Fiction, Lit

Review: Take a Seat at the Bar in Island City, by Laura Adamczyk

When was the last time you told a story to a stranger at a bar? Not an anecdote about your day at work, or that funny internet meme that’s going […]

Elizabeth Niarchos Neukirch /
Chicago history, Chicago history, Fiction, Lit

Review: An Old Novel to Captivate Modern Readers: The Girls by Edna Ferber

Edna Ferber’s The Girls, a novel about three independent-minded South Side women yearning for vibrant lives, was originally published more than a century ago, but it’s written with such verve […]

Patrick T. Reardon /
Fiction, Lit, Reviews

Review: A Social Media Novel Not for the Faint-hearted, [NSFW], by David Scott Hay

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, […]

Patrick T. Reardon /
Fiction, Lit

Review: Dead Heat to Destiny: Three Lives and a Spy, by J.B. Rivard

Anyone who’s joined a beginners’ writers workshop knows the difficulty of reviewing prose that is nowhere near polished. It’s awkward, stressful even, trying to devise cogent thoughts about art that […]

Adam Kaz /
Fiction, Lit

Return of the Living Featured Creatures: Chicago Horror Creators Share Favorite Fictional Terrors

It’s Halloween, and everyone’s entitled to one good scare. Lucky you. Third Coast Review has once again asked several Chicago area horror writers and artists for their recommendations on the […]

Dan Kelly /
Children's books, Fiction, Lit, Reviews

Review: A Spooky Morality Play—The Merchant’s Curse, by Antony Barone Kolenc

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 […]

Patrick T. Reardon /
Fiction, Lit

Review: Don’t Stay Where You’re Not Wanted, Bliss Montage, by Ling Ma

Don’t stay where you’re not wanted. In Ling Ma’s short story collection Bliss Montage, her characters learn this the hard way. Or at least, some of them do. These eight […]

Allison Manley /
Fiction, Lit, Poetry

Review: Making Friends With a Poet, The Poet’s House, by Jean Thompson

Carla Sawyer is a tall, smart-alecky 21-year-old who’s working for a landscaping company until she figures out what to do with her life. She’s on a job in one of […]

Patrick T. Reardon /
Fiction, Lit, Reviews

Review: Wildly Contorted and Reimagined: Don’t Make Me Do Something We’ll Both Regret, by Tim Jones-Yelvington

In his story collection Don’t Make Me Do Something We’ll Both Regret, Chicagoan Tim Jones-Yelvington zestfully recasts gay men and boys in the central roles of a surprisingly wide array […]

Patrick T. Reardon /
Art & Museums, Fiction, Gallery, Lit, Museum, Museums, Painting & sculpture, Sculpture

Review: Just Add Water, The Fountain, by David Scott Hay

The Fountain By David Scott Hay Whiskey Tit Jasper P. Duckworth is a critic in an alternate universe Chicago for Chicago Shoulders, a New City-like (or, if you will, Third […]

Patrick T. Reardon /
Fiction, Interviews, Lit

Interview: Dystopia in Utopia: Brian Pinkerton, Author of The Nirvana Effect

  Author Brian Pinkerton is a lifelong resident of the Chicago area, growing up on, as he puts it, “Bozo’s Circus and Ray Rayner…Creature Features and Cubs baseball.” With 12 […]

Dan Kelly /
Fiction, Interviews, Lit

Interview: Not Afraid of the Dark: A Talk with Writer Richard Thomas

Numerically speaking, 2/22/22 (today), has a special resonance for Chicago area writer, editor, and teacher Richard Thomas. His latest book, Spontaneous Human Combustion (Keylight), a collection of short stories, was […]

Dan Kelly /