Brett Martin

Dec 20, 2024 | nytimes.com | Brett Martin

She wrote about the fishermen who relied on catching anchovies and sardines to sell and feed their families. It was a dangerous profession, she wrote, mainly because of the risk of being fired on by Israeli naval gunners. The men she interviewed told her that the Israeli blockade limited their access to equipment for their boats, leading them to replace their motors with truck engines, which can result in capsizing. And yet many of them returned despite the precarity.

Nov 12, 2024 | gq.com | Brett Martin

Three stone deities stand watch over the entrance of the Asian Garden Mall, in Orange County’s Little Saigon. The mall is a cultural hub for Southern California’s enormous Vietnamese population. Old men sit nearby, smoking and talking heatedly over newspapers—actual newspapers—beneath a waving South Vietnamese flag. A steady stream of visitors approach to take photos in front of the façade.

Oct 24, 2024 | gq-magazine.co.uk | Brett Martin

On Hot cloudy nights, the artist and writer Brent Holmes will sometimes stand in the backyard of his house, near Las Vegas’s Chinatown, and look to the east. Behind a screen of clouds, he’ll see flashes of light and the desert-dweller in him will feel instinctive relief: a thunderstorm is on its way, something to cool off the intense, lingering heat of the day. Holmes will take a deep inhale but then frown. No smell of an impending storm.

Oct 24, 2024 | revistagq.com | Brett Martin

En noches nubladas y calurosas, el escritor Brent Holmes sale a veces al patio trasero de su casa, situada cerca del barrio chino de Las Vegas, y mira hacia el este. Ve destellos de luz tras el manto de nubes, y el habitante del desierto que lleva dentro siente un alivio instintivo: se avecina una tormenta que refrescará el ambiente tras un día de calor intenso y persistente. Holmes inhala profundamente y frunce el ceño. En realidad no huele a tormenta. Y entonces cae en la cuenta. “Oh, no.

Oct 24, 2024 | gq.com | Brett Martin

This story was featured in The Must Read, a newsletter in which our editors recommend one can’t-miss story every weekday. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. On hot, cloudy nights, the artist and writer Brent Holmes will sometimes stand in the backyard of his house, near Las Vegas’s Chinatown, and look to the east.