Kira

In May 2018 Kira Yarmysh found herself in jail for a second time. Yarmysh – press secretary to the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny – had called for people to attend an anti-government rally in downtown Moscow. Its title: “He’s Not Our Tsar”. The tsar in question – Vladimir Putin – was about to be inaugurated as president for a fourth term.The Moscow authorities refused to sanction the rally. What happened next was predictable. Riot police arrested hundreds of people. Later that month Yarmysh turned up at a police…

In spite of a rocky first third, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a delightful, if slightly unsurprising, swords and sorcery film that balances the goofball antics of playing tabletop role-playing games and focused storytelling without sacrificing approachability. It follows a rag-tag group of adventurers who spend a little too long on their traumatic backstories as they attempt to right the wrongs of their past. Sort of. That’s kind of incidental, really. Despite all the marketing about saving a world from…

Deep Space Nine revolutionized so much of what could be possible in the world of Star Trek, but it will always be remembered for one of its most transgressive plot threads: the devastating outbreak of the Dominion War, a conflict that, 25 years ago, challenged everything the franchise’s idealistic vision of utopia could stand for.01:25Randall Park's Favorite SuperheroesMonday 5:02PMAlthough the Dominion had been an ever-growing threat throughout the fifth season of Deep Space Nine, its dramatic finale—and the coming…

Screenshot: ParamountThis week’s Star Trek: Lower Decks opens with a gag about the slow, majestic grandeur of the Deep Space Nine title theme. And if that was all Lower Decks had to offer for an episode set on the iconic show’s titular space station, that might be fine, if disappointing—and in line with the first half of this season. Thankfully, the show’s re-invigoration wants it to be more than that.After last week delivered the first episode of Lower Decks’ first season that felt like it leaned more on the growth of…

Image: Tor BooksJuly’s hefty pile of new sci-fi, fantasy, and horror releases brings lesbian vampires, politically motivated magic, interstellar bounty hunters, a jazz musician who teams up with mecha pilots, mermaids, robots, fairy-tale riffs, and so much more. There’s still plenty of summer reading time left, so what are you waiting for?Image: Flatiron BooksActs of Violet by Margarita MontimoreTen years after a famous magician vanishes onstage, her introverted sister is forced to face the truth about what happened in…