The subtle art of selling out: Adam Hammond investigates DIY gaming culture in his new book The Far Shore
Hammond has written a text that is frankly unclassifiable: part biography, part critical exegesis, part hipster manifesto.
“I want to be able to go in and out of hell with grace”: Shawn Hitchins on death, queer transformation, and the astonishing bass line in Boney M’s “Rasputin”
In his new memoir, the author contemplates his life and community in the wake of two significant figures dying within five months of each other.
The madness of art: Charlie English traces the congruence of mental illness, modernism, and artistic creation in a history with uncomfortable resonance for our present moment
A book about art produced by mentally ill psychiatric patients gave the Nazis cover first to eliminate the art, then to move on to the artists.
The greatest story ever sold: Mark McGurl argues that Jeff Bezos’s online behemoth has reshaped the novel in its own image
The Stanford University professor surveys the literary landscape in the shadow of the online giant.
“White folks get to erase or occlude parts of their history”: Ian Williams on race, language, and his new essay collection, Disorientation
For the author, the titular condition involves those moments when one is just trying to live one’s life and is suddenly reminded of one’s race.
Why so serious? Punch, Pennywise, and the evolution of the bad clown in popular culture
“It’s difficult to assign a specific cultural meaning to the bad clown, because it is such a malleable archetype,” Radford writes.
Control tactics: Sarah Berman discusses writing about Keith Raniere, NXIVM, and a self-empowerment scheme that masked the wanton abuse of countless women
The Vancouver journalist’s book chronicles a four-year plunge into the depths of the NXIVM miasma.
Scary stories: a single-volume anthology from the British Library provides a cogent and concise history of the literary horror genre
From 17th century Gothic novels to the modern-day zombie story, the horror novel continues to fascinate readers and evolve in the literary consciousness.
To catch a predator: Miami Herald journalist Julie K. Brown’s book details her pursuit of justice for the victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Though marred by some sloppy writing and digressions, Brown’s book provides a valuable counter to a justice system in thrall to wealth and influence.
Skin in the game: librarian Megan Rosenbloom goes on a hunt for a very esoteric category of rare books
As a leader of the Anthropodermic Book Project, Rosenbloom has for years been ensconced in the realm of anthropodermic bibliopegy – in lay terms, the practice of binding books in human skin.