Every Issue of Flaming Hydra

Delight meets disaster / Savoring conflict

Miles Klee returns to Los Angeles; a chat on the old internet with Yemisi Aribisala

The Colonial Master Asks You to Thank Him

Jídé Salawu considers recent developments in the colonial project

Don’t worry / Be happy

Laurie Woolever’s slog to bliss, and Amy Chu calculates The Best Day of 2024

Fugitive facts / Wealth of words

Tom Scocca tries to search, Nathan Schneider attempts to tabulate

Me, mogul / Wounded wings

Leila Brillson pulls a strong card from 2024, and Diana Moskovitz apprehends sheer magnetic beauty

Free users / Hot people

Jennie Rose Halperin gets bored with online dating and Rax King loves Anora, a Favorite Thing from 2024

Seeing the unthinkable

Yonatan Raz Portugali on a clear-eyed podcast about the possibility of peace

Low and slow / Frenzied and eternal

David Moore on Steve McQueen‘s ‘Bass’; a Wisconsin birthday treat with Amy Kurzweil

A puff of danger / Familiar strangers

Social smoking with A.J. Daulerio; Julianne Escobedo Shepherd finds peace on YouTube

Light in the dark / Things on more things

Josephine Riesman at the movies, and a holiday gift for David Roth

Disaster on the airwaves / Blood on the page

New fiction from Luke O’Neil; murder books should stain us, says Talia Lavin

Useful things / Useless things

Anna Merlan dons an apron; organizing the Brian Hioe way

Digging up legends

Author Alan Moore, in conversation with Zach Rabiroff

Solitude streaming / A cup of cheer

Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún on a shockingly fine television adaptation, and holiday faves from Trevor Alixopulos

Fresh blood / Baked guava

Miles Klee on rough justice, and Laurie Woolever makes one perfect treat

Northern delights / No great loss

Good secrets shared by k.e. harloe, and Joe MacLeod’s little talk with Google

Some kind of wonderful / Punk made plain

Visit the land of Oz with Sam Thielman, and listen to Ekko Astral with Parker Molloy

Friendly conversation / Dictatorial silence

A favorite shared by Carrie Frye, and Brian Hioe on the Hong Kong 47

Avoid big labels / Mistrust France

Mark Yarm talks with Tsunami, and Jídé Salawu on new chums Macron and Tinubu

Dread disease / Crime concerns

Yemisi Aribisala solves an old mystery; Tom Scocca on the dangers of living in New York City

Immeasurable middle

Ian Williams on the right way to live

Open and shut

David Moore on the world of tomorrow, pov 2005

Get your wings

Revisiting a holiday classic with John Saward

Seeking loveliness / Going numb

Amy Chu chasing beauty, and new fiction from Colin McGowan

That lucky feeling / Pick a pope

Rax King goes through the wringer; Osita Nwanevu on 'Conclave'

Platform shoos

The world axes the X, by Fahad Shah

Majority tyranny / Ancient grease

Nathan Schneider considers οἱ πολλοί, and Miles Klee on an unhappy meal

Penis in the sky

Talia Lavin considers the cave

Getting ahead / Getting away

Arwa Mahdawi on ambition, and Amy Chu's Candace Chen gets in a pickle

Gusts of meaning

Luke O’Neil on losing your balance in a storm

Reading fundamentalist

Maria Bustillos on the defense of Western Civ

Auto-tune autocrat

Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún explains the coming political meme

Tidings of the season

A sestina from Sam Thielman

Final insult

Jennie Rose Halperin traces the poisonous roots of celebrity culture

Swedish sparkles / A hopeless position

Diana Moskovitz takes a break in Stockholm; Amy Chu at the Boston Palestine Film Festival

Be a pal

It doesn’t really matter what you call it, says k.e. harloe

Above the fray

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd at a billionaire’s election watch party

Longtime listener / Believe in books

John Saward on the tribe of Mike Francesca, and Maria Bustillos on saving libraries

Laughable leadership / Wretched results

Jídé Salawu on Nigerian tomfoolery, and a poem on this day by Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún

Pull the lever / Feel the change

Hydras on the ballots; dread and loveliness with Luke O’Neil

Protest, vote

Jonathan M. Katz and Maria Bustillos on the Tuesday of our discontent

Brawl and response / Really racist

Tommy Craggs on ultra-violence in the NBA; Arwa Mahdawi reviews ‘The Message’

Corrupted image / Journalistic integrity

David Roth’s identity issues; Parker Molloy on the Bezos fracas

Bullheaded memory

Into the maze with Zito Madu

Money talks / Yankees prevail

Tom Scocca considers Bezos’s cowardice; John Saward on the agony of baseball

Spooky civic spirit

Ooh, scary!

Subtle signals / Blaring warnings

Ana Marie Cox is lying down and Trevor Alixopulos is sleuthing

Losing the terrain / Breaking into comics

Carrie Frye with Asheville updates, and Denny O'Neil’s last-ever interview, with Josephine Riesman

Shelf portrait

An L.A. afternoon with Maria Bustillos

Hard bargains / Restricted browsing

Jídé Salawu buys some things, and so does Shirley Wang

Bonded by minibus

Different ways to get married, by Yemisi Aribisala

Running away

Luke O’Neil reckons with wildness and decay

Up from the depths / Wash like a man

Allegories with Jennie Rose Halperin, and new fiction from Miles Klee

AI grave robbers / Office agony aunt

Talia Lavin on real forever loss, and Rax King on Ask a Manager

Embittered sweets / Rebuilding Babel

Delectably complex pie from Emily Flake, and Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún on AI translation

Rustic retreat / Soft, savory treat

Hamilton Nolan, survivalist; Laurie Woolever, also surviving (on party food)

Moved to mortification

Images of self-harm, considered by Sam Thielman

Float your boat / Stretch your prose

Anna Merlan on a funerary hack for dating apps; Colin McGowan reads Robert Coover

Protective Papers

Parker Molloy on enduring the coming month

Empty battery / Out of shape

At the beach in New York with David Moore; doubts considered with Amy Chu

The ship goes adrift

Ben Ehrenreich on the news

All-night movies / Unlimited parking

Zito Madu's not sleepy; Miles Klee dreams of malls

Refuse mortality / Recall yesterday

Ceremonial practices of Myriam Gurba, and Trevor Alixopulos remembers

Ruled by chance / Social insects

Watermelons, randomness, Arwa Mahdawi; Joe MacLeod looks out the window

Casual pals / Strict borders

Kola Tubosun visits London, and Carrie Frye on the realest of friends

The voice of authority

Dystopic comforts from Luke O'Neil

Hyperlinked humanity / The rubble of home

Nerding out with David Moore; a young woman's life in Gaza, by Moh Telbani

Some are reading

Yemisi Aribisala reflects on the dangers of the reading life

Touch the heavens / Face the lens

Amy Chu holds pieces of clouds; evolving self-imagery from Jennie Rose Halperin

American hero

Josephine Riesman on 9/11 and Uncle Sam

Unspeakable feed

Some things Sam Thielman saw on the internet

Self, publishing / Turing texts

Laurie Woolever on the jitters; Scocca and Bustillos refuse styrofoam

Tiny cuts / Final fantasy

Sharp remarks from Diana Moskovitz, and Sam Thielman exits, pursued by a beast

Public access internet / Distant Belle

Freenets at the library with jj skolnik, and John Saward visits his old room

Special delivery / Animal urges

A.J. Daulerio on dot-com indulgence; Brian Hioe contemplates desire

Audience capture

Tom Scocca on tomscocca.com, and READERS’ CHOICE poll results

Sign the guestbook

Arwa Mahdawi on the kinder gentler internet

Elf friends / Transit strangers

Rax King waxes fantastical and Trevor Alixopulos stands clear of the closing doors.

Leisure pains / Missing rains

Joe MacLeod hurts himself and Luke O'Neil burns low.

Jewish skinhead

Ryan Gosling in a revelatory early role, by Josephine Riesman

Clear your mind of questions

Miles Klee, internet mystic

Solidarity of the separated / Verse on the mobile phone

Brian Hioe on friends; Salawu on the olden times for poetry

Invisible book burning / Secret rhythm

Riot and ruin

Ben Ehrenreich goes for a run in the outskirts of Norwich

Enter the chat / Freezing hot

Dairy queen / Borrowed trouble