Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Ryan Bradley
Review: Doctor Who: Books: The Black Archive #70: Ascension of the Cybermen / The Timeless Children
By Ryan Bradley Obverse Books Obverse Books’ ongoing series of monographs focusing on a Doctor Who serial or story hits 2020’s Series 12 two-parter Ascension of the Cybermen/ The Timeless Children. Ryan Bradley tackles Chris Chibnall’s ‘time to rip up the rule book’ two-parter that for many people represents the either greatest innovation or upset of the showrunner’s tenure. However you fall, there’s no denying that there’s some big ideas at play, and Bradley takes the opportunity to dive in.
To Save Ukraine, Defeat Russia and Deter China
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. American intelligence officials are concerned that China is considering sending lethal aid to Russia. The West must increase the speed and scale of aid to Ukraine, to remind Beijing that it should stay out of a war Moscow is going to lose.
Spring 2022
Spring 2022 Volume 98, Number 1 VQR’s Spring issue tends to coincide with a buoyant season. But just as the most recent surge of the coronavirus pandemic has ebbed, war has broken out in Europe. Anxieties are piling up, and yet people seem determined to step stubbornly into some semblance of an outdated normalcy. If anything, this spring is a conflicted and bittersweet season. The work herein—including Claire Rosen’s unforgettable cover image—embraces that tension.
The Resurrectionists
When I was young, my dad would take me to the hospital, usually on weekends, mostly on Saturdays. He was visiting his patients, the ones he’d operated on earlier that week, when he’d replaced their hip or their knee. I remember these mornings quite well because I knew, even then, that they were not normal. I knew, I suppose, that I was in a space where most children were not.
Death and the River: Close Reading a Classic Scots’ Border Ballad
Again it is late and I am alone, listening to “Annan Water” on repeat. It’s a sad song, about a man trying to cross a river at night to see his love. It does not go well. His love is named Annie. His name we never learn; he could be anyone: the singer, you, me, all of us. The man has ridden a horse to the river’s edge, “over field and fen, o’er moor and moss and many a mire.” But when the mare reaches the water, she stops, and will go no further.
Going Deep
The underground lake was 150 acres, though you couldn’t see all of it, not all at once. Most of the lake disappeared into the dense darkness of the mine. My host and tour guide, Gary McPartlin, the facilities operations manager, mentioned the lake in passing.
Lovecraft Country's Tulsa Massacre Is an Amazing Recreation of a Horrific Event
The depiction of the Tulsa Race Massacre in the penultimate episode of Lovecraft Country is incredibly powerful because of its narrow focus. WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Lovecraft Country Season 1, Episode 9, "Rewind 1921," which aired Sunday on HBO.
Stan Lee Didn't Just NARRATE Pryde of the X-Men, He Wrote Its Theme Song Lyrics
Stan Lee lends his talents to narrate the pilot of Pryde of the X-Men; however, he also tried his hand at writing the theme song lyrics. Legendary comic book writer Stan Lee is credited with creating some of Marvel’s most beloved heroes, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man and many more. Along with being a writer for comics, he also wrote the lyrics for the theme song of X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men. Pryde of the X-Men was a short-lived cartoon adaptation of the Uncanny X-Men comic series.
Captain Marvel Introduces a Fantomex-5 in Marvel's The End Future Timeline
The latest issue of Captain Marvel takes the hero to a familiar future world that introduces an all new version of Fantomex, a fan favorite mutant. WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Captain Marvel #24 by Kelly Thompson, Lee Garbett, Tamra Bonvillian, and Clayton Cowles, on sale now. In Captain Marvel #24, Carol Danvers is transported to the future world of Captain Marvel: The End where she meets Fantomex 5. She’d been on a date with War Machine, when they stumbled upon an alien spaceship.
City Monster, One of Those Days and 5 Other 2020 Graphic Novels That Started as Webcomics
Plenty of webcomics have made the jump from screen to page, and City Monster, One of Those Days and these other books are making that transition, too. The first webcomic, Witches and Stitches, started in 1985. Even still, the digital medium was largely ignored by major publishers until the webcomics boom of the mid-2000s, with mainstays like Questionable Content and Cyanide and Happiness making waves. The medium, which started out as most humor, branched out into other genres.
What the Beaver Can Teach Us About Innovative Conservation
The man appeared suddenly, out of the darkness and around the bend. He was standing to the side of the asphalt, near the edge of the floodlights illuminating a barricade of orange traffic barrels and, beyond, a great pile of dirt disappearing into the night. Half of the mountain road was blocked off—was, in fact, no road at all past the barricade and the pile. I drove closer and slowed to a stop. As I did so the man made some unhurried steps toward my car.
Waterlogged
The man appeared suddenly, out of the darkness and around the bend. He was standing to the side of the asphalt, near the edge of the floodlights illuminating a barricade of orange traffic barrels and, beyond, a great pile of dirt disappearing into the night. Half of the mountain road was blocked off—was, in fact, no road at all past the barricade and the pile. I drove closer and slowed to a stop. As I did so the man made some unhurried steps toward my car.
After the Nobel, Then What?
PUBLISHED: October 19, 2009 The story may be apocryphal, but it is entertaining nevertheless: At the end of class one week towards the beginning of the semester, Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott tells his MFA workshop at Boston University that, unfortunately, he will not be able to attend class next week.
Week of 10/6/19 | VQR Online
In an effort to better acquaint you, the reader, with the VQR staff, members of our team will share excerpts from our personal reading—The Best 200 Words I Read All Week. From fact to fiction, from comedic to tragic, we hope you find as much to admire in these selections as we do. Click here for access to the complete project archive 1.
Photo-ID Laws: The Asterisk on Your Right to Vote
Editor’s note: Throughout the fall, VQR will be posting educational information related to women’s rights, to extend and support the articles in our Fall 2012 issue on The Female Conscience. ——— Exercising your civil right to vote now often comes with terms and conditions. Over thirty states have enacted voter ID laws, and several states have ID legislation in the works. Voter-ID laws can affect your right to vote in surprisingly mundane ways.
Week of 9/8/19 | VQR Online
PUBLISHED: September 15, 2019 In an effort to better acquaint you, the reader, with the VQR staff, members of our team will share excerpts from our personal reading—The Best 200 Words I Read All Week. From fact to fiction, from comedic to tragic, we hope you find as much to admire in these selections as we do. Click here for access to the complete project archive 1. Jones had struck me, over the months I was in conversation with him, as if he was searching for the next summit and feeling stymied.
The Fortune-Teller
Isol’s work as an illustrator has been internationally recognized with a Golden Apple Award (2003) and her selection as a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in both 2006 and 2007. In 2013 she was honored with the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), one of the most prestigious distinctions in children’s literature. She is the illustrator—and in many cases also the author—of twenty-six titles published in more than a dozen languages. She is also a singer of classical and pop music.
Soy in the Amazon
Soybeans and rainforest collide in the Brazilian Amazon. We caught a predawn flight out of Cuiabá. The plane headed north in darkness, vaulting over the invisible mesas and out across the vast tablelands of the planalto. The sun came up on a flat expanse of red earth checkered with dense scrubland and enormous clearings, the boundary lines cut as sharp and straight as hedgerows.
Enlightenment | VQR Online
In the portrait of Jefferson that hangs at Monticello, he is rendered two-toned: his forehead white with illumination— a lit bulb—the rest of his face in shadow, darkened as if the artist meant to contrast his bright knowledge, its dark subtext. By 1805, when Jefferson sat for the portrait, he was already linked to an affair with his slave.
Whitman and Patriotism
“The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.” What presidential speechwriter, talk-radio host, bumper-sticker sloganeer, or all-around flag-waver has ever written or spoken higher praise? What anthem or pledge, sung or recited before a sports event or at a school, contains so unabashed a superlative?
What Became of the Prussian Army?
Of all the delusions of the pre-Blitzkrieg era none seems stranger today than the firm belief of the democracies that the Prussian Army would stop Hitler. And few have done more damage.
Dead Enough?: The Paradox of Brain Death
A perfect liver on ice has a nearly radiant sheen, a wet brown anterior so flawless that it reflects light. The broad, curved surfaces meet in sharp juxtaposition at the periphery, creating fine edges that would slice your fingertips if they were made of steel and not hepatocytes. The surgeon lifts the organ out of the basin. It nestles into her cupped palms, the edges curling over her gloved fingers.
Flannery O'Connor and the Art of the Holy
For Dorothy Tuck McFarland Flannery O’Connor was an extraordinary person, an extraordinary thinker and writer—and she knew it. Once a student in Texas asked her why she wrote. She later told John Hawkes her reply: “”because I’m good at it,” says I.” She had meant to display disgust at shallowness and impertinence, but it also shows her quick and ready wit—and her abiding attitude.
Week of 5/19/19 | VQR Online
PUBLISHED: May 28, 2019 In an effort to better acquaint you, the reader, with the VQR staff, members of our team will share excerpts from our personal reading—The Best 200 Words I Read All Week. From fact to fiction, from comedic to tragic, we hope you find as much to admire in these selections as we do. Click here for access to the complete project archive 1.
Week of 5/5/19 | VQR Online
PUBLISHED: May 13, 2019 In an effort to better acquaint you, the reader, with the VQR staff, members of our team will share excerpts from our personal reading—The Best 200 Words I Read All Week. From fact to fiction, from comedic to tragic, we hope you find as much to admire in these selections as we do. Click here for access to the complete project archive 1. We were poor, but the beach was ours.
Will, Change, and Power in the Poetry of Adrienne Rich
On the Job I’m in the back of Dishes, on 45th off Fifth, on my lunch hour. The Fact of a Doorframe is open on the table, and I’m reading to write, the way I might read to write a poem, although now it is this tribute that I want, although I’m writing this tribute as if it were a poem, a poem to Adrienne.
2019 VQR Writers’ Conference
The sixth annual VQR Writers’ Conference takes place June 24-29, 2019, on the grounds of the historic University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Our conference is designed for serious writers at all stages of their careers looking for inspiration and camaraderie. Conference Details Conference participants pay $1,500, which includes lodging and meals. For participants who do not need housing, the cost is $1,250. Once admitted to the conference, a nonrefundable deposit of $250 is due by May 15.
Week of 3/17/19 | VQR Online
PUBLISHED: March 26, 2019 In an effort to better acquaint you, the reader, with the VQR staff, members of our team will share excerpts from our personal reading—The Best 200 Words I Read All Week. From fact to fiction, from comedic to tragic, we hope you find as much to admire in these selections as we do. Click here for access to the complete project archive 1.
W. S. Merwin, the Eternal Apprentice
Just after World War II, a young Princeton student journeyed to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC, to visit Ezra Pound. The great poet had been tried for treason for broadcasts he made in Italy for the fascist government and, pleading insanity, wound up serving a dozen years in the psychiatric institution. To the astonishment of his young visitor that day in 1946, Pound greeted him as if he were a serious poet. Like an elder, he also offered advice.
Feminist Forms | VQR Online
“All your working life,” asks an exasperated wife, “you’ve studied these stories. Why?” She means the stuff of folklore, her husband’s academic field, in which most narratives take a turn to the surreal. The man replies that such stories present “a true picture of the world,” better than “what we see around us.” Ordinary reality, he argues, “isn’t any place for heroes.” This vexes his wife further. “There are always going to be heroes,” she declares.
An Outside Man | VQR Online
When Marlon James announced his follow-up to his Booker-Prize winning novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, it was met with intense excitement. James is best known as a literary novelist with a reputation for not mincing his words in public. In promotion for his last book, James sparked debate with his comments about the domination of white women as gatekeepers in publishing and his critique on the distinction between white people who identify as nonracist as opposed to antiracist.
On Death and Decluttering
Two women share a hospital room, separated by a green-blue curtain, at the end of a brief, beige hallway. Their prospects foreclosed by illness, the women have agreed to enter this room, if not to share it, and to find what peace is possible. Separated always by the green-blue curtain, the women receive their respective family members, making few requests, their needs muted in a way that humbles and vexes their visitors.
"A Barkeeper Entering the Kingdom of Heaven": Did Mark Twain Really Hate Jane Austen?
“Whenever I take up Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, I feel like a barkeeper entering the Kingdom of Heaven. . . . Jane Austen . . .makes me detest all her people, without reserve.—from Mark Twain’s “Jane Austen,” an unpublished, incomplete fragment Mark Twain expressed unparalleled hatred of Jane Austen, defining an ideal library as one with none of her books on its shelves.
Week of 1/20/18 | VQR Online
PUBLISHED: January 25, 2019 In an effort to better acquaint you, the reader, with the VQR staff, members of our team will share excerpts from our personal reading—The Best 200 Words I Read All Week. From fact to fiction, from comedic to tragic, we hope you find as much to admire in these selections as we do. Click here for access to the complete project archive 1. This kind of back-and-forth relationship with body hair is new.
Devilish Forces | VQR Online
In early October 2007, almost three years to the day after I began my career as a journalist in Russia, a conversation with a former CIA agent brought it to an end. He was a longtime friend I’d joined in Scotland for a weekend holiday. We were on a train hurtling through the countryside east of Edinburgh after a morning rain; the hills were so vivid it hurt to look at them too long.
Borges, Faulkner, and the Wild Palms
This essay is for those of you who choose to believe that Jorge Luis Borges actually translated, in 1939, a novel of William Faulkner’s called The Wild Palms.
The Chair | VQR Online
The old Hitachi dual cassette was pain and elegant with age, and the branches were, and the sash window was open with pain, and the afternoon was adequate, and pain. Children rollerskating in the street were pain and the hum of the imminent sunset was. Would I say today was, and all today’s heirs? Yes, I would bet tomorrow morning on it. My mouth these many years was wealthy with pain. For so many years, I thought prodigal meant destined to return transformed and beloved.
The Christian with Four Aces
For nearly half a century, Pat Robertson has built a media juggernaut on the twin foundations of religious fundamentalism and hard-nosed politics. He has enjoyed unmatched influence, but is it the end of an era? 1 I spoiled Pat Robertson’s birthday. I know, because he told me so.
Those Glorious Fan Magazines
The following post by Anne Helen Petersen is part of our online companion to our Winter 2013 issue on Classic Hollywood. Click here for an overview of the issue. ——— We know what Hollywood publicity looks like today: proliferating gossip blog posts, paparazzi shots on TMZ, carefully cultivated Tumblrs featuring “candid” photos taken by the celebrity’s full-time leisure photographer.
American Origami
Japanese legend has it that anyone who makes 1,000 paper cranes will be granted any wish, a piece of lore rooted in the cultural reverence for this regal bird, which was once thought to live to a thousand years. This story of wish-making was embraced by a twelve-year-old Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki, who had been struggling with leukemia as a result of the US bombing of Hiroshima. The year she died, Sadako was able to make more than 1,400 paper cranes with the help of her classmates.
A Girl Like You | VQR Online
In his introduction to the first New Journalism collection, published in 1973, Tom Wolfe lists a handful of reporters from the 1930s and ’40s as “Not Half-Bad Candidates” for the title of progenitors of the form, including John Hersey, A. J. Liebling, and George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway’s reportage from Europe.
The Poetry Factory: On Mass-Submission Culture
Mail Boxes by Gregory Jordan / Flickr It’s September, which means most American literary journals have lurched back to life after a customary three-month summer bender, and many writers—especially those still tied to an academic calendar—are gearing up for the submissions cycle, too.
Raise High the Bookshelves, Censors!
In Cold Fear: The Catcher in the Rye, Censorship Controversies and Postwar American Character. By Pamela Hunt Steinle. Ohio State. $45.00. The Catcher in the Rye has done strange things to people. In late 1980, Mark David Chapman stuck a copy of J.D. Salinger’s book in his pocket as he stalked and then murdered John Lennon. Before the New York police arrived, the assassin began re-reading the novel to himself.
The VQR Count | VQR Online
Every year we like to do an internal audit of gender parity in our pages. This count includes every contributor—from poets to reporters, from fiction writers to photographers (and, of course, our beloved illustrators). Basically, if they got a contributor bio in a print issue of VQR, they’re included. Here are the results for 2017: Out of 148 contributions, 74 came from men; 72 from women; and two from gender-nonconforming artists.
A Polar Turn of Mind: Finding Peace and Quiet in the High Canadian Arctic
For most North Americans travel means moving sideways or, slightly more exotically, south. The former journey unwires one’s circadian rhythm while the latter equinoctially scrambles the night sky. What of going North, then? As it turns out, there remains quite a bit more “north” to North America than is usually imagined, and I stepped off the plane in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, Canada’s largest and northernmost territory, with uncertain desires and little expectation. It was July.
Driving My Own Destiny
Standing up against a fatwa that bars them from driving, Saudi women fight for autonomy, identity, and freedom. My name is Manal al-Sharif. I’m from Saudi Arabia. I want to tell you about two separate chapters of my life. Chapter one is the story of my generation; it begins the year I was born, 1979. On November 20 of that year, there was a siege of Mecca, the holiest shrine in the world for Muslims. It was seized by Juhayman al-Otaybi, a militant Islamist, and some 400 of his men.
Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic Faith
Thomas Jefferson’s republican convictions were formed early in his life, upon what was then the western frontier; when he was only twenty-two years old they seem to have been crystallized by a speech of Patrick Henry in opposition to the British Stamp Act. From that time on he was a leader in every movement for freedom and independence, usually somewhat in advance of other “rebels,” finding what he said or wrote disapproved of at the time, only to win later assent.
Brown’s Faint Revival
We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in the public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal, deprive the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does.Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme CourtBrown v. Board of Education, May 17, 1954. It does seem an obvious answer now, looking back at what feels like ancient history.
Doing the Work: Why We Need Affirmative Action
The arguments about whether affirmative action has run its course, has accomplished its purposes, or now constitutes an enshrined system of discrimination against white people contain so little historical perspective that they are eviscerated at the core. They remind me of trees felled by a hurricane.
Is This the Passing of Mr. Gandhi?
There are some who profess to forecast for Mr. Gandhi a fate not dissimilar to Woodrow Wilson’s —an appeal to the finest ideals in human nature; a following almost without precedent in the history of the world; the obstinate and irrelevant insistency of interested politics; the infirmity of human nature; and finally isolation in a world not yet prepared for his coming. To each the end desired appeared so near and easy of achievement. Is India today writing the failure of Mr. Gandhi?
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Ryan
Contact Ryan, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack