Edel Rodriguez visually realizes the manic intellectual world of mid-20th century writer Arthur Koestler for a book review in the December issue of The Atlantic. Koestler, says the article, was written off as "a much afflicted scribe of his time, greedy for pleasure, haunted by guilt, who enjoyed a short vogue and was then forgotten."

Also in that issue, Vault 49's art draws us into the viewpoint of an orchid child. "Most of us have genes that make us able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care." It's a provocative new theory of genetics.