When it came time to choose between literature and the law, Adam Kaz went with the written word. Now the writer, editor, and critic (and regular contributor to Third Coast […]

Elikki just broke a man’s wrist and she doesn’t regret it. What? He was being a creep and not backing down so the normally bubbly and lovely elf Elikki summoned […]

Ulysses. The book Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Company published in Paris in 1922. The book that was banned in the US and the UK. The book people either love or […]

Damian Serbu has often found inspiration in Chicagoland. Several characters in his Realm of the Vampire Council series, for instance, dwell in the Windy City itself. Self-described as an “author […]

Two nights ago I finished reading the marvelous and peculiar 2001 novel—Gould’s Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish—by Australian author Richard Flanagan. In his pages of colorful prose, […]

We mostly remember movements through supernaturally charismatic entities who said the right thing at the right time, sparking action, winning souls, and rewriting history. In reality, every movement is made […]

For regular readers of this column, Saturday’s Independent Bookstore Day is likely as highly anticipated as the Super Bowl (if not more so). If you haven’t made your game day […]

Capitalism abhors a creative gathering place—otherwise auto dealerships would put on poetry slams and hardware stores would host book clubs, wouldn’t they? While coffeehouses and restaurants often step up to […]

Some debut novels confidently announce a fresh, fully realized voice. Others are a little uneven and wear their amateurishness obviously. I’m afraid Greg Hewett’s debut No Names belongs to the […]

Chicago author Tod Lending’s debut novel The Umbrella Maker’s Son is a cinematic page-turner of a book. Set against the Nazi rise to power before World War II, this heartfelt […]

Authors are frequently asked, “When is your book coming out?” I heard this question when I finished the first draft of my novel, and while I was editing the sixth […]

Born in Detroit, writer Peter O’Keefe now lives in one of Chicago’s neighbors to the north, Racine. Through the years he’s written for everything from “word processing temp jobs” to […]