One of the things I love about speculative literature is its ability to capture the emotional impact of real, plausible experiences through fantastic metaphors. It’s also just really fun to read. You […]
I have a secret, neither dark nor deep. Never have I ever smoked pot. You kids still call it pot, right? Marijuana is pejorative. Grass, Mary Jane, and reefer seem dated, evoking […]
Certain American States is peculiar. Catherine Lacey’s first short story collection has a similar feel to her last published book, the understated satire The Answers. With a subtle flair for corporate criticism […]
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, doing no […]
I met my good friend, Flats Slobnik—tuck pointer, softball shortstop, and professional Chicago everyman—at our favorite watering hole, Brzbchynski’s Tavern on Pulaski and Lower Wacker Drive. Karol Brzbchynski, a 300-pound ex-steelworker who […]
Long before the podcast, there was Third Coast International Audio Festival. Since 2000, Third Coast has been a leader in audio storytelling, paving the way for this craft back when our ears […]
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 her by […]
It’s 2004 through 2008. We’re taken through Chicago through Jessica Hopper’s eyes, to a show, to a nighttime tour of the city by bike, to a warehouse party. We’re given a vantage […]
Do you know: The first gay rights advocacy group in the United States was formed in Chicago in 1924? There was a legally recognized same-sex marriage in Chicago in 1923? That Cab […]
Until very recently, I rode the Green Line to work every day. Occasionally, I would notice the billboards at a stop on the West Side were experiencing an advertising blitz, where one […]
When you hear a particularly eerie or scary story as a child, your consciousness is muddled, but your senses are heightened: you hear every creak and you wonder about every shadow on […]
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 swore to […]
