Literature

Based loosely on a Grimms’ fairytale, Bear is both enchanting and suspenseful. Sam, a concessions worker on a ferry, is terrified when a bear shows up at her family’s front door. Elena, instead, grows enchanted by the bear, seeking him out in the woods and bringing him food from her job at the local country

Horror writer Gretchen Felker-Martin’s sophomore novel Cuckoo follows a group of teens in the 1990s who have been abducted and abused in a remote desert camp all on their parent’s dime. What begins as a real-life nightmare quickly reveals itself to be something much more insidious, forcing these friends, forced by circumstance, to stop the

I have nothing against grandfathers. In fact I love my own, and it was my recent experience of cutting his toenails that prompted this list. My grandfather’s toenails had grown grotesquely long and become a fall risk. As I made attempts to cut them, he kept thanking me. Alternately he mistook me for a doctor,

It’s been a blazing hot summer and we firmly believe that best remedy for beating the heat is to escape with a book. Fill up your tote bag, head to your nearest beach (or the cool comforts of an air-conditioned library) and immerse yourselves in these new releases, selected by booksellers from indie bookstores all

Possess Me, Demon, Please by Alexandra Dos Santos With swollen eyes, I sit before a g​​roup of 18-20 somethings. The air is tense, dead silent. They stare at me expectantly, waiting for the train wreck to begin. I curse myself for not wearing more makeup to cover my humanity. They can see I’m struggling, can’t

There’s no question that turning the pages of a great book is a wonderful feeling—but is it more wonderful in a hardcover or a paperback? Aside from considering quality, durability, portability, size, price, or release date, many readers simply choose the cover with the more appealing design. At times, it’s a hard decision: One cover

David Foster Wallace Rides the Amtrak 79 Carolinian Following His Successful Cruise Ship Essay, David Foster Wallace Rides the Amtrak 79 Carolinian I have now seen tetanus-laden rail yards in seven states and the District of Columbia. I have seen time suspended in a sunlit broadleaf forest while emergency services investigate reports of a vehicle

There are rules for everything in life: how to speak corporate lingo, how to pray, how to dress at a wedding, and even how to blow the candles out at your own birthday (did you make a wish?). Storytelling is not exempt from its own ordinances. Writers in any genre face a myriad of craft

Recently, I was slung across the couch with my young daughter, both of us blissfully full from dinner, limbs intertwined as we read before her bedtime. Her face was hidden behind a beloved Phoebe Wahl picture book, and perched on my soft belly was Emma Copley Eisenberg’s Housemates, a road trip story about two friends

First, let me explain my title: I like using “folklores” in the plural, since there isn’t such a thing as a single, monolithic Slavic folklore. There are many different Slavic folklores, all drawing on different influences and borrowing from various neighbours, creating a rich tapestry stretching across Eastern Europe. At the same time, despite all

The Other Time a Grown Man Threatened My Life Juliet Escoria Juliet Escoria is the author of the novel Juliet the Maniac. She also wrote the poetry collection Witch Hunt  and the story collection Black Cloud. She was born in Australia, raised in San Diego, and currently lives in West Virginia. Share article An excerpt from YOU

You may or may not realize it, but the 1990s weren’t just a few years ago, not even just twenty years ago. Though the style has been resurrected of late by younger generations eager to grift the gritty grunge and combat boots of the final decade of the 20th century, and the same slip dresses

Bookstores are often literary safe havens for readers and places to build community through author readings, book signings, book clubs, or perhaps just bumping into a stranger in a niche genre section and exchanging numbers (a girl can dream!). From hybrid bookstore/coffee shops to bookstores that double as presses, we’ve curated a list of fourteen Black-owned

I found Greg Mania through the magic of the algorithm somewhere deep in quarantine, and the feeling I had was that I was late to the party. You could say I was right given their long list of bylines, but you could also say he curated that feeling via brilliant and relentless marketing tactics. Born

Nina St. Pierre’s debut memoir, Love Is a Burning Thing, began with a question: “Who starts two fires?” Before St. Pierre was even born, her mother and a friend lit themselves on fire in a dual suicide attempt. Years later, St. Pierre’s mother started another fire that shook the foundation of their lives. St. Pierre

As a queer girl growing up in small-town Scotland, I’ve always been attracted to stories about characters who don’t fit in. Better yet: those whose strangeness is their source of power.  My debut novel, Freakslaw, opens with an epigraph from The Craft: “We are the weirdos, mister.” It’s what one of the teen girl witches

A train is a perfect setting for a story, with its confined space, its forward momentum, its promise of change and adventure. Whether thundering along the Californian coast, spending days staring out at Russian forests and tundra, or blinking as the Japanese countryside whips past too quickly to take in, I’ve been lucky enough to

Nurses Make for Good Bullets Due to lack of furniture, my mother’s bedroom is the center of operations. The TV is always on unless I turn it off. The fire alarm beeps for new batteries every few minutes, but we’ve gotten good at ignoring it for the most part. The blankets are psychedelic shades of