Lincoln Michel
Electric Literature
New York, NY, United States
Contact Lincoln
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Past articles by Lincoln:
Booktails from the Potions Library, with Mixologist Lindsay Merbaum
Let this cocktail and Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods” accompany you on the quest to figure out your past → Read More
Lincoln Michel on the Pulpy, Rollicking, Resonant Early Sci-Fi of John Wyndham
Before John Wyndham was John Wyndham—one of Britain’s finest science fiction authors of the twentieth century—he was other people. He was Johnson Harris. He was John Beynon. He was Wyndham Parkes and Lucas Parkes and more. John Wyndham, whose full name was John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris, has a career that can be broken […] → Read More
The Future in the Flesh: Why Cyberpunk Can’t Forget the Body
Cyberpunk is dead. It’s been 37 years since Neuromancer was published, making the genre officially a geriatric millennial. Its aesthetics are used up. Its critique tired. Its literary power petering out like a fritzing cybernetic arm tossed in the automated dumpster beneath a blinking neon hologram. At least that’s what people say. But I’d like […] → Read More
Why Noir and Science Fiction Are Still a Perfect Pairing
We live in age of “genre-bending” books. Every other novel of the shelf seems to offer up some new combination: coming-of-age zombie novel, Western space opera, postmodern horror, Gothic fantasy. And that’s just as it should be. Literature stays vital through the constant recombining, reconfiguring, and reinvention of styles and forms. But out of all […] → Read More
David Lynch’s Dune Kept Science Fiction Cinema Strange
Welcome to Close Reads! In this series, Leah Schnelbach and guest authors will dig into the tiny, weird moments of pop culture—from books to theme songs to a single television episode—that have bur… → Read More
George Saunders on the Vitality of Fiction in Increasingly Turbulent Times
If you’re a reader of contemporary American fiction, you’re almost certainly familiar with George Saunders. His strange, hilarious and moving stories are among the most celebrated and imitated around, and he’s won a bevy of awards to prove it, including a MacArthur Genius Grant and the Man Booker for his novel Lincoln in the Bardo. […] → Read More
What I Learned About Writing from Making Sound Effects for Movies
Writing fiction has a lot in common with my day job—sound designer for blockbuster films → Read More
Let’s Stop with the Realism Versus Science Fiction and Fantasy Debate
We live in unreal times. I wake up in the middle of a global pandemic to watch a reality-TV president spout conspiracy theories while dystopian corporations → Read More
2020 Is One Great Big George Saunders Story
The MacArthur “Genius” and Booker Prize-winning short story master's work gets so much right about America in the present day. → Read More
Review: "Uncanny Valley" and the Argument for Simply Logging Off
Anna Wiener's memoir "Uncanny Valley" (FSG) traces one person’s journey through the tech euphoria and subsequent alienation of the last decade. → Read More
Poetry, Flash Fiction, and Graphic Narrative for Every Holiday Experience
From the archives of The Commuter, we bring you a smorgasbord of reading material for whatever kind of holiday you're having → Read More
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and the Race to Own Space InsideHook
Peter Ward. author of The Consequential Frontier: Challenging the Privatization of Space, talks about the billionares looking to take over outer space → Read More
Inside the Weird World of Shakespeare Conspiracy Theories
You can’t escape William Shakespeare. You read his plays and poems in school and have seen his works adapted into everything from Disney films (The Lion King) to ’90s teen comedies (10 Things I Hate About You). You probably even quote his phrases like “wild-goose chase,” “green-eyed monster,” and “wear your heart on your sleeve” […] → Read More
America Loves to "Stan" — And That's a Very Big Problem
Stans are everywhere these days. I don’t mean people whose birth certificate says Stanley, I mean “stans”: people who are obsessive fans of celebrities, athletes or other cultural figures. Stan is both a noun (“I can’t deal with these Ariana Grande stans”) and a verb (“I stan Daenerys Targaryen for the Iron Throne!”). One can […] → Read More
10 Insane Ideas That Made Brilliant Books
Literature is serious business. We think of books as storing the ideas of civilization and teaching us about the truths that only fiction can tell. We talk about the “Great American Novel” that can sum up the spirit of a nation and debate which writers best captured the soul of mankind. And that’s all well […] → Read More
The Duchy of the Toe Adam
Welcome to a planet where worshipping the wrong appendage can get you killed. → Read More
This Punk as F—k Thriller Is Streaming on Netflix
If you haven't seen the terrifying 'Green Room,' now's your time. → Read More
Dystopian Masterpiece 'Children of Men' Is on Netflix
And somehow, nearly 12 years since its release, it's even more relevant. → Read More
'The Shining'—Maybe the Scariest Movie of All Time—Is on Netflix
Kubrick's masterpiece is streaming, just in time for Halloween. → Read More
Stoning Our Neighbors to Death Makes the Corn Grow High, and Elitist Liberals Should Stop Attacking This Traditional Value
Since Biblical times, stoning people to death has been a horrible punishment reserved for the worst criminals. But now, in PC liberal America, the ... → Read More