Hello! I’m Devon Maloney, a writer, editor, and pop culture critic. My journalism work has appeared in WIRED, Vulture, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, the Guardian, and the Village Voice, among others. I used to be an editor at The Verge, the Los Angeles Times, SPIN, and Billboard, and I hold a very expensive degree in journalism from Boston University. I’m also the occasional author of MalonEmail, a minimally invasive newsletter filled with recent work, recommendations, and intermittent commentary.
After a valiant and messy period in my twenties living in New York, I have since returned to Los Angeles, where I cohabitate today with my partner, a photogenic dog, a mountain of books, and an untold number of technically alive houseplants. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson thinks I’m funny.
as seen in. . .
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journalism portfolio
(what you’re here for, right?)
a few choice TV Recaps
y: the last man season finale recap: the carrier bag theory of time
“Heroes are powerful. Before you know it, the men and women in the wild-oat patch and their kids and the skills of the makers and the thoughts of the thoughtful and the songs of the singers are all part of it, have all been pressed into service in the tale of the Hero. But it isn’t their story. It’s his.”
That quote comes from a 1986 essay called “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction,” in which Ursula K. Le Guin tears into our culture’s obsession with the hero’s journey. (read more)
shadow & bone premiere recap: take your time or take your chances
Inside every Hollywood fantasy adaptation, there are two wolves. One wolf is the series’s existing fanbase; for this wolf, the most important question will be whether the adaptation stays true, if not exactly then at least spiritually, to its source material. The other is the series’s potential fanbase; this wolf really just wants to know what the hell is going on. (read more)
star trek: discovery season finale recap: deus ex mycelia
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mourn the loss of Osyraa the Terrible. Did she deserve death, objectively? Certainly. The Granny Smith Gotti was a monster who committed unspeakable atrocities, even against her own. Nevertheless, I feel it’s all I can do to mourn the loss of Star Trek: Discovery’s once-burgeoning appreciation for nuance, as well as its biggest wasted opportunity since killing off Captain Georgiou in the pilot. Because while none of our heroes die this week, this conclusion is a sudden death in itself, a bone-deep disappointment that betrays all the thoughtful, complex progress the series has made this season. (read more)
his dark materials 205 recap: impertinent, intelligent, free
Can I confess something that no male critic would ever admit? Sometimes in writing these recaps, I get nervous about getting it wrong. Not that my opinion is wrong necessarily, although sometimes it does feel like that. I’m worried that when I’m frustrated by an episode, the recap’s tone will end up being so far from the experience of most readers that it will alienate them, or worse, make them feel bad about something they previously enjoyed. I try not to dwell on it, but I suppose this is a form of impostor syndrome: doubting one’s instincts even when there’s a stack of evidence to validate them. (read more)
more recaps
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Reporting & features
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criticism, columns, & overthinking
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contact me
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fiction, etc.
If you’re into that sort of thing. A few oldies.
