A24’s Backrooms (2026), directed by Kane Parsons (the YouTube creator behind the viral series), brings the internet’s unsettling liminal spaces to theaters. Released May 29, the film follows a therapist (Renate Reinsve) venturing into a bizarre dimension of endless yellow rooms and buzzing lights to rescue her missing patient (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Mark Duplass and others … Continue reading ‘Backrooms’: Internet Lore Meets Cinema
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune saga reaches its climax with Dune: Part Three, adapting Frank Herbert’s Dune Messiah. The film is scheduled for release on December 18, 2026. Set years after Part Two, it follows Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as Emperor, grappling with the consequences of his power amid political plots, a galaxy-wide holy war, and prescience. … Continue reading Dune: Part Three – Villeneuve’s Epic Conclusion
AI has unlocked hidden text from 2,000-year-old carbonized scrolls buried by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Part of an ancient library in Herculaneum, these fragile papyri were previously unreadable without destruction. Through the Vesuvius Challenge, researchers used X-ray imaging and AI to virtually unwrap one complete scroll (PHerc. 1667), revealing ~1.5 meters of ancient Greek … Continue reading News: AI Decodes Herculaneum Scrolls
Mike lived a simple life. When he wasn't working at the gas station down the road, he was always on the beach, not far from his seaside cottage where he lived alone. Every day he knelt down and plunged his hands deep into the sand, grasping the grains and shaping them, letting them take form … Continue reading Story: ‘The Sand Girl’ by Kathryn Singer
The letter arrived inside an interoffice envelope and was put in Paul’s inbox, and in that way it was ordinary. But there is where ordinary stopped. The address read like this: Messrs L. Parsnip & P. Looseleaf 752 Inside Thoughtful Lane Chamber of the Next to Last A North-South Webbton, Old York The Borough 123456-654321The … Continue reading Story: Odd Missive, by Leo Byrne Jenicek
Winter was coming to the Black Valleys, and the first snow was grey sludge beneath the mercenaries’ boots as they struggled up the mountain. With no interest in a seventeen-year-old girl too tired to keep up, they staggered past Althea using their spent matchlocks as walking sticks. She tried to catch her breath. The forests … Continue reading Story: The Woman Who Must, by Roderick Gladwish
Vampire in the bar eating peanuts, had gone upstairs to check caskets. As the flattened chords of B-flat blues wandered through her oak pollen-filled nostrils, she awoke with lace around her body. The priest was a Martian with a love for whiskey. He took confession at the corner table. Despite vampire's tastes in blood, he … Continue reading Story: Carbonated, by Tom Grayhorse
Our story begins with a series of extraordinary events. The first involved a small mouse that burrowed through an inch of steel at the base of a street lamp. After biting its way through, the mouse leapt up a series of wires and, reaching the top, rewarded itself by nibbling away on a juicy red … Continue reading Pink Goo, by Steven Lombardi
Aliens' attack Kills less of population Then we do ourselves * * * Black hole Pulls spaceship To the dark side * * * Buried under Mars For millions of secret years Lies Earth's history * * * New robots for sale With Feelings or No-Feelings -- I could not decide * * * … Continue reading Five Haiku, by Denny E. Marshall
