertwined, but the recent wave of Korean healing fiction demonstrates its unique fusion with European and American cultures.
The Zombies’ Inhuman Staying Power
The Zombies only had a couple of hit songs, yet Robin Platts’ Times and Seasons shows their almost inhuman staying power to this day.
Tom Robbins’ Crazy Wisdom
An undercurrent of seriousness prevails in Tom Robbins’ comedic expressions, occasionally bubbling to the surface to convey profundities on the nature of the universe, the human condition, et al.
Alanis Morissette and the Division and Commodification of Women in 1990s Rock (excerpt)
This excerpt from the forthcoming book, Why Alanis Morissette Matters leaves a most righteous “trail of carnage” in its wake.