Revisiting the Rust Belt in Words and Pictures With Jay Halsey

Jay Halsey

To read Jay Halsey’s Barely Half in an Awkward Line is to be immersed in its author’s world and the places and people at their heart — sometimes literally. This book blends terse poetry, haunting prose, and mysterious images, all of which combine to bring the reader into the author’s history and the places closest to them. I spoke with Halsey about the book’s genesis and its new edition — as well as what the deal was with the masked figures that factor prominently into the book’s second half.

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“Deadlines Scare the Hell Out of Me”: An Interview with Mallory Smart

Mallory Smart

Writers, musicians, painters, and film makers all bring us the human condition through their art.  One might think that over time everything that could be said has been said.  The number of pop songs and poems written about love, loss, anxiety, and dreams is endless.  Yet everyday someone somewhere finds a new way to say what we’re all feeling.  Mallory Smart’s new novel I Keep My Visions To Myself follows Stevie, a musician in LA grappling with success and identity. Over the course of a week Stevie has an existential crisis when her band, Electric Stardust, is on the verge of a life-changing decision. Plagued by past relationships, Stevie navigates life’s path with help from her community. 

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Dmitry Samarov on the Literal Art of Correspondence

"To Whom It May Concern"

Catching up with old friends and acquaintances can be a rewarding experience; it can also be emotionally unsettling, unearthing challenging and painful emotions or reminding you of why you’d grown distant to begin with. In his new book To Whom It May Concern, Dmitry Samarov blends writing and art as he looks back on people he’s known and the letters he did and didn’t send them. I spoke with Dmitry about his new book, how it connects to his other work as a writer and artist, and what’s next for him.

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Adrian Van Young on the Uncanny Origins of “Midnight Self”

Adrian Van Young

I’ve long admired the writings of Adrian Van Young, and I’m happy to report that his new collection Midnight Self continues his trademark blend of visceral imagery, contemplative plotting, and occasional forays deep into the uncanny. This is a collection in which historical figures encounter bizarre figures and where a thrift-store find becomes something both truly alien and truly alienating. I caught up with Van Young to learn more about the book’s origins and to get to the bottom of some of the nightmare fuel that emerged from these tales.

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“I Hope People Keep Pushing Boundaries More and More”: An Interview With Jami Nakamura Lin

Photograph of Jami Nakamura Lin

Jami Nakamura Lin‘s speculative memoir, The Night Parade, breaks genre barriers by illuminating the author’s mental health narrative with Japanese ghost stories that parallel the horrors of her bipolar diagnosis. Lin uses this hybrid template to demonstrate how brain illnesses, thought to be aberrant, are connected to a shared storytelling practice. Lin and I met over Zoom, where we talked about mental health stigma, the media’s influence on mental illness, and her exciting contribution to the speculative nonfiction subgenre. Lin even shared an impromptu craft lesson with me—Hint: it involves colored markers, a table-sized sheet of paper, and plenty of floor space.

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Six Ridiculous Questions: William Brandon III

William Brandon III

The guiding principle of Six Ridiculous Questions is that life is filled with ridiculousness. And questions. That only by giving in to these truths may we hope to slip the surly bonds of reality and attain the higher consciousness we all crave. (Eh, not really, but it sounded good there for a minute.) It’s just. Who knows? The ridiculousness and question bits, I guess. Why six? Assonance, baby, assonance.

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Gold Dime’s Andrya Ambro on the Genesis of “No More Blue Skies”

Andrya Ambro of Gold Dime

I’ve been a fan of Gold Dime‘s music ever since I came across them playing at the 2014 edition of Basilica Soundscape. Do you enjoy your music intense and rhythmic yet pushing towards transcendent moments of bliss? Well then. The group’s third album, No More Blue Skies, arrived on the scene last month, and it pulls off the impressive feat of retaining the group’s core sound while also finding intriguing ways to expand it. I spoke with Gold Dime founder Andrya Ambro to learn more about the album — and the band’s recent tour.

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Writing Art About the Art of AI: An Interview With Sean Michaels

Sean Michaels

At this point, it feels safe to say that Sean Michaels is fond of big ideas in his work, whether he’s telling stories of starcrossed lovers during the Cold War or asking big questions about technology’s ability to create art. The latter concern is at the heart of Do You Remember Being Born?, in which an acclaimed late-career poet named Marian Ffarmer is offered an unexpected and lucrative job: collaborating with an algorithm on a new literary work. Michaels’s novel never goes where you’d expect, and in doing so raises a host of bold and thrilling questions about creativity, identity, and intelligence. I chatted with him about the novel’s origins and the challenges of writing a book that echoes emerging technology.

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