“Russians have used this weirdness as an explanation for why Russia must be different: why it must be governed differently; why it needs autocratic tsars and all-powerful General Secretaries. Not every Russian thinks this, of course, but enough have that even if it weren’t true to begin with, it might be now. Being weird and thinking you’re weird eventually come out to the same thing.” –Theon Weber looks at post-Soviet Russian pop.

• Chris Sims finds some genuinely terrifying science fiction and fantasy book covers.

• Jennifer Gilmore (author of Something Red) and her sister Kate interview each other.

• The New Republic reviews Cynthia Ozick’s Foreign Bodies.

• China Miéville and Lev Grossman in conversation this June? That sounds promising.