Culture Consumption: August 2026

Books

Saskia Nislow’s Root Rot is my favorite book of the year so far. When an extended family gathers together at a remote cabin (more of an estate), the kids are left to own devices to play and explore the woods. Except there’s something lurking in the earth and roots, something drawing the children away.

One of the things I love about Root Rot is the way it evokes a classic folk lore style. The children don’t call each other by their names — only The Oldest, The Baby, The One with the Beautiful Voice, The Liar. In this way, they each take on a mythic quality, while also behaving like children, exploring, playing, forming little clicks with each other, and trusting each other as events grow increasingly strange. It’s terrifying and haunting.

Books Finished This Month:

1. The Workshop Survival Guide: How to design and teach educational workshops that work every time by Rob Fitzpatrick and Devin Hunt

2. Root Rot by Saskia Nislow

3. The 2026 Rhysling Anthology, edited by Jordan Hirsch and AJ Wise

Total Books for the Year: 23

Still in Progress:

The Shaman, the Outsider, and the Diet of Worms by Stanley W. Baxton (part of a hypertext project, as discussed in the games section below), The End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand, edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Keene, and Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu.

Short Stories & Poetry

A selection of works I recently read in journals and online publications, with a few lines from the text shared here.

Fantasy: “How to Lose to Death" by Priya Sridhar (Adventitious):

Five Poems by Taylor Byas (Only Poems):

Poetry: "Winter Walks: A Zuihitsu" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (The Margins):

I did a lot of reading of ekphrasis poetry (a poem written in response to visual art) in preparation for a workshop I was teaching at WorldCon. There’s a wonderful amount of variety in the form, so I had great fun exploring these pieces. Here are a few I loved:

“The Gospel of Mary” by Mary Jo Bang (Poetry Foundation):

"Everyday around the world a woman is pulled into blue" by Krista Franklin (Poetry Foundation):

"Panic at John Baldessari’s Kiss" by Elena Karina Byrne

“Immigration" by Allison Burris (The Turning Leaf Journal):

"The Starry Night" by Anne Sexton (Poetry Foundation):

Movies

Possession is a wild and surreal experience. Mark (Sam Neill) returns home from his international spy work to find Anna (Isabelle Adjani) uncomfortable with his presence. As they lie in bed together, both of them confess that they have no feelings for each other any more. But it’s not that simple, because Mark learns that Anna has been having an affair, and suddenly he’s obsessed with keeping her in his life. However, his attempts are futile and in her rejection of him, her behavior grows increasingly erratic. Isabelle Adjani’s performance is phenomenal, with her wild eyes and unsettling physicality.

But this film is not that simple. Although Anna it becomes clear that Anna is possessed, every character behaves in bizzarre ways at one point or another, seemingly possessed themselves. Mark, in particular, has his own erratic behavior. When he learns about the affair, he enters a fugue state, covered in sweat, body rocking, and unable to notice the days passing by. And the body rocking continues throughout the film, swaying back and forth in chairs, rocking violently back and forth in a rocking chair — giving a sense of his unsettled mental state.

And that is only a fraction of the twists and turns in this. Doppelgängers and what feels like a cosmic horror entity also make their appearance, and the ending is wildly strange. And yet, I love every element of this.

New-to-Me Movies Watched Last Month:

1. Possession (1981)

2. The Ranger (2018)

3. George A. Romero’s Resident Evil (2025)

Television

Ted Lasso is one of my favorite shows, and I rewwatched the first three seasons before jumping into the new fourth season. As I anticipated, the fourth season is fantastic. Ted Lasso returns to London to take on the task of coaching Richmond’s new women’s soccer team — and the inequity is immediately apparent, from the locker rooms to the press attention, to the way the fans view the new team as less important. Each episode has the trademark Lasso humor and heart, and I can’t wait to see how this season progresses. Especially since winning isn’t always trophies in this show.

Games

The story of God of War: Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio) continues to evolve in stunning ways (I honestly may love it more than the 2018 game). One of the things I love in this game — and that I’m realizing I love in general — is the way the game uses perspective shifts (by playing as eight Kratos or Atreus on their own) to emphasize story beats and build connections between our two main characters and the friends they meet along the way. It’s such an effective shift, and I love exploring the slightly different fighting styles and seeing the ways the characters interact with the world.

Things are looking pretty bleak in the story right now, and I don’t know how our characters are going to get out of this (or even if they’re going to, since Fate doesn’t seem to be on their side). But I’m so excited to see what happens.

Prune (developed by Joel McDonald) is a lovely puzzle game about pruning plants to grow them toward the light they need to bloom. As the game progresses, the obstacles and challenges become more difficult, but it always maintains a relaxing tone. It takes about two hours to complete, and it’s a lovely experience the whole way.

I jumped into a bit more of Fallout (Interplay Entertainment). Although it took a moment to remember where I was and what I was doing, I nevertheless fell back into enjoying the gameplay. There’s definitely a bit of wandering about and poking at things and hoping you don’t get overwhelmed by enemies. And there’s also a bit of looking up guides on how to complete things, because the game isn’t always straightforward on telling the player where to go or what to do. Missing one simple dialog prompt means no moving forward on a quest, so then you have to retrace your steps to work it out.

Browser Games I Enjoyed

“The Shaman, the Outsider, and the Diet of Worms” by Stanley Baxton, Lithobreakers, and ComputerMilk is a hypertext game, in which the player explores a wikipage about a controversial text from an imagined world. The wiki is full of links that lead no where, but the world is so rich and fascinating. And I thought I was done, but then I realized, the game also includes the full draft of the book in questions, which I am currently in the midst of reading. Absolutely fascinating.

“carcosa” by starsblackanddim is an adaptation of a poem by Robert W Chambers. The gorgeous art combines with the lines from the poem makes for a dark, lovely experience.

In "Houseworming" by John Flannelly, the player weaves through the small-talk at a party, with each conversation representing a maze for the player to navigate through. Along the way, the player collects worms and places them in their pocket as a kind of comfort.

That's it for me! What are you reading? Watching? Loving right now?

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