Review – Catwoman #86: The Killer’s Game
DC Comics’ Catwoman #86, written by Torunn Gronbekk and illustrated by Davide Gianfelice, shifts the series into a grim noir narrative as Black Mask returns to exact vengeance. Selina Kyle is framed for a murder, forcing her into a desperate flight across Gotham while confronting old allies and foes. The issue also reintroduces the underrated detective Slam Bradley, deepening the story’s ties to classic DC lore. Reviewer Ray rates the issue 9/10, highlighting its unsettling atmosphere and strong character work.
Book Review: Chinese Global Environmentalism
Alex Wang’s concise 100‑page volume, Chinese Global Environmentalism, maps China’s evolution from a notorious polluter to a self‑styled climate leader. He frames the shift through four lenses—ideology, diplomacy, economic statecraft, and international cooperation—coined as “Chinese global environmentalism.” The book highlights...
Book of Potions by Lauren K. Watel
Lauren K. Watel’s *Book of Potions* is a debut collection of prose poems that meld surreal absurdity with raw emotional insight. The work interrogates the gap between outward façades and inner realities, using recurring motifs like the white‑room and portrait...
Vigilante Injustice
Two new 2026 releases revisit the 1984 Bernie Goetz subway shooting, a case that polarized the nation. Heather Ann Thompson’s *Fear and Fury* presents the attack as an attempted modern‑day lynching rooted in Reagan‑era racial capitalism, while Elliot Williams’s *Five Bullets* offers a more...
Review – Superman Unlimited #12: Seeing Double
Dan Slott’s one‑year mark on Superman Unlimited reshapes the DC universe with Kryptonite‑infused politics, a Latin American nation wielding a meteor‑derived power, and a cadre of Kryptonite super‑soldiers. Superman is absent, leaving his son Jon Kent to assume the mantle...
Ideas Podcast: On Pedantry
Arnoud Visser’s new book *On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know‑it‑All* examines how excessive learning has functioned as a vice in Western thought from ancient Greece to today’s culture wars. The work maps a line of irritable intellectuals—sophists, savants,...
Poetry Month Feature: Tupelo Press
Tupelo Press is spotlighting two new titles for National Poetry Month: the Arabic/English anthology "Other Paths for Shahrazad," featuring contemporary Arab women poets, and Carrie Olivia Adams' "The Book of Marys and Glaciers," a collection that weaves desert, consumerism and...
Why Are We So Obsessed With Dead Girls? These Books Explore if True Crime Is Ethical
Recent true‑crime titles are challenging the genre’s long‑standing voyeurism toward murdered women and girls. Alice Bolin’s Dead Girls argues that society repeatedly mythologizes victims without recognizing patterns, while Myriam Gurba’s Creep reclaims narrative agency for survivors. Sarah Weinman’s edited collection...
How Project Maven Put A.I. Into the Kill Chain
Project Maven, Palantir’s AI‑powered intelligence platform, has become the Pentagon’s central kill‑chain tool, now backed by a $1.3 billion contract and integrated large‑language models like Anthropic’s Claude. The system can process up to 5,000 targets per hour, enabling rapid strike decisions...
7 Inspiring Books that Motivate You to Take Action Today
The article curates seven bestselling titles that help readers move from ideas to action, ranging from James Clear’s *Atomic Habits* to Eckhart Tolle’s *The Power of Now*. Each book is presented with a brief rationale—small habits, early‑morning discipline, self‑confidence, singular...
Spotify Launches the Ability to Purchase Physical Books in the US and UK
Spotify has rolled out a new feature that lets users buy physical books through its app in the United States and United Kingdom. The service, powered by a partnership with Bookshop.org, is live on Android now, with iOS support slated...
My Mother Told Me Monsters Do Not Exist
The Granta essay "My Mother Told Me Monsters Do Not Exist" blends a night‑time horror vignette with the author’s struggle to finish a massive manuscript. A grotesque, ambiguous creature appears in the writer’s apartment, prompting a visceral mix of fear,...
Book Review: ‘Muskism,’ by Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff
The New York Times review of “Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed” argues that Elon Musk’s enterprises constitute a new economic system akin to Fordism, pairing mass production with a consumer‑dependency loop. The authors, historian Quinn Slobodian and writer Ben Tarnoff, describe how...
Book Review: ‘Rasputin’ by Antony Beevor
Antony Beevor’s new biography, Rasputin: The Downfall of the Romanovs, reexamines the mystic adviser’s role in the collapse of Russia’s last imperial family. Beevor argues that Rasputin’s influence was a catalyst, but situates it within a cascade of systemic failures, from...
Book Review: ‘Into the Wood Chipper,’ by Nicholas Enrich
Nicholas Enrich’s new book, *Into the Wood Chipper*, offers a first‑hand whistleblower account of how the Trump administration systematically dismantled the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Drawing on internal memos and congressional testimony, Enrich chronicles the agency’s decline...
Leo Tolstoy Calls Shakespeare an ‘Insignificant, Inartistic Writer.’ Then George Orwell Fires Back
In 1906 Leo Tolstoy published an essay denouncing Shakespeare as an “insignificant, inartistic” writer, arguing that the Bard’s universal acclaim was a cultural inoculation imposed by German academia. Forty‑one years later George Orwell responded in his 1947 piece “Lear, Tolstoy...
Andrew Martin (with Mary Gaitskill)
The New York State Writers Institute launched the new season of its podcast, The Writers Institute, on April 15, 2026. The opening episode features author Andrew Martin discussing his novel Down Time and Mary Gaitskill reading from her novel The...
Communion by Jon Doyle Review – a Charged Debut About Sin and Solace
Jon Doyle’s debut novel Communion follows Mack O’Brien, a former seminary student who returns to his steel‑town home in Port Talbot, Wales, after being dismissed for lack of vocation. He becomes involved in a community‑driven Passion play while reconnecting with...
The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn
Kate Clayborn’s review of the contemporary romance novel *The Paris Match* stops at 28% due to emotional overload. She praises the cover and initial writing style but finds the plot’s reliance on ex‑family dynamics and the protagonist’s self‑denial exhausting. Clayborn...
The Fallen by Louise Brangan Review – an Enraging Account of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries
Louise Brangan’s "The Fallen" offers a meticulously researched chronicle of Ireland’s Magdalene laundries, institutions run by Catholic nuns that confined thousands of women and girls from the 1920s until 1996. The book highlights stark statistics—70 per 100,000 women were in...
‘Swipe Therapy’: On Dating, Heartbreak and Healing in the Digital Age
Indonesian author Mira Sumanti’s new book *Swipe Therapy* merges memoir with a breakup survival guide for the Tinder generation. Drawing on a decade of app‑driven romances—from a neuroscientist in Amsterdam to a porn star in San Francisco—the narrative chronicles her 2016...
4 Must-Read Books that Spark Creativity and New Ideas
Four books are highlighted as practical guides to reviving and strengthening creativity. Austin Kleon’s “Steal Like an Artist” frames originality as remixing existing ideas, while Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic” tackles fear and encourages courageous action. Michael Michalko’s “Thinkertoys” provides a...
Which Emily Henry Books Are Becoming Movies? ‘Happy Place,’ ‘Book Lovers,’ Among Others
Romance novelist Emily Henry has seen five of her recent books transformed into Netflix film projects, with releases slated through 2026. The first adaptation, "People We Meet on Vacation," debuted on Netflix on Jan. 9, 2026, directed by Brett Haley and...
Winners of the 2026 BOP Prizes Are Announced at Bologna’s Official Awards Ceremony
The Bologna Children’s Book Fair announced the 2026 BOP winners on April 13, honoring a top children’s publisher from each of six global regions. Senegal’s Saaraba Editions, Japan’s Bronze Publishing, France’s Les éditions La Doux, Canada’s Tundra Books, Argentina’s Lecturita Ediciones, and New Zealand’s...
In ‘Famesick,’ Lena Dunham Diagnoses Celebrity, Illness and Herself
Lena Dunham’s new memoir "Famesick" pulls back the curtain on her decade‑long battle with a litany of chronic illnesses, from endometriosis to Ehlers‑Danlos syndrome, while also recounting a harrowing burn‑unit stay. The book, released as she approaches her 40th birthday,...
British Author Michael Rosen and Chinese Illustrator Cai Gao Win the 2026 Hans Christian Andersen Awards
British author Michael Rosen and Chinese illustrator Cai Gao were named the 2026 recipients of the Hans Christian Andersen Awards, the prestigious biennial honors presented by IBBY. The winners were announced at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, with the formal...
A New Book Explores Why the Wellness Industry Has Failed Spiritual Seekers
Liz Bucar’s forthcoming book "Beyond Wellness" argues that the booming wellness industry often strips yoga, mindfulness, and psychedelic retreats of their religious origins, leaving participants without ethical or communal anchors. Drawing on research and personal experience, she shows how practices...
Of Course Hamlet Is Everywhere Right Now
Aneil Karia’s latest film reimagines Shakespeare’s *Hamlet* with Riz Ahmed in the lead, portraying a British‑Indian heir of a modern real‑estate empire. The adaptation places the iconic “to be or not to be” soliloquy inside a high‑speed car chase, merging...
Protected: The Relay
Czech author Marek Šindelka’s interlinked short story “The Relay,” drawn from his award‑winning collection *Mapa Anny*, has been released in English translation. The translation is handled by Graeme Dibble, a Scotland‑born specialist in Czech literature who has lived in Prague for nearly...
Protected: Chronicle of My Thirty-Eighth Year
The piece profiles two interdisciplinary creators: Filipino poet T. De Los Reyes, author of *And Yet Held* and a 2025 VONA Summer Fellow, and multidisciplinary artist‑tattooist Jozie Furchgott Sourdiffe, whose practice spans intaglio printmaking, painting, and tattoo art. Both leverage their crafts to address...
Protected: At Stefan Stambolov Square, Plovdiv
Immanuel Mifsud, a six‑time award‑winning Maltese author and University of Malta professor, has earned the English PEN Award for his poetry collection *The Play of Waves* and the EU Prize for Literature. His memoir and poetry have been published across...
Protected: Three Pages of Don Quixote
Guernica published a password‑protected essay titled “Three Pages of Don Quixote” on April 14 2026, authored by Mexican writer and UC‑Davis Spanish literature professor Daniela Gutiérrez Flores. The piece offers a focused analysis of three pages from Cervantes’ classic, but the full...
Protected: American Actors
Igbo‑born storyteller Abuchi Modilim has earned a string of prestigious fellowships and saw his debut play, The Brigadiers of a Mad Tribe, long‑listed for the 2023 NLNG Prize for Literature, while also publishing in Joyland Magazine and pursuing an MFA...
Bone-Eating Worms and Other Deep-Sea Survivors
Jeffrey Marlow, a Boston University biologist, released "The Dark Frontier," a book exposing the deep sea’s extraordinary life forms and mounting threats. He describes symbiotic microbes that turn methane into rock and bone‑eating worms that rely on microbial partners, underscoring...
Protected: John Wayne’s Jacket
The article introduces two Guernica contributors, Stacie Shannon Denetsosie and Jozie Furchgott Sourdiffe, highlighting their distinct cultural and artistic backgrounds. Denetsosie, a Navajo Nation member, earned a PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize finalist nod for her debut story collection and lives in northern...
Tough Guys in Space: War World by William C. Dietz
Reactor’s Alan Brown reviews William C. Dietz’s debut novel *War World*—later retitled *Galactic Bounty*—and reflects on the author’s recent death. First published in 1986, the book introduced hard‑edged bounty hunter Sam McCade and spawned three sequels and two omnibus collections....
Book Review: ‘On the Calculation of Volume IV,’ by Solvej Balle
Solvej Balle’s experimental mega‑novel “On the Calculation of Volume” reaches its fourth installment, chronicling protagonist Tara Stelter’s experience of living the same November 18 for 3,637 days—almost ten years. The English translation, handled by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell, arrived...
The Best in Sci Fi and Fantasy, As Picked by Readers
The article spotlights four literary developments: the 2025 Locus Awards finalists, a new PBS documentary titled “What’s the Story, Wishbone?” debuting May 27, an analysis of books turning into luxury items amid economic strain, and a curated list of the...
This Book Chronicles the Compelling Love Story of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek
Andrew Durbin’s new dual biography, *The Wonderful World That Almost Was*, chronicles the intertwined lives of photographer Peter Hujar and sculptor‑performance artist Paul Thek. It follows their first encounter in 1956 Key West through two decades of love, collaboration, and artistic...
8 Books About Characters Seeking Community and Connection
The Electric Literature piece curates eight recent titles that examine how characters forge community and combat isolation, ranging from memoirs and literary fiction to speculative horror. The author frames the list with a personal anecdote about interlibrary loans that sparked...
My Favorite Nonfiction Book for Creatives
"Creative Quest" by Questlove is a nonfiction guide that blends memoir, philosophy, and actionable exercises for creators across any discipline. The book’s audiobook adds original Roots music and guest appearances, turning the listening experience into a multimedia lesson. Questlove draws...
Holding Pattern: A Reading List on Waiting . . .
Longreads curates a thematic reading list titled “Holding Pattern: A Reading List on Waiting,” gathering essays that explore waiting from psychology, architecture, politics, humanitarian, and medical perspectives. Highlights include Jason Farman’s queuing psychology guide, Belle Boggs’s architectural pattern for waiting...
R.M. Caldwell on Writing a Regency-Era ‘Fast and the Furious’, Neurodivergence, and More
R.M. Caldwell’s debut novel *Fast and Fastidious* fuses Jane Austen‑style Regency romance with the high‑speed thrills of *The Fast and the Furious* through illicit night carriage races. The story follows neurodivergent heiress Lucy, whose mechanical mind drives her obsession with...
Book Review: ‘RFK Jr.,’ By Isabel Vincent
Isabel Vincent’s new biography “RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise” draws on unpublished personal journals to chart Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s self‑portrait across decades. It details his privileged Kennedy upbringing, a period of drug addiction, a resurgence as an environmental lawyer, a Democratic...
Book Review: ‘Korean Messiah,’ by Jonathan Cheng
Jonathan Cheng’s new book *Korean Messiah* argues that the North Korean personality cult draws heavily on early Protestant missionary influence. The work, praised by historian Bruce Cumings, details Kim Il‑sung’s upbringing in a devout Christian family and the symbolic use...
Book Review: ‘Where the Music Had to Go,’ by Jim Windolf
Jim Windolf’s *Where the Music Had to Go* is a dual biography that charts the intertwined careers of Bob Dylan and the Beatles, highlighting how each artist’s evolution sparked the other’s creative breakthroughs. The book leans on newly released outtakes,...
All Them Dogs by Djamel White Review – Murderous Desires in the Badlands of Dublin
All Them Dogs, the debut novel by Djamel White, is a neo‑noir crime thriller set in west Dublin that intertwines violent underworld action with a fraught homoerotic bond between two enforcers. The narrative moves at breakneck speed, using street slang...
On Memoir by Blake Morrison Review – Lessons in Life Writing From a Master
Blake Morrison’s new book *On Memoir* is an alphabetically organized handbook that demystifies the art of life writing. Drawing on his decades of teaching at Goldsmiths and his own memoir about his father, Morrison blends practical tips—like avoiding name repetition...
Understanding Ambedkar: Why Reading His Work Carefully Is Important Today
Prof. Valerian Rodrigues’ new book, *Ambedkar’s Political Philosophy: A Grammar of Public Life from the Social Margins*, repositions B.R. Ambedkar as a philosopher whose ideas transcend his role as a political leader. The work argues that contemporary Indian parties are appropriating...
My Year in Paris With Gertrude Stein by Deborah Levy Review – Wonderfully Entertaining
Deborah Levy’s latest work, My Year in Paris With Gertrude Stein, blurs the line between biography and fiction, following three women navigating Paris while the narrator attempts an essay on Stein. The narrative hinges on a recurring “lost cat” motif...