In Defense of Spiders
Eight legs, many lessons: One writer explores the liminal spaces between self-censorship and creativity.
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The Race That Turned to Ruin
“Fifteen teams lifted off from Switzerland in gas ballooning’s most audacious race. Three days later, two of them drifted into Belarusian airspace—but only one would survive.”
Tattoos
The ways memory, history, and identity are inscribed—on skin, in silence, and through generations.
Quieseeds
What if the key to understanding ourselves lies in the spaces between things—between words, between waves, between worlds?
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Weekly Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending notable stories by Kori Suzuki, D. Watkins, Mike Scalise, Emily Polk, and Vassi Chamberlain.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories by Brenna Ehrlich, Yiyun Li, Claire L. Evans, Nicholas Casey, and Kent Russell.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we are featuring stories from Piper French, Jordan Blumetti, Zing Tsjeng, Ryan Cantú, and Luke Winkie.
Essays and Features
Madness, Melancholy, or Murder: An Ancient English Farm’s 50-Year-Old Mystery
Andrew Chamings returns to his childhood farmland to investigate the mystifying deaths of the Luxton siblings. What really happened down that dark country lane?
The Romance History Forgot
Sir Robert Falcon Scott’s doomed journey to the South Pole captivated the world. But hidden within the legend was a story that has never been told—a love affair between two of the crew who survived.
Present Tense: The Long Shadow of an Eating Disorder
Eating disorders never truly go away. They just go quiet. For a while.
Her Greatest Hits
“Maybe it’s only when you don’t know what you are listening for that you find what you were waiting all along to discover.”
The Genocide the World Ignored
Ayder Comprehensive Medical Hospital was the second largest in Ethiopia and the jewel of the Tigrayan health system—and for two horrific years, it became a war zone.
David Lynch Was Here
A dispatch from the real Twin Peaks, where fans of the director flocked after his death.
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Reading Lists
Suspended Falling: A Reading List on Walking
After seven million years of evolution, walking feels as natural as breathing. But as our environments evolve, so do our ways of walking through them.
What’s Your Type? A Reading List on Typefaces with Wild Tales to Tell
Seven stories exploring our love affair with type.
Love, Lust, Loneliness: A Valentine’s Day Reading List
Essays, reading lists, and editors’ picks on relationships, breakups, and many different kinds of love.
Remember the Titans: An ‘Attack on Titan’ Reading List
The influential anime didn’t just upend kaiju tropes—it delivered an unsettling look at imperialism and hubris.
TikTok Covens and QAnon Shamans: A Reading List on Neo-Paganism
People in the West are responding to modern life by reviving ancient pagan spiritual practices.
Ten Outstanding Short Stories to Read in 2025
Kickstart your reading year with 10 short stories selected by longtime contributor Pravesh Bhardwaj.
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