KELBY LOSACK is the author of several novels, the latest of which is Letting Out the Devils. One half of the Agitator podcast with J. David Osborne. He lives with his wife and son in Gulf Coast Texas.
Jerry Stahl’s Droll Prose Enlivens His Whistle-Stop Tour Of Death Camps
There aren’t many authors today who are willing to revisit the Holocaust and write about it. But then again, most authors aren’t Jerry Stahl, who has the chutzpah to pull it off masterfully. The author of Permanent Midnight (1995), I, Fatty (2004), and OG Dad (2015), was feeling depressed in 2016, and he wanted to feed his unhappiness to quell his demons. So, he scheduled a trip to Poland and Germany to tour the Nazi death camps. His mode of travel – a charter bus replete with a tour guide who was well-versed on Hitler, Koch, Mengele, and other lunatics who found joy in torturing and killing Jews. Stahl chronicles his experience in Nein, Nien, Nein! One Man’s Tale of Depression, Psychic Torment, and a Bus Tour of the Holocaust. Throughout the book, released this week, Stahl writes exactly what he thinks, and some of his thoughts – such as “Hitler ripped the world apart like a child tearing the head off a doll” – reminds reader of just how horrific the events that occurred at the death camps were. The author’s witty prose is appreciated because without levity a trip around the concentration camp horn would make any man or woman beg for mercy. His ability to provide his readers with a seat on the bus to experience the tour is exceptional. There was only one man for this job, and that man is Jerry Stahl.
Video Games, Living Abroad, and the Making of “The Pain Eater”: An Interview With Kyle Muntz
This month sees the release of The Pain Eater, the new novel from Kyle Muntz. It’s a book about the ways in which two brothers deal with their shared grief. It’s also a novel in which a bizarre creature emerges from the corpse of a deceased cat. Muntz’s writing has ventured into other disciplines as well, including a video game titled The Pale City. What led to the creation of the pain eater and The Pain Eater? Read on and find out.
You Must Be a Monster: An Interview with Nate Lippens
Nate Lippens’s debut novel My Dead Book was released in 2021 through the Fellow Travelers Series by Publication Studio. The book was released in 2022 with Pilot Press.
Let’s start on an upbeat note. What’s your funeral song?
Could it be a funeral hit parade? Maybe Nina Simone’s take on “My Way,” which to me is better than versions by Frank Sinatra, Sid Vicious, and even Nina Hagen. “Is That All There Is?” by Peggy Lee. There’s “You’re Dead” by Norma Tanega, Jimmy Scott’s cover of “Heaven” by Talking Heads, and my sentimental favourite “Dream Baby Dream” by Suicide. Diamanda Galas’s “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.” But really, I’d like people to have some fun. So maybe “Saturday Night At The Bookstore” by Dicks, my favourite queer Texan communists, about cruising glory holes at porn arcades, or Patrick Cowley’s mix of Sylvester’s “Do You Want To Funk?” with those bellowing screams at the beginning.
Currents, an Interview Series with Brian Alan Ellis (Episode 82: Jennifer Robin)
JENNIFER ROBIN is the author of Death Confetti (Feral House, 2016) and Earthquakes in Candyland (Fungasm, 2019) and the chapbook Even Snowflakes Heal and You Can Download Skin (Ladybox, 2016). Robin’s July 2022 release on Far West, You Only Bend Once with a Spoonful of Mercury, is a collection of dreams written for a live audience on social media. Her book of vignettes about American barbarism, selling boots to foot fetishists, and the joyless chewing of Thanksgiving turkey, DESTROY NOTHING (the most important thing) will be released by Future Tense in 2023.
Currents, an Interview Series with Brian Alan Ellis (Episode 81: Garth Miró)
GARTH MIRÓ is a writer based in New York City. He is the author of The Vacation (Expat Press, 2022). His stories have appeared in Litro, Sundog Lit, X-R-A-Y, and Maudlin House, among others. He was a semifinalist for North American Review’s 2021 Kurt Vonnegut Prize. He currently works as a handyman.
Currents, an Interview Series with Brian Alan Ellis (Episode 80: Lindsay Temple)
LINDSAY TEMPLE is a multidisciplinary artist and writer. Her first book, Cornucopia, is available now through Expat Press.
Currents, an Interview Series with Brian Alan Ellis (Episode 79: Kurt Eisenlohr)
KURT EISENLOHR is a writer and visual artist living precariously in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of Stab the Remote (Far West, 2021) and Meat Won’t Pay My Light Bill (Future Tense, 2000).