Ulises Linares is hard up. The 29-year-old con artist, living in World War II–era Mexico City, is down to his last few pesos, three years after his father and partner in crime died following a long illness. What little cash he’s able to bring in comes from postal scams—he corresponds with women who are willing […]
“I want to know that I have affected people for eternity. I matter 10 billion years from now.” Thus said the normally retiring David Green, founder of Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby. The location is no accident, for Oklahoma has long been home to countless fundamentalist congregations and businesses, a font of support for Christian nationalism. Privately […]
The author visited Nepal in 2014 in the shadow of Sagarmatha, “goddess of the sky,” better known in the West as Everest, in the hopes of scaling the smaller but still imposing Island Peak. Nearing 65, he worried he was approaching the age where mountain climbing would be infeasible. Also present in Nepal was Joby […]
Democrats, urges political journalist and podcaster Cohen, need to stop playing nice, which has been what allowed autocracy and plutocracy to rule the land. Instead, he writes, Democrats “need to understand [that] the old norms aren’t coming back”: Congress now functions like a parliamentary system, where “there is no notion of bipartisanship, no value placed […]
In a world that’s been divided into four rival factions in the wake of a devastating event known as the Annihilation, 23-year-old Rubi Morningtail—an Azure refugee living in the Dominion of the Silver Tyger—finds herself thrust into a world of political intrigue, powerful magic, and deadly martial arts. When Rubi injures a battle tyger in […]
An unseen narrator warns of Great White Shark’s “toothy scowl,” though Filipina’s illustration shows a disarmingly goofy grin and googly eyes. Cuttlefish, Flounder, Dresser Crab, Leafy Dragon, and Octopus immediately exhibit their camouflage or concealment skills and escape being eaten. With no hiding place left, Puffer Fish seems a goner. The little fish then inflates, […]
In August 1993, Stevens was public defender for the courts of the North Slope Borough in Utqiagvik, Alaska, previously known as Barrow, a fishing town with a majority Inupiat population. While on vacation in the Lower 48, Stevens learned of the possible rape and double homicide of sisters Bernice and Wanda Ipalook of a large […]
There are two kinds of people in the world, said Søren Kierkegaard: those who write, and those who don’t. Nunez, best known as a novelist, writes up a storm with her first story, “Philosophers,” a tour de force of resignation. Her protagonist, who back in high school had a crush on a boy with a […]
Hugo’s forgetfulness leads to lost belongings, overlooked responsibilities, and messed-up schedules. Not fun. Hugo suffers so much that he imagines a “sneaky little trickster” who might be behind it all, undermining him. Artistically inclined Hugo even provides a droll labelled portrait of the creature! We follow Hugo through his disasters: missing a soccer session with […]
Thomson begins this book’s last chapter like so: “You may be saying, ‘Look, shifting from one shot to another, I don’t know where this book is going.’ You have a point, but I have no sympathy for either of us. It’s a book trying to keep up with every fresh screen I see.” He has […]