“I sometimes wonder if this continent of ice is begging for a different kind of story to be told about it.”
Science Fiction
The Great Cannabis Experiment: Ian Brown on Growing Your Own Weed
Weed? Turns out it’s tricky to grow your own.
The Politics of UFOs
In the past few years the world of UFO “researchers” has been afflicted by the kinds of conspiratorial cracks that have appeared throughout American culture: Who can be trusted?
‘Every Woman Writer Feels Like She’s Starting Over Without Any Guides’
Ann Leckie talks about “The Raven Tower,” the erasure of women writers from the canon, the privilege inherent to ‘the anxiety of influence,’ and the power of tradition.
This Heist’s for the Birds
“I always say, If there is a $50,000 bill flying around, someone is going to try to catch it.”
Longreads Best of 2018: Science and Technology
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in science and tech.
Dawn of Dianetics: L. Ron Hubbard, John W. Campbell, and the Origins of Scientology
Read an excerpt adapted from Alec Nevala-Lee’s book, Astounding.
Putting a New Stone on the Grave: Sjón Brings the Golem to Iceland
Sjón’s “CoDex 1962” is the fulfillment of a pact he made with the Maharal of Prague in the Old Jewish Cemetery almost three decades ago.
Working Through the Apocalypse: An Interview with Ling Ma
In Ling Ma’s “Severance” — a novel she began to write after getting laid off, while living partly on severance pay — the characters keep going to work, even though they know it’s the end of the world.