Nicholas Thompson (1) (1975–)

I'm a huge believer in magazines continuing to publish new fiction. It adds to the health of the short story medium and gives voice to new writers. Perusing the magazine racks at an airport convenience store, I was excited to see Wired had dedicated their first issue of 2017 entirely to fiction. What a move! Many high-fives, guys.

Unfortunately, the fiction was largely...dull. The writers were challenged to "pick a plausible innovation or change in the world and spin out a near-term scenario." The best was by Etgar Keret, a celebrated Israeli fiction author, which I can't even describe because the twist makes the story. Many of the other authors were primarily television writers - their stories often felt thin in character development and setting. Some interesting ideas were presented, but the writing didn't challenge me.

I'd love to see Esquire and other magazines publish more fiction. Hats-off to Wired and better luck on the next one.… (meer)

An interesting twin biography of possibly the two leading American theorists of the Cold War. They both believed in the Soviet threat and that Communism needed to be contained but they have very different visions on how to achieve that. They also had different Cold War careers while remaining friends, or at least friendly. It sheds some interesting light on how America's Cold War strategy was forged and maintained. The book is well written and easy to read while still talking about often complex topics. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more on Vietnam as they both had strong views on the war (both opposed) but Nitze was in the Johnson Administration. But apart from that I thought very highly of this book.… (meer)