Issue: Volume 37, #1, Spring 2021

The Technology Issue: Stories, Dreams, & Nightmares

“Biodome” by Juhea Kim: in a South Korea girded to survive climate change disaster, class distinctions and career prospects are that much sharper.

“The Sins of Others” by Héctor Tobar: rumors of ICE rounding up people under the Replacement Law seem like a folk tale, until they come for you.

“My One and Only Very Incredible Amazing Love” by Lee Conell: social media and reality TV split the path of friendship shared by two young women.

“Robot” by Daniel Mason: Joyce finds herself beguiled by the work of a famous science fiction author—whom she has the chance to meet.

“Generational Differences” by Anthony Veasna So: “My life isn’t easy to digest. But forgive me for being your mother, because I am writing this section about you, my only son.”

Plus fiction by Andrew Tonkovich and Kate Reed Petty.

Nonfiction
John Markoff on the misunderstood values of Stewart Brand.

Troy Jollimore on the movies of the Coen Brothers, and the high cost of believing that we control our narratives.

Interview
Xiaowei Wang on China and the question, “What does it mean to live, to be human right now?”

Poetry
William Brewer, Chris Carosi, Amanda Moore, Sheryl Luna, Dominica Phetteplace, Leah Poole Osowski, and Benjamin Voigt.

Art
And featuring the digital collages of Dave McClinton

You can purchase a copy of No. 120 here, or order a subscription to ZYZZYVA now and we’ll start you off by shipping you the latest issue.

Friend

by Dominica Phetteplace

Posted on by Zack Ravas

She says Namaste even when not in yoga class, whereas I will not say om under any circumstances. She says she doesn’t resent the younger generation, that they are completely of a world that we made, that to hate the young is to hate ourselves. She says that guys on dating apps indicate their marriage suitability by listing their hobbies as ‘hiking’ and ‘rock climbing.’ Her hobbies include cocaine and gambling, but she leaves those off her profile. Somedays she doesn’t feel like getting out of bed, but if I say I want to get coffee she will walk with […]

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Biodome

by Juhea Kim

Posted on by Zack Ravas

April 13. Almost midnight. Through the worn twill curtains, a viscous light was flowing into the apartment like amber. Park washed his face in the bathroom, took his meds, and sat down on the sofa with the remote. One click, and the blue light of the TV mingled with the sodium yellow of the room. He flipped through the channels. Game shows. Contestants competing for money, for marriage. The women are showing off, swiveling their hips and winking at the camera, and then they’re ranked by the amount of applause they receive. People awwing over tiny puppies. Slow, close-up shots […]

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The Technology Issue: Letter from the Editor

by Laura Cogan

Posted on by Zack Ravas
ZYZZYVA Volume 37, #1, Spring 2021 (No. 120)

Dear Readers, At the beginning of George Dyson’s latest book, Analogia, he describes how, in 1716, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz hoped his calculus ratiocinator (an instrument that brilliantly anticipated digital computing) would “work out, by an infallible calculus, the doctrines most useful for life.” With this device, Leibniz imagined, “The human race will have a new kind of instrument which will increase the power of the mind much more than optical lenses strengthen the eyes.” I am struck by the analogy and how well it lends itself to piercing Leibniz’s optimism; for just as vision is not, in itself, perception, information […]

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