Ryan Britt

Do you feel like a Geek? Have you be labeled a little out there. More than normal. I love it when an author calls a great Sci Fi film a romantic comedy. From the iHeart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with author Ryan Britt. Ryan Britt is an uncontrolled experiment—a genre omnivore who has spent his time on this earth flying to other galaxies, undersea cities, freaky amusement parks, Middle Earth, Transylvania, Sherlock Holmes’ London, and the Cretaceous. His essays are reliably smart, surprising, provocative, and funny.” —Karen Russell, Pulitzer-Prize finalist for Swamplandia! “As the nerded and geeked boys and girls of the ‘80s and ‘90s have grown up and become pseudo adults in this early section of the twenty-first century, we’ve noticed something odd: the Gap suddenly sells Star Trek T-shirts. Seemingly overnight, being a “geek” is cool and news article after blog post trumpets that now not only are geeks hip, but their hipness is here to stay, too. The geek(s) have inherited the Earth, which is why Star Trek, Star Wars, comic book heroes, and fantasy novels are more popular than ever.” If the ghost of Marshall McLuhan were to merge with Chuck Klosterman, you’d have essayist Ryan Britt. Britt has never met a monster, alien, wizard or superhero that didn’t require further discussion, and answers questions you haven’t yet thought to ask. Does anyone in the Star Wars universe read books? Is Pete Best the Bilbo to Ringo Starr’s Frodo? And, what ever happened to Biff Tannen’s parents? Now, Britt has written an entertaining manifesto for modern geekdom with LUKE SKYWALKER CAN’T READ. Britt’s thoughtful and fun meditations on everything sci-fi and pop culture spins insights on what many of us have not known about our favorite stuff. He shows us how monster movies are just romantic comedies with commitment issues, claims nobody should get mad about superhero remakes, and argues that killer robots are probably harmless authenticity-seeking hipsters. LUKE SKYWALKER CAN’T READ tears down the wall between hardcore sci-fi readers and the mainstream, making it perfect both for cosplayers, or those who haven’t worn a costume since grade school. About the Author Ryan Britt has written for The New York Times, Electric Literature, The Awl, VICE and The Morning News and is a consulting editor for Story. He was the staff writer for the Hugo Award-winning web magazine Tor.com, where he remains a contributor. He lives in New York City.