Paste Magazine • 3rd March 2023 A Guide to the Music of De La Soul Having spent decades in legal purgatory, De La Soul's music is finally coming to streaming services. But where is the best place to start with the hip-hop trio's diverse catalogue?
Quillette • 28th February 2023 Words Are the Only Victors The appearance of Victory City in the aftermath of the attack on Salman Rushdie is a powerful celebration of his literary voice, as well as his fearless advocacy for free speech.
StarTrek.com • 22nd December 2022 A Q Carol: Star Trek's Christmas episode With its humanist outlook, Star Trek has never produced a traditional Christmas episode. But one of its most popular instalments is based on Charles Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol.
Winter is Coming • 11th November 2022 The Fall of Númenor: a redundant but beautiful addition to Tolkien's canon The reordering of previously published text fragments is now the driving creative act behind the Tolkien industry - as if moving the puzzle pieces of these unfinished writings will somehow reveal new insights.
The Guardian • 21st October 2022 Alis Lesley: the ‘female Elvis’ on Bob Dylan’s new book cover Positioned between Little Richard and Eddie Cochran is a rock ’n’ roll star who had a short-lived music career. So why has Bob Dylan chosen this relative unknown to front his essay collection?
Winter is Coming • 1st September 2022 The Complete Guide to Middle-earth shows the scale of Tolkien's achievement Foster describes his book as the culmination of “ten years of intermittent labour.” Whether fans have a previous edition or are coming to it for the first time with this reissue, they will agree that it was labour well spent.
Winter is Coming • 25th June 2022 Christopher Tolkien's legacy shines in The Great Tales Never End Christopher’s approach always gave the sense of someone working faithfully in the background, out of the limelight. This new essay collection shines a light on his powerful impact on Middle-earth.
StarTrek.com • 29th April 2022 Captain Kirk's Favourite Poem Kirk’s poetic reference highlights the tension that often comes with scientific progress – whether we belong to the age of seafarers or the age of starfarers.
Winter is Coming • 7th March 2022 Remembering Priscilla Tolkien Living in the shadow of a famous father can be difficult. But Priscilla Tolkien always spoke of her father’s work with pleasure and pride. Fans can honour her memory by continuing to preserve that fellowship they share in their passion for J.R.R. Tolkien’s works.
Winter is Coming • 3rd September 2021 The Nature of Middle-earth enhances Tolkien’s world Even as The Nature of Middle-earth expands our knowledge of Tolkien’s world, it also shows us how unfinished it is. We can never fully catch up with the imaginings of a man who every day falls further into the past.
StarTrek.com • 23rd April 2021 Star Trek at the Oscars Few franchises can rival the enduring success of Star Trek. With 13 films across some 40 years, it is no surprise that it has also been a consistent presence at the biggest event in filmmaking – the Oscars.
StarTrek.com • 25th February 2021 A Closer Look at Benny Russell's Library In 1998, one episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine broke the mould in a radical way, shining a light on the great works of African American literature.
StarTrek.com • 23rd October 2020 How the United Nations Helped Shape the Federation On UN Day, Christian Kriticos looks at how the United Nations influenced Star Trek and how Trek fans can return the favour.
The American Writers Museum • 20th September 2020 Another Side of George R.R. Martin George R. R. Martin's earlier work seems to have been forgotten, or at least overshadowed by, his colossal success with A Song of Ice and Fire and its TV adaptation, Game of Thrones.
StarTrek.com • 30th April 2019 How W.B Yeats Captured the Essence of Star Trek a Century Before its Time To celebrate National Poetry Month, Christian Kriticos takes a look at how a W. B. Yeats poem captures the spirit of Star Trek.
The American Writers Museum • 19th October 2017 Stories Behind Classic Book Covers: The Great Gatsby Francis Cugat’s painting is perhaps the most famous book cover in American literature. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s editor understood its significance immediately, declaring it “a masterpiece for this book”.
The Rumpus • 16th March 2017 J. M. Coetzee’s “Bread and Beans” Writing Man shall not live by bread alone. But add some unsalted bean paste and you have all the nutrients needed for healthy, hard-working life. At least, that is, according to J. M. Coetzee's latest novel, The Schooldays of Jesus.
The Millions • 6th January 2017 James Joyce and the Yuletide Epiphany As we leave the festive season, James Joyce's The Dead represents a return to reality. For Joyce, true epiphanies do not come during Christmas, amidst wine and tinsel, but after the celebrations have died down, when we find ourselves alone.
The Millions • 29th December 2016 A Reading Resolution I am making a New Year’s resolution to embrace the unexpected book; to make an effort to read things I have never heard of, on subjects I know nothing about.
The Millions • 8th September 2016 Made of Sterner Stuff: On Roald Dahl and 'Love From Boy' This newly published collection of Roald Dahl's letters shows how devoted he was to his mother—and how lucky he was to survive the travails of English boarding school life.