Table of Contents

January 13, 2025

Cover Story

There Is No Safe Word

The side of Neil Gaiman his fans never saw. By Lila Shapiro

On the Cover: Neil Gaiman. Photograph by Guerin Blask/August.

features

How Far Would You Go to Make a Friend?

Inside the start-up that thinks it can “eradicate loneliness.”

By Allison P. Davis
The Unknown Number

What drove a mother to relentlessly cyberbully her teenage daughter?

By Lauren Smiley

Intelligencer

Departments

‘New York’ Crossword

Matt Gaffney’s latest puzzle.
Comments: Week of January 13, 2025

Readers sound off on Adrien Brody, the rise of Galaxy Gas, and the world of stage parenting.
The Approval Matrix: Week of January 13, 2025

Our deliberately oversimplified guide to who falls where on our taste hierarchies.

Strategist

The Culture Pages