Maureen McHugh is the author of six books, including the award-winning science fiction novel China Mountain Zhang. Her two most recent books, the short story collections After the Apocalypse and…
Tag: Culture
The Northman’s Seemingly Accidental Viral Marketing Campaign
The Monitor is a weekly column devoted to everything happening in the WIRED world of culture, from movies to memes, TV to Twitter. You know what we don’t get a…
Netflix’s SpaceX Documentary Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia left for its 28th flight. It never returned. After completing their mission in orbit, the crew returned to Earth’s atmosphere, where a…
Move Over, Oprah. Video Game Book Clubs Have Arrived
When video games were just abstract concepts on university computers, book clubs were already popular. When Toad told Mario the princess was in another castle, introducing video game narrative to…
So You’ve Binge-Played the Perfect Game. Now What?
You know that feeling, when a hugely anticipated game drops and your body is just ready. You may have even blocked off time on your calendar and taken off work…
No One Does Speculative Fiction Like Emily St. John Mandel
In 2014, Emily St. John Mandel published her fourth novel, Station Eleven. It went on to be the kind of breakout critical and commercial hit that transforms a writer’s life….
Roblox’s ‘Layered Clothing’ Is Here—but Don’t Call It an NFT
Even when fashion and video games seemed, in the popular imagination at least, polar opposite pursuits, players have always liked to dress up. Now, fashion in games isn’t just grand…
WIRED’s Picks for the 15 Books You Need to Read This Summer
Perhaps it’s something in the air, but right now it seems as though half the new books on shelves deal with the climate crisis in some way. The environment is…
The Wheel of Time Isn’t for Every Fan
Amazon is hoping their new series The Wheel of Time, based on the books by Robert Jordan, will be the next Game of Thrones. Science fiction editor John Joseph Adams…
Not Saying Anything Is Still an Option
The Monitor is a weekly column devoted to everything happening in the WIRED world of culture, from movies to memes, TV to Twitter. First, let’s get one thing out of…