Top Of The Week

The Rise Of The Science Sleuths

Jessica Wapner | Undark | 11th September 2024 | U

Profile of "a haphazard collection of international acquaintances" who expose misinformation in science. Some are scientists, like Elisabeth Bik, who is known for her identification of manipulated images. Others are "general-interest vigilantes" who have learned advanced pattern recognition skills. All are motivated by their horror at the amount of fraud in scientific research (6,600 words)

Armed And Underground

Joshua Kaplan | ProPublica | 17th August 2024 | U

American Patriots Three Percent is one of the largest militias in the US. Despite expanding hugely since the January 6th riot, AP3 has remained largely under the radar. Its leaders have forged alliances with law enforcement, and attracted a new wave of recruits. Members practise storming buildings together with semi automatic rifles, and debate whether to “engage in mass-scale political violence” (7,600 words)

Worst Opening Sentences Of 2024

Lawrence Person et al | Bulwer Lytton | 19th August 2024 | U

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest highlights the worst possible opening lines for imaginary novels. It is named for the novelist Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who actually did actually begin a book in 1830 with "it was a dark and stormy night". The Grand Prize this year goes to: "She had a body that reached out and slapped my face like a five-pound ham-hock tossed from a speeding truck" (3,700 words)

My Degenerate Chess Obsession

Sam Kahn | Castalia | 8th September 2024 | U

Chess is “a game where a gnat may swim and an elephant may drown”. Its storied history might comprise princes and aristocrats, but the chess this author encounters is something else: competitive kids, old-time New York hustlers, broke Russian émigrés, two-minute street games with bets. “There are a lot of people out there who are very intelligent and just don’t succeed. That’s who I started coming across” (2,800 words)

Good Night, Sleep Tight

Brian Evenson | Electric Lit | 9th September 2024 | U

Superbly creepy ghost story. A new father remembers the terrifying bedtime stories his mother used to tell him and wonders why she wanted to scare a child. She denies doing so. Regardless, he recalls those tales and worries that, given the opportunity, she will repeat the experience for her grandson. But what if both mother and son are telling the truth? Who is telling the stories? (3,500 words)

Podcast: The Transdimensional Haboob | Midnight Burger. Opening chapter of a surreal, clever science fiction series. The protagonist, Gloria, has been made unemployed by the pandemic and so takes a humdrum job at a lonely diner outside Phoenix, Arizona. Except it turns out that the diner is only visiting Earth temporarily, and at the end of each shift it moves to a new place in space and time. Fans of Douglas Adams will enjoy this (37m 47s)