“For a crucial decade in print media’s transition to the internet, HBO’s fantasy series was a boon in traffic… for everyone. But what happened when every publication started chasing the same thing?”
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Posted inEditor's Pick
The Problem With Canon
“It’s the best of times and the worst of times to be a fan.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Meta’s Flirty AI Chatbot Invited a Retiree to New York. He Never Made It Home.
“A cognitively impaired New Jersey man grew infatuated with a Facebook Messenger chatbot with a young woman’s persona. His fatal attraction puts a spotlight on Meta’s AI guidelines, which have let chatbots make things up and engage in ‘sensual’ banter with children.”
Posted inArts & Culture
Which Way to Westeros?
With a plethora of fantasy appearing on streaming services, we take a look back at Adrian Daub’s essay on world-building maps.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Inside Amazon’s Huge Gamble on the Next Game of Thrones
“And so these books, with their gauzily painted or starkly heraldic covers, their comical abundance of pages published for the delight of furtive young boys and girls curled up reading by themselves in bookstore corners, waiting eagerly for their authors to publish the next installment (picture me here one more time, a child again, sleepy-eyed […]
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, Reading List
Charting Worlds: Five Longreads About Maps
From fantasylands to unique cartographers (including one that’s non-human), here are five stories about maps.
Posted inBusiness & Tech, Culture, Highlight, Quotes
We’re All Tourists Now, So Let’s Stop with the Endless, Tedious Quests for Authenticity
In Iceland, overtourism has transformed the island in a few short years — and locals and visitors alike try to grapple with the change.
Posted inReading List
Archives of Our Own: A Reading List on Fandom & Community
Fandom gets at our most human urges: to share the things we love with others, to seek community among like-minded peers, especially at a time when we are all still too far apart.
Posted inHighlight, Quote Posts, Quotes, Science & Nature
‘Someone Took Care to Get it Right’: The Birds of the Seven Kingdoms
On the delightfully nerdy role of birds and bird calls in Game of Thrones.
Posted inEditor's Pick
How ‘Game of Thrones’ Gets Packed With Birds (and Not Just Ravens)
“As the final season of the beloved HBO fantasy epic Game of Thrones bashes and burns its way to a conclusion, many fans are already fearing life without their favorite characters. But just as much as I’ll miss Tyrion’s drunken one-liners and Arya’s shape-shifting vengeance, I’ll also miss my other Sunday pastime: birding within the […]
