JANE-REBECCA CANNARELLA is the editor of HOOT Review and Meow Meow Pow Pow Lit, and was a former genre editor at Lunch Ticket. Her books are Better Bones and Marrow, both published by Thirty West Publishing House, The Guessing Game (published by BA Press), and Thirst and Frost (forthcoming from Vegetarian Alcoholic Press). She lives in Philadelphia.
My current favorite books are: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, A Sinking Ship is Still a Ship by Ariel Francisco, Salt by Nayyirah Waheed, and On the Tip of Your Mother’s Tongue by JP Infante. (And current favorite re-reads: Sweet Valley High: Return of the Evil Twin, Mick Foley’s Have a Nice Day, and Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.)
My current favorite authors are: Gina Tron, Kelsey Marie Harris, Barracuda Guarisco, Gina Marie Bernard, and YOU, mister mister! (I just finished reading a bunch of your books.)
My current favorite films are: Escape from New York and Rats of NIMH.
My current favorite film directors are: John Carpenter, Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, and Julie Taymor.
My current favorite television shows are: Cobra Kai, The Real Housewives of Potomac, The Great British Baking Show, Letterkenny, and Desus &Mero.
My current favorite albums are: Dive by Tycho, Something Else by the Kinks, From Langley Park to Memphis by Prefab Sprout, and Pony by Orville Peck.
My current favorite songs are: “Pick up the Phone” by Dragonette, “Catch Me (I’m Falling)” by Pretty Poison, “This is How We Walk on the Moon” by Arthur Russell, “Two Weeks” by FKA twigs, “Fresh Blood” by the Eels, “Invisible Touch” by Genesis, and “Never Knew Love Like This Before” by Stephanie Mills.
My current favorite bands/musicians are: The B-52’s (always and forever, and have been since I was five, so they’ll eternally be on all lists, current or otherwise), Fruit Bats, Beirut, We Are the City, Xiu Xiu, Electric Six, Menomena, Dude York, Thieves Like Us, and Nnamdi Ogbonnaya.
My current state of mind is: always and forever anxious, like the mental equivalent of always bouncing your leg or drumming your fingers.
My current chemical romance involves: …like what drugs do I do? An entire bouquet of them—they are all very bad for me (and likely everyone else, but I’m not a doctor so I can’t make that judgment call). I drink too much. I eat absolute garbage. Realistically I’m like if a raccoon became a human and wore the same pajamas every day.
My current favorite phrase is: from the Ric Flair ESPN 30 for 30 series, when he describes professional wrestling as “a violent theater.” That really stuck with me.
My current favorite quote is: …I don’t really have a favorite quote currently, but in my late teens and early twenties I used to often quote (I’m already laughing as I type this because it’s such a cliché) a stanza from PB Shelley’s To a Skylark—“We look before and after, And pine for what is not; Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.”
My current favorite word is: “whet.”
My current mode of transportation is: my legs. I would generally take public transportation (the L, regional rail, bus, and trolley) but I’ve been working from home since COVID.
My current favorite fast food item is: the grilled cheese burrito from Taco Bell. And always McNuggets.
My current workout routine consists of: LOL.
My current regrettable decision involves: emotionally oversharing on social media, not drinking any water yesterday, not drinking any water today…
My current hopes and dreams are: to get through the day-to-day hoping that there is some beckon of meaning or joy to launch me into the future. Not to be stuck in survival mode for forever. Being able to capture happiness and sincerity and feel it genuinely, and to try not to infantilize the stuff that makes me excited and invigorated by demeaning it with sarcasm. I’d also like to continue just making art that makes me feel whole, or if not whole [then] some kind of facsimile of wholeness.
My current projects/hobbies include: writing, design, running my two literary presses, collages, drawing with charcoal, knitting, playing the melodica and keyboard, reading, Animal Crossing, talking walks when I can, missing going out to places but also being a reclusive shut-in, sewing/reconstructing my clothes, hanging out with my very radical and amazing cats.
Jane-Rebecca Cannarella is online at youlifeisnotsogreat.com.
Brian Alan Ellis runs House of Vlad Press, and is the author of several books, including Sad Laughter (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2018). His writing has appeared at Juked, Hobart, Fanzine, Monkeybicycle, Electric Literature, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Funhouse, Heavy Feather Review, and Yes Poetry, among other places. He lives in Florida.
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