Mike “McBeardo” McPadden is truth in human packaging. A beard is indeed present, bristly, with streaks of grey—suggesting wisdom in matters strange and arcane. I’ve seen McPadden in action as […]
Iconoclastic film- and filth-maker John Waters told interviewer Michael Phillips that the first time he came to Chicago was with a “drive-away” car. He couldn’t believe a stranger trusted him […]
Daniel X. O’Neil sees art everywhere, but not in that Bob Ross on ’shrooms sort of way. Mr. O’Neil is a connoisseur and curator of what he calls Arte Agora, […]
T.J. Martinson’s debut novel, The Reign of the Kingfisher (Flatiron Books) came out March 5. Born in Kankakee, IL, and a current Bloomington, IN resident, he is currently pursuing a […]
Hugo-Finalist Alec Nevala-Lee shares a behind-the-books perspective on SFF’s foundational authors Conducted by Terry Galvan Alec Nevala-Lee is a Hugo Award finalist for the group biography Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac […]
What’s the status of art in state of the art video games? Do pixelated citizens have a sense of aesthetics? Will we find a Van Gogh or Basquiat skin among […]
Mary Gibbons, co-owner of Pilsen Community Books says her store had a bevy of books… Nay—a surfeit of books… Strike that—a profound profusion, if not potential plethora of books in storage, […]
New York-based writer L.A. Chandlar is the author of The Silver Gun and the just-published The Gold Pawn, the first two books in her Art Deco Mystery series. I spoke with […]
I didn’t know who Camille Bordas was until last summer, when her novel How To Behave in a Crowd was published. I learned she was a Chicago resident, and friends […]
In her debut novel The Window, Amelia Brunskill tells the story of Jess Cutter, a Montanan girl whose twin sister Anna is found dead below her bedroom window. Jess—as thoughtful, […]
I wish I could describe Edward McClelland in legendary terms—it would be so damned apropos. I’d tell you he’s as tall as a redwood, as strong as a herd […]
In 2013, Chicago author Arnie Bernstein published his fifth book. Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund is the 1930s history of a small […]