Chicago has had its share of dynamic duos: Adler and Sullivan, Jordan and Pippen, Bozo and Cooky, Moo and Oink… Less dynamic and more demonic were Chicago killers Nathan Leopold […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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? […]
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, […]
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 […]