Brevity is both the soul of wit and the spirit of horror. A horror novel carries its own pleasures, but shorter tales of terror often punch well above their weight. […]

If ever a trigger warning was needed, it’s the one for David Scott Hay’s new novel [NSFW], which cautions the reader that the novel includes “sex, drug use, witchcraft, profanity, […]

If you’re at all familiar with DePaul University’s Lincoln Park campus, you’ve almost certainly been impressed by the nine-foot-tall statue of Monsignor Jack Egan at the eastern entrance of the […]

It is important that there is a book such as Art T. Burton’s Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshall Bass Reeves to ensure the memory […]

We rarely see the bright side of horror. Mostly connected with darkness and gloom, the genre reluctantly explores color and light. Not always. In the hands of a few auteurs, […]

Chicago doesn’t play much of a role in Rob Wilkins’s biography of his boss, Terry Pratchett, the British mega-selling author of the fantasy-science fiction Discworld series whose life was cut […]

What was 2022 like in the world of Chicago, Illinois, and Midwest letters? I’ve asked the Lit section writers to share their favorite reviews and stories of the past year. […]

Last Call Chicago is not a narrative book. Rather it is an extensive listing with brief descriptions of 1,001 LGBTQ and LGBTQ-friendly bars and such. But it is also a […]

Like the very best tangled and violent folklore passed down to us, Jasmine Sawers’s The Anchored World: Flash Fairy Tales and Folklore, (Rose Metal Press), is eerie and beautiful. A […]

Antony Barone Kolenc’s The Merchant’s Curse is a historical mystery with a strong supernatural element, set in 12th-century England and written for children and young teens. Even more, it’s a […]

Cora James lives in the heart of the Harlem Renaissance. She works in the Harlem Library, rubbing shoulders with the best and the brightest Black writers in New York City. […]

As a title, An Angel in Sodom is evocative and a bit ambiguous. The subtitle of Jim Elledge’s book is much more direct: Henry Gerber and the Birth of the Gay […]