“Celebrity Apprentice” alum Piers Morgan is sticking up for his pal, Ariana Grande. On social media, the British broadcaster and TV personality urged fans to back off of the “Petal” singer days after her spokesperson revealed her plans to take a step back from the public eye following her tour’s conclusion.

On Instagram, Morgan posted a photo of himself with Grande and added a lengthy caption.

“I’ve no idea what’s going on with @arianagrande, but I do know, after spending a random evening with her in a Beverly Hills restaurant a few years ago, that she’s a genuinely great person: intelligent, funny, engaging, and of course, supremely talented,” he wrote.

Continuing, Morgan said that the level of fame Grande has is no easy task and explained that it can be a “very difficult and lonely place.” Morgan finished by urging the “trolls currently making her life a misery” to “back off” and give her the space she needs to get back to feeling like herself.

Ariana Grande Planning To Pull Back From The Spotlight Beginning September 2

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Morgan’s statement of support for Grande comes days after a representative for the singer revealed that she will pull back from the public eye at the end of her “Eternal Sunshine Tour,” which wraps on September 1.

“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny,” the rep said. “This tour has been a beautiful experience for her. She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much.”

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While it’s unclear exactly why Grande has decided to pull back, many have assumed it’s due to the ongoing conversation and speculation surrounding her body, something the “Victorious” actress has condemned over the last several years.

“I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what,” she said in a 2023 TikTok. “There are ways to compliment someone or to ignore something that you see that you don’t like that I think we should help each other work towards.”

Meghan McCain Speaks About Grande With Shocking Social Media Post

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According to a previous report from The Blast, former “The View” co-host Meghan McCain was one of the public figures to speak out about Grande. Her comments came after the release of Grande’s latest music video, “Petal,” which prompted viewers to share their concerns about the singer’s health and well-being.

McCain allegedly shared a similar message, saying, “This reminds me of the Amy Winehouse era when it was blatantly obvious something was very wrong, but everyone around her just ignored and enabled it. This is very, VERY sad and she clearly needs help immediately.”

Trisha Paytas Speaks Out

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Internet personality Trisha Paytas is another celebrity who spoke out, according to Us Weekly, and said that the conversation surrounding Grande and her body was unacceptable. She added that she feels the internet has emboldened people to say whatever they want without consequences.

While she admitted she was also concerned about Grande, she said commenting publicly wasn’t her place and could only cause more harm than good.

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“I just don’t think [commenting on people’s bodies] helps either way. It doesn’t help them want to get help, it doesn’t help them want to stop the problem. So many times when people say, ‘Oh, you look sick,’ or ‘We see your bones’ … it’s almost like encouraging, enabling that issue, if that makes sense,” she finished.

Ariana Grande Said Her Decision To Pull Away Was Not A ‘Reactive Or Impulsive’ Choice

Ariana Grande with a speech at tonights show in reference to her break and the hate 🤍 #weloveyouariana pic.twitter.com/CB0tajXXk3

— 𝓞𝓭𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓮 (@D0LLIKE) August 4, 2026

The announcement about Grande’s future only drew more attention to the singer, and during her show at Chicago’s United Center on August 3, she addressed the crowd with a handwritten letter. According to Grande, her choice to pull away from the public eye was not a rash decision.

“It is something that I had decided to plan,” she said before clarifying that the public’s opinion and “negativity” weren’t the reason. “No matter what noises exist out there, nothing will be able to distort my reality or be more real to me or not as real to me as this love that we share,” she added.

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Days of Our Lives spoilers indicate that Joy Wesley (AlexAnn Hopkins) has a health scare this week that could be very serious and in fact downright scary. And Alex Kiriakis (Robert Scott Wilson) is set to be there when she gets this devastating diagnosis.

This could change everything for Alex and his baby mama and for Stephanie Johnson (Abigail Klein) as well. We’re going to talk about Joy’s scary diagnosis and Stephanie doubting that it’s even a real thing.

Days of our Lives: Joy is a Thorn in Stephanie’s Side

So, we all know that Joy has caused nothing but grief for Stephanie since she arrived in Salem with Alex’s daughter, Kelsey. And if not for Jeremy Horton (Michael Roark) prodding her, Joy might still be in New York with her parents raising little Kelsey alone. But Jeremy wanted to stir the pot. And boy did it work.

And from there, Stephanie actually made things so much worse. I mean, I’d be worried if my baby daddy’s wife fired a gun at my head. And I honestly don’t think that Stephanie has apologized enough directly to Joy for that. You know, maybe because Alex keeps saying it’s not your fault, but it is Stephanie’s fault.

And I don’t think she’s gone and had a sit down and explained it herself and really genuinely apologized. Yes, it is Jeremy’s fault that he kidnapped Stephanie and she had PTSD as a result. However, it is Stephanie’s fault that she ignored every single one of her dad, Steve Johnson (Stephen Nichols) gun safety rules.

Stephanie Was Careless on DOOL

Not only did she have a loaded gun not in a safe, but she had it close at hand while taking double doses of sleeping pills. Have you ever taken Ambien? I have. It is not a drug to take with a loaded firearm close at hand or your cell phone or your credit card or your car keys. So, I think at this point, Joy has some PTSD that’s maybe not being acknowledged because of that. But in the end, we all know the truth. Joy did come to Salem hoping to use Kelsey to steal Alex from Stephanie.

Those are definitely facts of the matter, and it is an extreme demand from Joy that they keep Stephanie away from Alex’s daughter forever. But they could agree that keep Stephanie away from Kelsey for 6 months and then we’ll revisit it and if there’s no more scary incidents, no bullets flying, then you know, alter the custody and visitation arrangement.

I think it’s understandable that Joy is a little scared, but Alex refused to sign the custody arrangement because of the ban on Stephanie that was initially set for Kelsey until she turned 18. I agree that was heavy-handed, not fair to Alex in the least. But at the same time, it’s Joy and Alex’s co-parenting issue for them to hash out, them and their lawyers.

Days of our Lives: Stephanie Ruined Things with Her Big Mouth

Stephanie knows she screwed up shooting at Joy and she should have stayed out of it. You know, give Alex the room to negotiate because this is his to deal with. And in fact, Belle Black (Martha Madison) had talked some sense to Joy, but then Stephanie had to butt in and she shouldn’t have and she made things worse.

Not only did Stephanie tell Joy she thought she was being unreasonable, but it got worse. Stephanie told Joy off, saying she was trying to steal Alex from her. Stephanie was raging about Joy calling Alex about the medical insurance.

In that case, he was the one who panicked and ran off instead of listening to what Joy had to say. Then Stephanie griped about the flat tire that Joy called Alex about. But Joy didn’t have roadside assistance and didn’t want to leave Kelsey alone in the car while she changed the flat on a busy road.

Stephanie’s not a mom. She doesn’t understand. I would have done the same thing. And the spare tire caused the blowout that caused the car crash and Stephanie was ignoring Joy’s calls to Alex’s phone and then deleted the voicemail. That was immature behavior.

If Stephanie had just answered the call, everything would have been different because she would have heard from Joy about the wreck and then she could have contacted Alex, sent him to the hospital and Stephanie could have met him there and they could have dealt with it together as a couple.

Instead, Stephanie assumed the worst because Joy was hurt, you know, and Kelsey had to get checked out. But Stephanie was actually thinking that Joy would crash her car on purpose to manipulate Alex. That’s next level paranoia. 99.99% of moms would never put their child in danger.

Joy’s Devastating Diagnosis and Leukemia Theory on DOOL

Alex finds out that Stephanie interfered, made things worse with the custody thing. And then Alex is begging Joy to reconsider. All of this could have been avoided if Stephanie just let Alex deal with his business. And then things take a turn for the much worse.

Joy’s at Brady Pub pulling Kelsey’s car seat off the stroller and she’s got some kind of arm thing. She’s in obvious agony. Kelsey’s scared and crying and Javi Hernandez (Jacob Martinez) id going to be there. He’s checking on Joy. Rafe Hernandez (Galen Gering) is checking on Kelsey to calm her down. And I bet an EMT insists Joy has to go to the hospital to get checked out.

And initially it may look like an arm injury, maybe some leftover thing from the car crash or a pulled muscle when you know that baby gear is heavy. But spoilers hint, it is so much more serious than that. Alex is on hand to support Joy when she receives devastating news. And that sounds to me like a terrifying medical diagnosis. You know, a pulled ligament in your arm or pulled muscle, that’s not devastating news. So, I don’t think this is related to Kelsey on Days of our Lives.

I think it’s about Joy herself. And at the same time that Alex is with Joy for this stuff, Stephanie’s having a heart-to-heart with her mom, Kayla Brady (Mary Beth Evans). And we can already guess Stephanie’s going to rant about Alex rushing off to be with Joy, ranting about the custody deal. I expect Stephanie tells Kayla she thinks this is another stunt Joy’s pulling to get his attention. All part of her master plan to steal Alex. But it’s not a stunt. And it could be something terrifying.

Days of our Lives: Stephanie Horrifies Alex

And Stephanie’s going to look like a monster for saying all this because Alex is there, he hears it straight from the doctor. So if Stephanie rolls up and suggests that Joy is faking and conning him, I think Alex may be upset. So, here’s what I suspect is going to happen.

I think Joy’s going to be told she has leukemia. If you recall her origin story, leukemia is part of it. Joy was conceived as a savior sibling to be a bone marrow donor for her sister who had leukemia. That same cancer that almost killed her sister might now be threatening Joy.

And just to be clear, leukemia doesn’t run in families, but soaps can write what they want with medical conditions. And one of leukemia’s symptoms is arm pain. It is a very common leukemia symptom. That’s why I jumped right to thinking that might be what we’re getting. The pain is caused by cancerous white blood cells building up pressure in the bone marrow.

So, while Stephanie is accusing her of a stunt, you know, Alex may be hearing that Kelsey’s mom has cancer. And Kayla, as a doctor, can check and see Joy’s test results, but she can’t tell Stephanie anything. So, Stephanie may run her mouth to Alex and then he is angry. From there, they’d likely see if Kelsey is a match to be a bone marrow donor to her own mom.

Two Ways this Could Go on Days

If Joy has a cancer like this, I expect it’s going to take one of two storyline paths. One, Joy needs a donor. Kelsey’s tested as a match, and that exposes that the paternity test was rigged and Alex isn’t Kelsey’s biological father. A lot of fans think Joy’s been lying and somehow tampered with the test that Alex took when Joy first came back to Salem.

Another route they could go is Alex is still Kelsey’s daddy and they’re writing a cancer plot to potentially kill off Joy so that Alex and Stephanie will be raising little Kelsey. So Stephanie doesn’t want kids. That could be really messy. This whole situation might push Alex and Stephanie’s marriage to the brink and it could be a life and death ordeal for Joy that could leave her daughter Kelsey without a mom.

Adventure stories have always captured our desire to explore the unknown. For centuries, adventure novels have invited readers to sail across uncharted oceans, uncover hidden civilizations, duel fearless enemies, and survive impossible odds. So many movies and games have taken inspiration from them.

A few key books were central in shaping the genre’s conventions, laying down blueprints that countless writers would follow. Whether introducing unforgettable heroes, pioneering entirely new subgenres, or digging deep with their themes, the titles on this list all left their mark on adventure storytelling.

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‘Robinson Crusoe’ (1719)

Image via CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

“I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition.” One of the very first English novels ever, Robinson Crusoe tells the story of a sailor stranded alone on a deserted island after a shipwreck. Forced to survive using only his ingenuity and determination, Crusoe gradually builds shelter, cultivates crops, domesticates animals, and creates an entirely new life before eventually encountering the man he names Friday.

In the process, author Daniel Defoe transformed survival into the central engine of an adventure story, paving the way for an entire subgenre. (Indeed, the protagonist’s name has come to be synonymous with being stranded and isolated in the wild.) Crucially, rather than relying on constant action, Defoe mined drama out of practical problem-solving, self-reliance, and the character’s ability to adapt under extraordinary circumstances. You continue to see echoes of this in everything from Cast Away to The Martian.

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‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ (1872)

Image via Penguin Classics

“Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.” This banger is one of the defining works by the legendary Jules Verne. It follows the impeccably punctual English gentleman Phileas Fogg after he wagers that modern transportation has made it possible to circumnavigate the globe in just eighty days. Accompanied by his loyal servant Passepartout, Fogg embarks upon a whirlwind journey across continents while being pursued by a detective who mistakenly believes him to be a notorious bank robber.

Published in the 1870s, Around the World in Eighty Days captures the excitement of its moment in time, an age when the world was suddenly feeling more interconnected thanks to steamships, railways, and global communication. Every destination introduces fresh obstacles, colorful characters, and ingenious escapes, and the plot maintains a relentless pace throughout. All this makes it the archetypal modern globe-trotting adventure.

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‘The Lost World’ (1912)

“I am a believer in the impossible.” Although most famous for Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle also penned this classic sci-fi-edged adventure. Long before dinosaurs dominated pop culture (this book was published more than a century ago), The Lost World imagined an isolated South American plateau where prehistoric creatures continued to thrive. The eccentric Professor Challenger leads an expedition into this mysterious region, where the explorers encounter dinosaurs, ape-like beings, and civilizations untouched by the outside world.

Through this, Doyle essentially created the “lost world” subgenre. His emphasis on discovery and exploration established a template that would influence generations of adventure writers, filmmakers, and game designers. From King Kong and Jurassic Park to countless pulp adventures and fantasy epics, most stories about hidden civilizations and prehistoric ecosystems can trace much of their DNA back to this origin point.

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‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ (1864)

“Science, my boy, is made up of mistakes.” Jules Verne strikes again, this time taking us deep underground rather than far overland. In Journey to the Center of the Earth, Professor Otto Lidenbrock discovers an ancient manuscript describing a route into Earth’s interior. He promptly organizes an expedition with his nephew Axel and their Icelandic guide Hans. As they descend beneath extinct volcanoes, the trio discovers a breathtaking world of subterranean oceans and prehistoric animals.

The imagination and world-building here are off the charts. It’s all very fantastical, hitting us with one whimsical setting or creature after another, infecting us with its boundless spirit of exploration and possibility. Verne wants us to see the magic in things again, to believe that the world still contains unimaginable mysteries waiting to be uncovered. He more than succeeds.

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‘Treasure Island’ (1883)

Image via Cluny Media

“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest. Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” No story has shaped the popular image of pirates more profoundly than Robert Louis Stevenson‘s Treasure Island. Narrated by young Jim Hawkins, the story begins when an old sea captain leaves behind a mysterious treasure map, sending our protagonist searching for buried pirate gold. Along the way, he encounters mutiny, betrayal, naval battles, and one of literature’s greatest villains, the charismatic Long John Silver.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this book pretty much invented the modern pirate adventure. All the genre’s core ingredients are here: peg legs, parrots, buried treasure, treasure maps marked with an “X,” tropical islands, mutinous crews. In a sense, almost every pirate tale since is either drawing from Treasure Island or deliberately subverting it. Not to mention, Long John Silver’s complexity made him a deeply influential villain.

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‘The Three Musketeers’ (1844)

Image via Wordsworth Editions

“All for one, and one for all!” This is another story that’s become so famous that it almost feels like a modern myth. The Three Musketeers follows the ambitious young d’Artagnan after he travels to Paris hoping to join the King’s Musketeers. Instead, he finds himself befriending Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, becoming embroiled in dangerous political conspiracies involving Cardinal Richelieu, Queen Anne, and the deadly Milady de Winter.

Here, Dumas perfected the swashbuckling adventure by blending sword fights, romance, espionage, humor, witty banter, team-based heroics, and historical drama into something irresistibly entertaining, and his breakneck pacing ensured that readers were constantly swept from one thrilling episode to the next. The characters are compelling, too, each possessing distinct personalities and flaws. This means that their friendship is just as compelling as the countless duels they fight.

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‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas’ (1870)

Image via Penguin Random House

“The sea is everything.” Yet another Jules Verne gem. This time, he guides us to the ocean’s deepest depths, portraying it almost like an alien planet. The plot revolves around Professor Pierre Aronnax, who joins an expedition investigating reports of a gigantic sea monster. He travels aboard the Nautilus, a submarine capable of descending to the deepest reaches of the sea, all under the command of the fascinating Captain Nemo.

Nemo is one of Verne’s most compelling creations. Brilliant, mysterious, and morally ambiguous, he combines scientific genius with profound personal tragedy. At the same time, the novel keeps us hooked with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of wonder and whimsy, including marine forests, giant squids, shark attacks, hostile warships, Antarctic icebergs, and even the ruins of Atlantis. Plus, some of Verne’s depictions of submarine technology wound up being surprisingly prophetic.

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‘Moby-Dick’ (1851)

“From hell’s heart I stab at thee.” Another adventure on the high seas, but a much darker and more complicated one. Narrated by Ishmael, Moby-Dick follows the crew of the whaling ship Pequod as its obsessive captain, Ahab, abandons commercial whaling in pursuit of the enormous white whale that previously cost him his leg. The voyage itself becomes increasingly perilous as Ahab’s monomaniacal pursuit consumes both himself and his crew.

In the process, Herman Melville elevates the adventure structure into an epic exploration of obsession, fate, nature, and humanity’s place in the universe. Alongside thrilling encounters with whales and storms, the book brings in philosophy, natural history, religion, and symbolism, as well as weird digressions like poetry, stage directions, catalogs, and extensive anatomical notes about whales. The novel’s greatness begins from the famous first line: “Call me Ishmael.”

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‘The Hobbit’ (1937)

Image via George Allen & Unwin

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“Far over the misty mountains cold…” The Hobbit is one of the cornerstones of modern fantasy, but it’s also simply a well-told adventure story, one whose energy and economy have been widely imitated. It fits a lot of imagination into less than 300 pages. It’s a mini-epic, a brisk journey filled with treasure, trolls, goblins, giant spiders, elves, dragons, riddling creatures, unlikely heroes, and unforgettable landscapes, carried effortlessly by Tolkien‘s gorgeous writing.

The narrative structure is episodic, harking back to classic hero’s journey stories, borrowing widely from myths and legends. Fundamentally, it’s about an ordinary protagonist gradually growing into a capable hero. This template has inspired everything from tabletop role-playing to modern video games. The depth of the author’s world-building here was also hugely influential; every setting feels lived-in because Tolkien worked out elaborate backstories and histories for them.

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‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ (1844)

Image via Penguin Random House

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“Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words: Wait and hope.” Although The Three Musketeers is more accessible, The Count of Monte Cristo is the overall stronger book. It follows Edmond Dantès, a young sailor falsely imprisoned on the eve of his wedding. After years of captivity, Dantès escapes from the seemingly inescapable Château d’If, discovers a legendary hidden fortune, and reinvents himself as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo to execute one of literature’s greatest revenge plots.

Along the way, Alexandre Dumas masterfully combines prison breaks, hidden treasure, secret identities, duels, political intrigue, romance, and international adventure. Every twist feels meticulously planned, and Edmond’s transformation from an innocent young sailor into an enigmatic aristocrat is one of fiction’s all-time great character arcs. In many ways, this is the pinnacle of adventure storytelling.

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The Count of Monte Cristo

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Release Date

June 28, 2024

Runtime

178 minutes

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Director

Alexandre de La Patellière

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Producers

Dimitri Rassam

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  Pierre Niney

  Edmond Dantès / le Comte de Monte-Cristo / Lord Halifax

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  Bastien Bouillon

  Fernand de Morcerf

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  Anaïs Demoustier

  Mercédès Herrera

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  Anamaria Vartolomei

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  Haydee

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Bianca Stanciu has built a career on a weird flex: making statistics feel like a text from your smartest friend. Her latest video grabs one of the sneakiest concepts in data science, survivorship bias, and points it straight at your phone habit.

She’s not lecturing anyone. She’s asking the question you didn’t know you needed to answer.

Quick version: it’s the trap of only studying what made it through and ignoring everyone who didn’t, which quietly messes with how you judge success, risk, and “normal.” It’s the reason people think overnight fame is common and near misses don’t count. It shows up everywhere once you know to look for it.

Bianca’s move is applying that lens somewhere nobody expects: the last 20 years of living online. Her take? You made it through. You’re still standing. That’s worth sitting with for a second.

“The fact that we survived this social experiment so far, it’s kind of amazing,” she says in the video, right before she flips the whole idea on its head and gets into what actually got stronger in you along the way.

Then she hands you a tool you’ll actually use. Next time you’re scrolling, ask yourself: is this adding something real to my life, or did my nervous system just get hijacked by comparison? Suddenly that tired line about not comparing your behind-the-scenes to someone else’s highlight reel means something again.

Seven minutes. Zero fluff. This is the video you send to the friend who can’t put their phone down. [Watch the full video here]

From Romania To 2.5 Million Followers

Nobody scripts a path like this. Bianca grew up in Romania, studied Data Science at the IT University of Copenhagen, then landed in Los Angeles in 2020 for a run in the video game industry. A year later she launched BIANCADATA and turned it into one of the internet’s most followed corners of tech, AI, wellness and lifestyle content.

Her whole philosophy comes down to one line: “Some of the same tools we use to understand data can also help us better understand ourselves.”

The Pep Talk Series Breaking The Internet

Forget charts for a second. Bianca’s biggest recent wave has come from a run of “over the top” positive self-talk Reels, filmed from a floor-level angle that puts her fully in charge of the shot.

“I think of it as talking to myself if I had fallen on the ground and needed a pep talk to get up,” she says. “I think a lot of people feel that way as they scroll through social media, like they’re feeling low and need that little voice in their head to give them a good reason to take that next step.”

One clip sitting at 1.4 million views hits like a slap and a hug at the same time: “That self-doubt you’re carrying that whispers ‘you’re not enough’… that didn’t start with you, that was planted by someone else’s fear… so stop rehearsing their lines and start writing your own.”

‘Why Not Both?‘

Bianca isn’t pretending the angle is an accident. She knows exactly what she’s doing, and she knows her famously curvaceous figure is part of why the video stops your thumb.

On occasion, that honesty has earned her a couple of predictable critics in the comment section: smart and sexy supposedly can’t be the same person. 

“For as long as I’ve made content, people have been obsessed with finding contradictions,” she says. “If I make a tech video, someone will comment, ‘how are we supposed to take you seriously when your outfit has cleavage?’ But to me, that’s such a boring way to look at the world. Why not both?”

She takes it further: “In my opinion, art and science are both about discovering truth and beauty. So can’t I try to look beautiful while also making something interesting and true about the human condition?”

Watch the video, then try arguing with her.

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Brad Pitt is asking a judge to force Angelina Jolie to disclose additional details about her Hollywood earnings as their long-running legal battle over Château Miraval intensifies. Pitt claims Jolie has refused to provide movie contracts and other financial records he believes could challenge her explanation for selling her interest in the former couple’s French winery business. Jolie is pushing back, arguing that Pitt is not entitled to the expansive collection of documents he requested and has misunderstood why she wanted to sell her stake.

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According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Pitt is seeking records showing Jolie’s income between 2017 and 2021, including upfront acting fees, brand sponsorship payments and profit-participation statements. During that period, Jolie appeared in several major studio projects, including “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” “Eternals” and “Those Who Wish Me Dead.” Pitt’s team believes the information is relevant because Jolie previously explained that she decided to sell Château Miraval to achieve financial independence following their 2016 separation.

The actor is now attempting to examine how much Jolie earned from her film work during the years preceding the sale. Pitt claims Jolie initially agreed to provide the requested information before reversing course and refusing to turn over everything his team sought

Jolie, however, maintains that she has already provided certain financial records and argues that Pitt is demanding more information than he is legally entitled to receive.

Angelina Jolie Denies Claiming She Was In Financial Distress

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Jolie’s attorneys insist Pitt has built his request around a mischaracterization of her previous statements. The actress does not deny wanting financial independence following her separation from Pitt. However, she argues that this did not mean she lacked money or was experiencing financial hardship.

Her lawyer said, “The issue is not whether Jolie needed the money. The issue is that she was trying to untangle her life and her finances from her controlling and abusive ex-husband. That distinction makes all the difference.”

Jolie further characterized Pitt’s argument as a “made-up theory that [Angelina] did not allege.” Her position is that wanting to separate her financial interests from Pitt is fundamentally different from claiming she could not support herself without selling her winery stake.

Jolie has also pointed to the financial information Pitt already received during their divorce proceedings, which concluded in 2024.

Court filings previously reported by PEOPLE indicate that Jolie voluntarily provided tax returns and profit-participation statements for 2020 and 2021. Her attorneys have objected to producing additional records from earlier years, arguing that doing so would invade her privacy.

The Former Couple Remains At War Over Château Miraval

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The financial dispute is the latest development in Pitt’s ongoing lawsuit over Jolie’s sale of her interest in Nouvel, the company through which she held her stake in Château Miraval. Pitt and Jolie purchased the estate in Correns, France, in 2008 for approximately $28.4 million.

Pitt has argued that he invested significant time and money into developing the property and its wine business. He has also acknowledged that Jolie contributed approximately 40% of the original purchase price.

Their business relationship became increasingly complicated after Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, beginning a contentious personal and legal separation.

Although their divorce has since been finalized, the dispute over the winery remains unresolved.

Brad Pitt Claims Angelina Jolie Violated Their Agreement

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Pitt sued Jolie in 2022, alleging that she improperly sold her interest in the winery business to a third party without obtaining his consent. According to Pitt, the former couple had an understanding that neither would dispose of an ownership stake without the other’s approval. Jolie began pursuing a sale of her interest before ultimately reaching an agreement with Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of Stoli Group.

Pitt claims that he agreed she could explore a possible sale but retained the right to approve or reject the proposed buyer. The actor said he was shocked to learn that Tenute del Mondo had acquired Jolie’s interest. He maintains that she never sought his final consent and deliberately withheld the terms of the transaction.

Jolie has contested Pitt’s interpretation of their agreement and his claimed authority over her decision to sell.

Pitt Objects To The Winery’s New Business Partner

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Pitt has described Tenute del Mondo as a “hostile” third party and objected to its connection to Stoli Group executive Yuri Shefler. The actor claims the sale complicated his ability to operate the winery and introduced an unwanted business partner into an enterprise he had spent years developing.

Jolie’s position has centered on her right to separate herself financially from Pitt and dispose of her interest after their marriage ended.

The opposing arguments have transformed what began as a disagreement over a business transaction into a sprawling legal fight involving financial documents, nondisclosure agreements and testimony from people involved in the sale.

Beyond the Gates spoilers promise that this week Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett) collapses. And it looks like this is the big one. The deathbed scene we have known was coming. This week’s spoilers look really scary for Big Bad Bill.

And his medical crisis could ruin Dani Dupree’s (Karla Mosley) marriage if she can’t stay away. We’re going to talk about Bill’s near-death being what outs Dani’s true feelings for Bill in a way that Andre Richardson (Sean Freeman) cannot ignore.

Beyond the Gates: Bill & Dani’s Elevator Romp Changed Everything

Ever since their elevator encounter, both Dani and Bill have been thinking a lot about the past and he wanted more chances with his ex. But Dani is denying him. She rejected Bill when he tried to get Dani to have an affair with him and she told Bill she would never be a sidepiece like Hayley Lawson (Marquita Goings) was.

But Dani is still obviously in pain over all the things that Bill did to her, ripping her heart out with the whole Hayley thing. Dani suffered years of Bill’s cheating. And then that was topped off with the humiliation of Bill dumping Dani to be with Hayley. And even worse, Bill moved Hayley into Dani’s own backyard. What she can’t deny is that Bill still gets her hot and bothered and he can play her body like a fiddle.

BTG: Hayley Throws Sinister Plot into High Gear

Meanwhile, horrible little Hayley Hamilton told Randy Parker (Maurice P. Kerry) that she’s done with all this. So, he gave her more poison. And Hayley is planning to kill Bill in St. Barts. And Randy knows a guy there that can do up the death certificate real quick and go ahead and cremate Bill so that nobody will ever know that she poisoned him because, you know, once you’re ashes, it’s kind of too late.

Hayley has been dosing Bill with smoothies full of the toxins and then making him work out, pushing Bill’s body to the limit while keeping family away and then goading him to stay away from the doctor. Hayley kept saying fine, go to the hospital, get poked and prodded because she knew Bill’s ego would make him say no, forget it. Bottom line, Hayley wants Bill dead right now so that she can cash out.

Beyond the Gates: Bill’s Medical Crisis and Haley’s Desperation

Unfortunately, Beyond the Gates spoilers for this week say Hayley’s plans go off the rails when Bill gets a health update that delays their trip to St. Barts. But Hayley’s done waiting. So, she pivots to a new plan to just go ahead and kill Bill right there in the DMV. Problem is, Hayley doesn’t know she is about to be busted. Initially, there was suspicion she was cheating on Bill.

But now Kat Richardson (Colby Muhammad), Chelsea Hamilton (RhonniRose Mantilla), Naomi Hamilton Hawthorne (Arielle Prepetit), and Dani have figured out that Randy isn’t Hayley’s secret boyfriend. He’s something else entirely. And Vanessa McBride (Lauren Buglioli) filled in some blanks for them on their shared background with Doug McBride (Jason Graham), and they realized that Hayley’s from the same place as Randy and Doug.

And then there’s the whole thing with him using another name. That was when he supposedly took Hayley to the hospital for that miscarriage that we all know is faked. But the little killer doesn’t know that all the Dupree ladies are on to her. So, Hayley decides to go for it and just finish off her husband Bill.

And by Thursday this week, Dani is freaking Randy out. So, it looks like Dani corners Randy with some pointed questions. And we’ll see if he alerts Hayley. Also, Randy got a heads up thanks to Vanessa. Of course, she likes him because he was Doug’s good friend. So, Vanessa warned him. And all of this could have Randy deciding to walk away from Hayley. High tail it out of town. But Hayley’s not going to stop.

BTG: Bill Collapses – Hayley Thrilled

And by Friday, Beyond the Gates spoilers say that she gets what she wants. That is the same day Bill collapses at work again. And it looks dire. So, Caroline Lee (Ellie Wang) is there for him. She’s going to get Bill to the hospital, I’m sure. And Madison Montgomery (Kenjah McNeil) might not know what’s going on with him, but we could see a scene with Bill at death’s door and Chelsea and Naomi worried they’re going to lose their dad.

I definitely feel like deathbed stuff is coming soon for Bill. The last time that he was in the hospital, Dani tried to stay away and Andre noticed that Dani was fighting the urge to run to check on Bill when he was in the hospital that time. Andre said it was fine, she could go, but Dani said, “No, I’m not going.”

But in the end, she couldn’t stay away. She went to see Bill, and she waited until Andre was distracted. So, she kind of went on the sly. Dani went over there to check on Bill for herself. And of course, Dani was disgusted that Hayley wasn’t there. And later, Dani lectured Hayley for being off getting a facial while Bill was on his sick bed.

Beyond the Gates: Dani’s True Feelings Exposed

This time, I’m guessing Hayley also won’t be there because she is flat out intent on murdering Bill or trying her best. So, she may be at the house packing a bag of bikinis to head to St. Barts so she can go play rich grieving widow and look for her next target. Dani knows that Hayley’s a gold digger. All the Duprees do.

I just think they didn’t suspect she was also a black widow planning to kill Bill to get his money. What I’m also wondering is if Dani is up there to see Bill, will Andre stop in to see him, too? You know, Bill’s part of the family as much as Andre doesn’t like him, and Andre might overhear something because if Bill thinks he’s really dying, he may have some things to get off his chest.

I could see him telling Dani he’s glad they got to be together one last time during the tornado. That’s something Andre might overhear Bill and Dani talking about. It would be the worst way for Andre to find out his wife had feelings for him. Or Bill might flat out tell Andre about it, either intentionally or because he’s addled and on pain meds and it just slips out and he doesn’t realize.

BTG: Dani’s Feelings Exposed

Either way, I think the truth about Dani’s real feelings for Bill are going to come out during this final life or death medical crisis. And at this point, Madison has tested, poked, and prodded Bill, but none of the blood work detected that he’s been poisoned by horrible Hayley.

But with new symptoms and maybe with Kat’s suspicions, since she’s a true crime enthusiast, maybe they’ll sus out that Hayley’s up to no good and Madison will do a thorough toxicology screen. I will say, I don’t think Bill’s going to die.

But his marriage is going to be dead in the water and Hayley is going to be in trouble. And Dani’s marriage might be dead, too, because there are some other cracks in her marriage already. And of course, Andre’s got that stalker from his past who is escalating this week.

Beyond the Gates: Dani May End Up Back with Bill

I’m assuming it’s some woman who’s crazy about him. Meanwhile, Dani’s denying to everybody that she wants Bill, denying it to herself most of all. And Hayley’s desperate to end this scheme and get her payday this week and it could cost Bill his life. However, I suspect he survives and that it might just kill Dani’s marriage.

I personally think Bill is the worst thing for Dani. Cheating leopards don’t change their spots in the short run after what Hayley’s done to him. I could see Bill working hard to convince Dani he’s learned his lesson. He would never be unfaithful again. But if she took him back, I think we all know Bill won’t keep it zipped long term, which is a very soapy plot and a good way to go.

I do think Andre is the healthiest emotional choice for Dani, but her reuniting with Bill because he nearly died would be a much soapier outcome. And of course, I’d love to see little Hayley hauled off in handcuffs, but it’s also soapier if she gets away. I could even see her showing up in another town looking at another wealthy man as her next target.

But that means Randy might also need to leave town or face some serious heat as her accomplice. And of course, the last time he tried to run, it didn’t go well for Randy because Joey Armstrong (Jon Lindstrom) almost killed him. But that time he took some money. Maybe if he leaves without stealing, it’ll work out better. Watch this week because it’s going to be life and death for Bill, Hayley, and Randy, and maybe for Dani’s marriage, too.

Thrillers are one of the few genres that make control feel possible even when everything is going wrong. For instance, a door left open, a strange phone call, the way somebody answers a question half a second too slowly, it all feels like it can still be read, understood, and solved. And while modern thrillers are slightly different now, it was mainly between 2000-2015 that the most potent thrillers came through.

However, these six movies know exactly how much we lean on that comfort, and they tear into it from completely different directions. That is why these thrillers feel so alive. Scroll down slowly for the 6 most perfect thrillers released since 2000.

6

‘Nightcrawler’ (2014)

Image via Open Road Films

The genius of Nightcrawler is how quickly it turns something ordinary into something genuinely sick. The thriller follows Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), who steals scrap metal, roams nighttime Los Angeles, and talks like someone who memorized every sentence five minutes before saying it. When he witnesses a violent car crash, he realizes freelance camera crews are making cash by feeding bloody footage to local news. A dark switch flips in his mind. From that moment on, his life becomes a single, ugly machine. He simply understands that absolute success belongs to whoever is willing to sink the lowest.

That is why the movie stays under your skin. Lou’s wide-eyed stare never softens. His speech stays smooth and rehearsed even when he is crossing lines no human being should cross. What begins as a story about freelance hustle morphs into a flawless thriller about capitalism, where the worst person in the room always wins, provided he captures the horror in high definition. And Lou never blinks.

5

‘Sicario’ (2015)

Image via Lionsgate

Thrillers usually give you a hard-edged professional who knows exactly how to handle the danger. Sicario, however, goes the other way, and that choice gives it its whole force. The story starts with Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), who is an idealistic FBI agent running standard SWAT raids on cartel safe houses in Arizona. She understands rules, jurisdiction, and procedure. But when she gets recruited onto a secretive task force with Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro) and Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), the ground disappears under her feet. In the borderlands between El Paso and Juarez, her training offers no protection, her ethics provide no guidance, and even a sensible question makes her look naive in a room full of relaxed, dangerous men.

That disorientation is the movie’s whole power. You feel it in the helicopter blades thumping over the border, in Kate’s rigid posture, in every flinch at sudden noise, and in the suffocating way each step of the operation feels planned by people who stopped caring about legality long ago. Sicario balances tactical tension and moral collapse with flawless control, and Kate’s helplessness keeps the film entirely raw from start to finish.

4

‘Gone Girl’ (2014)

Image via 20th Century Studios

Gone Girl is a razor-sharp psychological thriller that explores the dark rot beneath a seemingly perfect marriage. The story introduces Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) living in a bitter, recession-hit Missouri suburb. The story detonates on the morning of their fifth anniversary when Amy vanishes, and leaves behind a shattered glass table in their sterile McMansion. Suddenly, the whole neighborhood becomes a stage. Nick has to smile tightly for the media and play the grieving husband while panic eats him alive.

While the thriller mechanics are excellent, the deeper pleasure comes from how aggressively the film keeps shifting control of this whole premise. One scene has Nick unraveling. Another has him performing. Another has him getting framed by expectations he barely understands. As the mystery keeps feeding you new angles, the real hook is no longer just disappearance or clues. It is the autopsy of a marriage built on deception, resentment, and the horrifying knowledge that intimacy gives two people endless material to use against each other. There’s a plot twist at the end, but mentioning it would just kill the film, so just watch it.

3

‘Prisoners’ (2013)

Image via Summit Entertainment

Prisoners doesn’t draw a clear moral line between the good guys and the villains like a standard procedural mystery. From the moment two young girls disappear from a quiet Pennsylvania suburb, the plot drags everyone into a gray area where desperate parents become monsters themselves. The plot kicks off at a Thanksgiving dinner with another working-class family, an opening that captures ordinary suburban life in its plainest, most comfortable form.

Then, the children vanish. With their disappearance, the film never lets anyone breathe again as Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) searches for answers while Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) looks like he’s about to snap. But when thin evidence forces the police to release the prime suspect, Keller takes matters into his own hands and abducts him. That is where the movie becomes merciless. From there, the search, the torture, the breakdown, and the failure all begin to feed each other. Instead of a safe resolution, the film leaves you to drown in the sheer terror of what a desperate parent is capable of. It is a brilliant, unforgiving watch.

2

‘No Country for Old Men’ (2007)

Image via Miramax Films

In a standard thriller movie, a protagonist can eventually shoot his way out of that exact mistake. The genre essentially guarantees a heroic escape. On the other hand, No Country for Old Men turns that single choice into an unstoppable engine of doom. The film never cheats the consequences for a second. The story follows Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), who is just a welder out hunting pronghorn in the West Texas desert when he comes across the bloody remains of a cartel shootout and finds a satchel with two million dollars. He takes it.

Consequently, his world narrows to the size of a target. The chase turns deadly as Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) tracks the transponder hidden in the money. Behind them, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) struggles to keep pace with the spread of violence. This movie earns its reputation by trusting the process. Moss hides stolen money in air ducts. He treats raw wounds in empty rooms. He picks cheap locks in run-down motels. He holds his breath in the pitch dark. Every action feels practical, and that practicality makes the danger utterly convincing. This physical hunt eventually shatters into a much darker reality about age and absolute exhaustion. It exposes a new breed of evil that refuses to hit the brakes just because good men look away. That whole plot offers no comfort, no salvation, and absolutely no grace.

1

‘Zodiac’ (2007)

Image via Paramount Pictures

A physical threat only lasts until the police arrive. But Zodiac traps its characters in a permanent mental prison. The story starts with Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is a cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle, doing ordinary work alongside reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) and Inspector Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo). That quiet routine fractures when the killer sends a coded letter, a piece of bloody clothing, and a threat to execute more victims unless the paper prints the cipher on the front page. From that moment on, the killer controls the narrative through mailed paper. Everybody just reacts.

Honestly, the film is far less concerned with the capture of a murderer than it is with the slow decay of the investigators under the weight of an unsolvable puzzle. It refuses pure action. Instead, to capture that collapse, the story builds anxiety through years of dead ends, delays, and administrative dead space. The paperwork consumes him. Slowly, Graysmith trades his marriage, his career, and his sanity for a solitary obsession that defies all logic. Eventually, he uncovers his prime suspect and secures his personal answer, yet the law remains powerless to act. He gets zero justice. This empty realization traps him exactly where he started, inside a psychological maze with no exit. That is why Zodiac stands as a perfect thriller. It ruthlessly captures how a solitary obsession becomes an unhealable wound.

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Zodiac

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Release Date

March 2, 2007

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Runtime

157 minutes

Writers

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James Vanderbilt, Robert Graysmith

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Bunnie Xo will always keep it candid about what work she’s had done.

Bunnie Xo, 46, shared her thoughts on plastic surgery while chatting with Denise Richards about their recent facelifts during a Monday, August 3, episode of her “Dumb Blonde” podcast.

“I was so happy to see that you’re open about yours too,” Richards, 55, told her.

Bunnie Xo replied, “Yeah absolutely! First of all, and this is no shade to anybody in the industry, but if you’re gonna get work done, just f***ing be honest about it.”

Richards then said that she “understands” if some stars don’t want to come forward and say anything, “but if you’re asked about stuff, I think … I couldn’t say nothing.”

“I feel like our ‘job’ as people that are online and pushing a narrative of our lives, I feel like we owe that to the public,” Bunnie Xo explained. “That might just be me, but I feel like we, especially as women, because there’s such a false beauty standard of trying to uphold and I never want a little girl to look at me and be like, ‘I want to just look like her.’ It’s like, girl, I don’t even look like me. So I always want to be honest.”

Richards said she’s just as curious as the next when it comes to who’s had work done. “I also wanna know what everyone’s using, what’s everyone doing?” She went on to share that she got her first breast implants when she was 19 years old. “I was so private about it and I never said anything to anyone and I think the first time it was even out was [when] Howard Stern asked me a question.”

At the time, she was “honest” about the procedure. “I think it’s good to share what we’re doing and different serums and peptides or whatever.”

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They both then complimented each other’s facelifts. Richards, for her part, only planned to get a neck lift until her friend and her doctor convinced her to go big or go home. “The only thing he didn’t do was my lower lids,” she said, noting she got an upper blepharoplasty and a brow lift — which she said was “a pain” to recover from.

Bunnie Xo added that her recovery was also “so freaking painful” and felt like she was “choking” from her neck lift. Later this month, she’s getting a skin pinch under her eyes and “some fat transfer.”

“And then I’m done!” Bunnie Xo said with a laugh.

One of cinema’s most surprisingly enduring and durable franchises just can’t stop, it would seem. Thirty years on after it appeared in theaters with a rather modest bump, this one still refuses to miss the target. After the series survived mixed reviews, lead actor changes and the transition of direct-to-video to streaming, it’s now one of Netflix‘s most reliable brands after its latest arrival found a huge audience. And that’s enough for another mission.

Sniper: No Nation has become a major streaming success following its recent arrival on Netflix, climbing the platform’s global charts and performing particularly well in the United States. Better still for fans, star Chad Michael Collins has now confirmed that the story isn’t over, revealing that Sniper: No Nation – Part II is officially on the way. Following the film’s breakout success on Netflix, Collins responded to several fans on Instagram asking whether the cliffhanger ending would be resolved, to which he responded: “Coming soon.”

Just to drive home the point, he also repeated the response multiple times in different replies before teasing the sequel further with a pair of parachuting emojis, all but confirming that Sniper: No Nation – Part II is now moving forward. Now, Sony Pictures haven’t announced anything officially yet but these movies get made like a bullet from a gun so we won’t need to wait long.

While Sony Pictures has yet to officially announce a release date, the franchise has historically maintained a rapid production schedule, suggesting fans may not have to wait long before Brandon Beckett returns.

What’s ‘Sniper’ About?

​​​​​​​

The Sniper franchise first debuted in 1993, introducing Tom Berenger as legendary Marine sniper Thomas Beckett, alongside Billy Zane as his inexperienced partner Richard Miller. Beginning with 2011’s Sniper: Reloaded, Collins took over as Beckett’s son, Brandon Beckett, becoming the franchise’s central star across the next decade. No Nation also reunites Collins with Berenger, bringing father and son together after they’re branded enemies of the state and forced to fight both mercenaries and their own government. The latest installment also features Ryan Robbins (Tracker) as Zero and Keston John, best known to many gamers as the voice of Russell Adler in the Call of Duty: Black Ops franchise.

Sniper: No Nation is currently streaming on Netflix in the United States. The film is also available to rent or purchase digitally through services including Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, and Google TV.

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Release Date

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January 29, 1993

Runtime

98 Minutes

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Director

Luis Llosa

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Once fringe, science fiction has been mainstream for decades, producing some of the biggest blockbusters and bestsellers of all time. That said, the genre is still packed with hidden gems, forgotten classics, and forward-thinking stories that don’t get as much attention as they deserve. These books are the focus of this list.

The titles below are relatively obscure, certainly by the standards of Dune, Star Wars, and other cultural juggernauts. They span a range of styles, tones, and concepts, from genetic engineering and AI to collapsing civilizations and alien languages. What’s important is that they are worth checking out if you’re a fan of speculative tech and space-faring adventure; they’re no less worthy because you’ve probably never heard of them.

10

‘The Stars My Destination’ (1957)

Image via Gollancz SF Masterworks

“Gully Foyle is my name, and Terra is my nation.” Although not appreciated on release, The Stars My Destination is now recognized by fans as an important precursor to the cyberpunk subgenre. It centers on antihero Gully Foyle, an illiterate, directionless laborer who is abandoned in space after a passing ship refuses to rescue him. However, he miraculously survives, setting the stage for a remarkable character arc that sees him become an unstoppable force driven entirely by revenge.

From here, we follow the character on a violent journey through a future society reshaped by humanity’s ability to teleport through a process known as jaunting. Other memorable pieces of speculative tech in the story include “jaunt-proof” rooms and an exceptionally powerful explosive powered by telepathy. That said, the plot is the real appeal, boasting rapid pacing, femmes fatales, and impressive psychological complexity, and a ton of corporate intrigue.

9

‘Downbelow Station’ (1981)

Image via DAW

“It was never simple. It never had been.” Downbelow Station is a space opera that leans hard into politics rather than just fancy gadgets or freaky aliens. Set during the devastating Company Wars, it follows an ensemble cast of diplomats, military commanders, merchants, refugees, and ordinary civilians struggling to survive as humanity’s interstellar colonies fracture into competing factions. Much of the action centers on the Pell space station, whose strategic importance makes it the focal point of the conflict.

Downbelow Station bucked convention by shifting the focus away from grand space battles and instead building its plot around negotiations, logistics, economics, and the social, even psychological, consequences of prolonged warfare. It’s a tale of martial law, tricky geopolitics, and coups d’état. That relative realism means that the book is way more interested than most space operas of its time.

8

‘Norstrilia’ (1975)

Image via Gollancz

“Man is not meant to own the universe.” Riffing on the Chinese classic Journey to the West, Norstrilia tells the story of Rod McBan, an awkward young heir from the isolated planet Old North Australia, whose accidental fortune makes him the richest person in the galaxy. However, his wealth draws unwelcome attention, and eventually places him at the center of a vast political conspiracy spanning humanity’s distant future.

Norstrilia is jam-packed with colorful characters and striking ideas, including telepathy, genetically engineered underpeople, intergalactic stock trading, ancient computers, brutal methods of population control, a government that claims authority over all of humankind, and a highly prized drug that grants the user immortality. All these ideas are in service to the novel’s core themes around wealth, privilege, and identity. The book has also been praised for its lyrical, dreamlike, and frequently emotional prose.

7

‘Neverness’ (1988)

Image via Voyager

“The universe is a question asking itself.” With Neverness, author David Zindell takes the basic structure of Arthurian legend and builds it into a sweeping, intellectually ambitious sci-fi odyssey. The tale centers on Mallory Ringess, a gifted pilot and mathematician who embarks upon a dangerous quest across the galaxy in search of ultimate knowledge. Along the way, he encounters artificial intelligences, alien civilizations, philosophers, genetic engineers, and transcendent mysteries that challenge everything he thought he knew about the universe.

The worldbuilding here is familiar: math unlocks interstellar space travel, and computers rule much of the galaxy. However, the plot takes unexpected turns, too: the protagonist meets a god, lives for a while as a Neanderthal, and eventually learns that an alien race hid important information in human DNA. In other words, the book’s wellspring of ideas is seemingly inexhaustible.

6

‘Rogue Moon’ (1960)

Image via Science Fiction Book Club, U. S. A.

“We become what we survive.” This one starts with a juicy premise: scientists have discovered a mysterious alien structure on the Moon that kills every human who attempts to explore it. Their solution is to create perfect human duplicates, allowing explorers to repeatedly die while transmitting their experiences back to Earth. Edward Hawks volunteers for the mission and confronts not only the deadly labyrinth itself but also profound questions about identity and consciousness.

The alien maze is a funhouse of traps, meaning that traversing it is as suspenseful as it’s entertaining — for the reader, anyway. However, author Algis Budrys also gets philosophical with that conceit. Indeed, the whole book could be seen as an allegory about death and mortality, with the duplicates serving as a metaphor for successive generations of humans, who do our best, get as far as we can, then die and pass the torch to those who follow us.

5

‘Embassytown’ (2011)

Image via Del Rey

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“Language is the continuation of coercion by other means.” This one is among the very best books by quirky writer China Miéville, who also gave us the YA fantasy Un Lun Dun and the bizarro epic Perdido Street Station. While not quite as grand and surreal as some of his other projects, Embassytown might be the smartest.

It takes place on Arieka, a distant planet inhabited by an alien species known as the Ariekei, whose unusual biology makes them incapable of speaking anything they do not believe to be literally true. Human ambassadors work in genetically engineered pairs, producing two synchronized voices that the aliens perceive as a single act of language. Like the incredible Arrival years later, this sci-fi story hinges around communication. Miéville uses the premise to explore the relationship between language, thought, identity, and political power.

Image via Harper Voyager

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“The dead do not think logically.” In Metaplanetary, Tony Daniel imagines a far-future solar system connected by powerful technology known as the Grist, allowing matter, information, and even consciousness to travel across enormous distances. Humanity has expanded throughout the planets and orbital habitats, but this apparently unified civilization contains widening cracks. There’s political repression, rampant inequality, and a growing conflict between the authoritarian Inner System and the rebellious outer worlds.

The book does a good job of balancing speculative technology with layered characters and sharp themes. Daniel immerses us in a world of uploaded minds and sentient machines, yet his true concerns are really with classic, humane themes: centralized power, colonial resistance, and the dangers of allowing communication infrastructure to become an instrument of control. There are strong parallels with our current environment of algorithmic manipulation and budding technofeudalism, which makes it all the more eerie.

3

‘Beggars in Spain’ (1993)

Image via Harper Voyager

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“Regret is not productive. Nor is guilt, nor grief.” The central idea in this one is a striking medical breakthrough: scientists develop a genetic modification that allows children to live without sleep. These “Sleepless” individuals gain thousands of productive hours throughout their lives, along with improved intelligence and longevity. But what initially appears to be an unquestionable advantage soon creates a deep social divide between the modified minority and the ordinary people who increasingly resent them.

The book revolves around genetic engineering in various forms, using these concepts to poke at weighty themes like privilege, meritocracy, prejudice, and society’s obligations to those who have little. Frighteningly, these concepts are not that farfetched at all; in fact, they’re happening now, albeit in other, less fantastical ways. Gene editing is progressing in leaps and bounds, and some people fear we’re heading to a world where the rich and powerful encode these advantages in their kids’ very DNA.

2

‘Engine Summer’ (1979)

Image via Bantam

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“Time, I think, is like walking backward away from something: say, from a kiss.” Engine Summer unfolds in a distant future where our current era of electricity and technology has collapsed and vanished into legend, leaving behind a post-apocalyptic world that is almost medieval. The story is narrated by Rush That Speaks, a young man who leaves home in search of his beloved Once a Day and gradually discovers fragments of the mysterious civilization that existed before.

Refreshingly, the book mostly avoids info dumps and heavy exposition, instead letting the reader figure things out on their own, reconstructing the past from snatches of information and drawing individual conclusions. Author John Crowley also nails the way that objects and words from our own time linger on, half-understood, sometimes treated by the people of this world as magic relics. Thus, he lets us look at our society in a new way by presenting it through future, ignorant eyes. Engine Summer makes us appreciate the marvel around us, but it also acts as a cautionary tale.x

1

‘A Canticle for Leibowitz’ (1959)

Image via Bantam Books

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“Bless me, Father, I ate a lizard.” Although this book is regarded as a classic by sci-fi fans, many people might still not have heard of it. With some parallels to Engine Summer, A Canticle for Leibowitz takes place in a nuclear-ravaged future where civilization has fallen. An order of Catholic monks is devoted to preserving the surviving fragments of scientific knowledge. Their founder, Isaac Edward Leibowitz, was an engineer whose technical documents became sacred relics after society turned violently against learning in the aftermath of the catastrophe.

The novel is divided into three sections tracing humanity’s slow recovery, each era rediscovering knowledge preserved by the monastery. However, each era also repeats some of the arrogance that destroyed the old world in a continuous, seemingly inevitable loop. Through it all, author Walter M. Miller Jr. critiques the idea that progress is inevitable, arguing instead that knowledge and understanding must not be for their sake only; instead, they must be consciously safeguarded, lest we begin sliding backward.