Bad vibes: In her first book, music journalist Liz Pelly provides a caustic critique of the ways Spotify is degrading music
Pelly's book is a sobering look at the real and measurable harms the service is having on the global music ecosystem.
Rise of the machines: Nnedi Okorafor’s metafictional postapocalypse is surpassingly depressing
Okorafor does not miss a single opportunity to critique the contemporary media establishment.
Fifteen worthy reads from a tough year
Even in a year fraught with anxiety and discord, writers connected with readers to provide succour, solace, entertainment, and provocation.
The dogs of war: Christopher Bollen’s latest novel is a deliriously vicious, ferociously entertaining read
Bollen has concocted a scenario that deftly upends traditional power structures.
Gail Crowther’s latest volume examines the underappreciated legacy of Dorothy Parker’s time in Hollywood
One thing Crowther does accentuate is Parker's versatility.
Gone girl: Liz Moore traces the fallout from a rich teen’s disappearance at a summer camp in The God of the Woods
Structurally, Moore’s novel flits around in time and perspective.
Joyce Carol Oates continues a late-career hot streak with a collection of subversive suspense stories
Oates's pervading theme across her entire career involves an investigation into the nature of consciousness and the mysteries of personality.
High spirits: Food and travel writer Evan Rail examines the story of a counterfeiter who trafficked in fake bottles of one of the world’s most notorious tipples
What is most fascinating about Rail's story is not so much the forger, but everything surrounding him.
“The children of the night. What music they make!” First published in 1897, Bram Stoker’s Dracula continues to exert an outsized influence on popular culture
Vampires, it would seem, are everywhere in our culture.
Forever young: In youthjuice, E.K. Sathue skewers the beauty and wellness industry with a twisted satire
Sathue's novel is the fist release from the Soho Press horror imprint Hell's Hundred.