INTERVIEWS
Dylan Hicks: author, lyricist, singer/songwriter
Whether it’s a novel or album, article or essay, humans can’t really consume art without internalizing aspects of the form, even if it’s just the process of consumption they’re holding onto. Dylan Hicks, who was born in Austin, Texas but whisked away before it could define him (too much), has art pouring out of him, blasting into characters who in turn pour even more art forth, like one of those fountains lobbing arcs of water around. Read more…
Erika Swyler, author of Light From Other Stars
In Light From Other Stars Erika Swyler takes you out and away from the Earth, onboard a space station where life is cramped and difficult. She also shows us Nedda’s hometown of Easter, Florida, which becomes just as cramped and as difficult as any space station. Read more...
Malka Older, author of the Centenal Trilogy
Set in a world very much like our own, utilizing familiar structures and struggles, Malka Older's Centenal Trilogy - Infomocracy, Null States, and State Tectonics - takes what we know and re-works the code and functions of society, and how we experience, mold, and rebel against the world via technology. Read more...
Jeffrey Ford, A Natural History of Hell
If stories are an attempt to connect with and understand the world, then Jeffrey Ford’s story collection A Natural History of Hell, out now from Small Beer Press, unearths possibilities in our sleeping hearts. The unknowable woods, the rotting house you scurry by as the daylight wanes (but end up exploring anyway), these places hold insights into who we are, and who we want to be. Read more...
Margo Orlando Littell, for Late Night Library
The small town of Shelk has a problem, one of the oldest. When visitors show up on the town’s metaphorical doorstep, along with an increasing number of its literal doorsteps, break-ins begin occurring. Family heirlooms go missing, along with food and small trinkets. The townspeople can feel something hovering, ominous and unstoppable. Main characters Stella and Ramsy watch as people they’ve known for years react to the new faces and crimes. Read more...
Lisa Birnbaum, for Late Night Library
Our lives are single-perspective. How then have we ever understood anything outside our immediate realm? Stories are one way.
In Lisa Birnbaum’s Worthy (Dzanc Books), we see the power of stories, how they can help us understand those around us, and perhaps even more importantly, to perceive different and new versions of ourselves. Narrated in the unforgettable voice of Ludmila – known as “Worthy” to some – this novel takes us into our very own hearts and minds, through the singular window of another’s. Read more...
Berit Ellingsen, for Late Night Library
Not Dark Yet by Berit Ellingsen wants to take you places. Published by the Ohio-based Two Dollar Radio, the story moves from the city to the country, flirts with the stars and all the space in between, and takes short jaunts back to the city. Setting plays an important role, a wonderful success of Ellingsen’s prose considering there is never once a country or city name written. You don’t need them. These places are your places, they’re everyone’s. Read more...
Riverdale collection
My re-caps and commentary on first season episodes of the CW show Riverdale. All are companion pieces to the Rivertell podcast, presented the Hideous Energy. Read them all...
SPX 2014: Small Press Expo Turns 20, Stays Awesome
Small Press Expo 2014 (SPX) is over but the energy it generates isn’t gone yet. I’d love if I could always vibrate at the specific frequency this particular comic book convention activates within me, but various natural laws dictate that isn’t possible. Read more...
Copywriting
I’m currently a freelance marketing copywriter with almost a decade of experience in marketing. I have written product catalogues; emails (including subject and pre-header text) and newsletter campaigns; direct mail newsletters for non-profits; retail newsletters; digital and print ads and campaigns for various markets; social media campaigns and individual posts; and I have extensive experience proofreading and editing.