Wired, The Sci-Fi issue
Wired kicks of 2017 with its January sci-fi themed issue – the first time that the title has devoted all its pages to fiction. It’s also a farewell issue for the award-winning team of editor-in-chief Scott Dadich and creative director Billy Sorrentino; Dadich has just confirmed his departure to launch a new design strategy business, and Sorrentino has left for Apple.
The purely fictional approach is a brave and ideological move, explained in Dadich’s intro titled ‘The Power of Science Fiction’:
‘One of this publication’s most important jobs is to see the big trends, spot important business models, and chronicle landmark innovations that show us where we’re going. But right now, that is hard to do. In this rapidly changing, aggressively agitated moment, it’s very difficult to discern what the future holds.’
To address this, the magazine turns to fiction. As Dadich says, ‘Sometimes to get a clearer sense of reality, you have to take some time to dream.’ A line that speaks of his own new venture as much as his vision for the issue.
Science fiction, with its shimmering history of alternative societies, utopian and dystopian, say more about the current way we live than escapist fantasy ever could. This January science fiction issue includes stories that seek to tell us where we are today from well-known fiction writers, including Charles Yu, who writes for HBO’s Westworld, the creators of The Expanse, Etgar Keret, Lydia Millet, Gled David Gold and more.
The cover is entirely illustrated and comes from a hand familiar to magCulture readers: the gorgeous night blue enveloping two figures walking into an unknown expanse, accompanied by a hand rendering of the Wired logo, is the work of Christoph Niemann. It is typically different bold and different cover from the magazine.
The entire issue features illustration, paying homage to the science fiction greats with hints of the retro psychedelia you’d spot on Penguin paperback science fiction as well as comic strip, anatomical and fantasy art.
Sorrentino has already left the magazine, with design director David Moretti stepping up to replace him. As I write, it appears Dadich has already been replaced by Nicholas Thompson, previously editor of NewYorker.com. Dadich and Sorrentino will be a hard team to follow; it’s going to be interesting to see how the magazine fares.
Illustrations above by Ulises Farinas, Robert Sammerlin, Vincent Mahé, Mario Hugo and Senor Salme.