Missive #805 Published 5 Oct 2026

The Other Illinois is a 1958 nonfiction book by Baker Brownell that examines the history, culture, and economic decline of the 31 counties in southern Illinois. Published by Duell, Sloan & Pearce as part of the American Folkways series, the work is based on Brownell's research as the first director of the Division of Area Services at Southern Illinois University from 1952 to 1954.
The book details the region's transition from a prosperous area with mild climate and abundant resources to one plagued by poverty, depleted forests, and dwindling towns. Brownell analyzes the causes of this decay with clarity and humor, providing a documented study of social history that remains a key resource for understanding the unique identity of southern Illinois, often referred to as "Egypt."

Missive #802 Published 1 Oct 2026

The first novel by the New York Times bestselling author Lionel Shriver, The Female of the Species is the exotic and chilling story of a highly independent and successful woman’s late-life romantic education, in all its ecstasy and desperation.
Still unattached and childless at fifty-nine, world-renowned anthropologist Gray Kaiser is seemingly invincible—and untouchable. Returning to make a documentary at the site of her first great triumph in Kenya, she is accompanied by her faithful middle-aged assistant, Errol McEchern, who has loved her for years in silence.

Missive #801 Published 28 Sep 2026

Celadon, a poor nation on a poor planet, engaged in civil war and a haven for every type of villainy in space, is ripe for cleanup. The military could pacify it handily, but it would take a statesman to fix it.But some statesmen have ethics, which politicians and megacorps find inconvenient. President Bishwanath compounded the sin by being astute, ambitious and capable. Something had to be done, because a working nation isn't much use for pork and graft.

Missive #799 Published 26 Sep 2026

Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life–something like his old life–exists beyond the airport.

Missive #797 Published 23 Sep 2026

Bili leads his forces in desperate battle against an army of bloodthirsty invaders… The gathering of the host with the help of powerful inhuman allies, Prince Byruhn has persuaded Bili and his warriors to delay their return to Confederation lands and join in his campaign against the deadly invading army that threatens to destroy New Kuhmbuhluhn.

Missive #796 Published 21 Sep 2026

Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu argues in this powerful book that liberal democracy flourished when it pursued its core promises of shared prosperity, democratic governance, and the free pursuit of knowledge. But liberalism, a philosophy built to challenge power, never fully adjusted to becoming the establishment. Nor was it able to deal with the economic and social disruptions that digital technologies wrought. Worse, in the postindustrial economy, liberalism turned its back on its core promises. As a segment of college-educated elites became politically dominant and separated from the rest of society, they sowed the seeds of widespread inequality while intensifying efforts to reshape mass culture and values.