About Joshua Glenn

Joshua Glenn is an editor, publisher, and a freelance writer and semiologist. He does business as KING MIXER, LLC. He's cofounder of the websites HiLobrow, Significant Objects, and Semionaut; and cofounder of HiLoBooks, which will reissue six Radium Age sci fi novels in 2012. In 2011, he produced and co-designed the iPhone app KER-PUNCH. He's coauthored and co-edited Taking Things Seriously, The Idler's Glossary, The Wage Slave's Glossary, the story collection Significant Objects (forthcoming from Fantagraphics), and Unbored, a kids' field guide to life forthcoming from Bloomsbury. In the '00s, Glenn was an associate editor and columnist at the Boston Globe's IDEAS section; he also started the IDEAS blog Brainiac. He has written for Slate, n+1, Cabinet, io9, The Baffler, Feed, and The Idler. In the '90s, Glenn published the seminal intellectual zine Hermenaut; served as editorial director and co-producer of the pioneering DIY and online social networking website Tripod.com; and was an editor at the magazine Utne Reader. Glenn manages the Hermenautic Circle, a secretive online community. He was born and raised in Boston, where he lives with his wife and sons. Click here for more info.

Kickstarting COCKY

I recently mentioned a micro-fiction contest over at my other website, HiLobrow. Significant Objects readers are welcome to enter; deadline is the 31st. I also wanted to note that HiLobrow is hoping to serialize, and then print a funny, tragic, … Continue reading

Another Radium-Age SF story contest!

In January, I announced a micro-fiction contest over at HiLobrow.com, an intellectual/literary website that I edit with Matthew Battles. We recently appointed Patrick Cates the site’s Magister Ludi (Master of Games), and yesterday Mr. Cates announced a second micro-fiction contest. … Continue reading

Significant Objects Meme (4)

Obsessive Consumption: What Did you Buy Today? (Princeton Architectural Press, 2010), by Kate Bingaman-Burt, represents a selection of three years’ worth of the author’s annotated drawings of her purchases — including wedding bands, beer, a dog, and, of course, drawing … Continue reading

Hot vs. Cool

In Marshall McLuhan’s pioneering 1964 study, Understanding Media, the Canadian philosopher, literary critic, and communication theorist argued that “hot” media don’t require much work on our part when it comes to determining meaning; “cool” media, however, require us to participate … Continue reading

Short-Short Fiction Contest!

Over at Hilobrow.com, a critical-culture website that I coedit with Matthew Battles, we’ve just invited our readers to enter a science-fiction short-short story contest. We’d be delighted to have Significant Objects readers enter, as well. Check it out. CONTEST DEADLINE: … Continue reading

Significant Objects — the meme

There’s no doubt about it. A significant-objects meme has emerged in US culture, recently. I’m not just talking about Orhan Pamuk’s museum. Over at Fast Company, William Bostwick writes: “Maybe it’s the recession (it’s always the recession), but we seem … Continue reading