Inside The Spiral: A Review of Joseph Goosey’s Casey Anthony, Renowned Trapeze Artist

Mallory SmartFebruary 3, 2026

We are all participating in the disposal process. That’s the first thing you have to vibe when you pick up Casey Anthony, Renowned Trapeze Artist, Joseph Goosey...

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The Weight of the World: A Review of Nicholas Keating Casbarro’s Vitalerium: Descent into the Void

Alana M. KelleyNovember 30, 2025

Nicholas Keating Casbarro’s Vitalerium: Descent into the Void is a vividly executed work of science fiction. A blend of space opera, political thriller, and phi...

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These Efforts are Only Temporary: A Review of James R. Gapinski’s The Museum of Future Mistakes

Alana M. KelleyNovember 23, 2025

James R. Gapinski’s upcoming collection The Museum of Future Mistakes is a brilliant descent into fabulist short fiction, interweaving lyricism, whimsy, the gro...

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A Review of Mariana Enriquez’s Someone is Walking on Your Grave

Dmitry SamarovNovember 16, 2025

…a lot of people get scared when they hear they’re walking over dead people. Although we are all, more or less always walking over a greater or lesser number of...

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A Review of John Tottenham’s Service

Dmitry SamarovSeptember 14, 2025

Sean Hangland—the narrator/non-hero of John Tottenham’s hilarious novel of retail horror and art frustration—has had it. His three or four shifts a week at the ...

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Writing Before the Silence Catches Up: A Review of David LeBrun’s Delirium Vitae

Mallory SmartAugust 4, 2025

There’s a specific kind of silence that follows a person when they decide not to go home. Not grief. Just the quiet of knowing nobody’s waiting. A stillness tha...

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The Version of Me I Didn’t Choose: a review of Jackie Thomas-Kennedy’s The Other Wife

Mallory SmartJuly 28, 2025

There are days where I can’t tell if I’m bored or exhausted or just rewatching the same thought over and over. That’s exactly where Zuzu lives in The Other Wife...

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You Don’t Need a Monster When You Have a Neighbor: A Review of Amie Souza Reilly’s Human/Animal (A Bestiary in Essays)

Mallory SmartMay 18, 2025

Some books start loud. This one doesn’t. It lingers. It stares. It waits for you to notice it hasn’t left the room. Human/Animal by Amie Souza Reilly is shap...

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A Review Of Ben Tanzer’s After Hours: Scorsese, Grief and the Grammar of Cinema

Dmitry SamarovMay 6, 2025

A touchstone, in its original use, was employed to compare the quality of gold or silver; in common parlance, it’s an event or object employed to judge highpoin...

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Sixteen Ways to Misbehave: A Review of Be Gay, Do Crime

Mallory SmartApril 29, 2025

Reading Be Gay, Do Crime feels like being handed a stolen car key, a lukewarm cocktail, and a list of exes you promised never to text again. It dares you to mak...

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A Review of Nathan Knapp’s Daybook

Dmitry SamarovMarch 17, 2025

A couple definitions of the word daybook: a ledger in which transactions have been recorded as they occurred and a diary. Nathan Knapp’s book isn’t exactly eith...

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My Dream Has Come: a review of And One Day We Will Die

Mallory SmartDecember 2, 2024

Almost exactly a year ago, I found myself in the perfect chaos of a conversation with Patrick Barb on my podcast, Textual Healing. The topic? I can't remember. ...

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A Nightmare Grips My Ankle: A Review of Ken Anderson’s The Ward at Twilight

Alana M. KelleyOctober 30, 2024

Ken Anderson’s The Ward at Twilight presents a heartrending exploration of vulnerability, memory, and the passage of time. Anderson’s language is both lyrical a...

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Twisted Nostalgia: Patrick Barb’s Masterpiece of Dark Absurdity

Mallory SmartOctober 22, 2024

A Review of The Children’s Horror: Cursed Episodes for Doomed Adults by Patrick Barb FOREWARNING: The following review is not created for or targeted for adult...

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The Unseen Mess: A Review of Brian Alan Ellis’ Hobbies You Enjoy

Alana M. KelleyOctober 18, 2024

Brian Alan Ellis' Hobbies You Enjoy is a darkly humorous exploration of modern ennui, capturing the absurdities of life with a raw, biting edge. As with much of...

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Places We Think Are Haunted; A Review of D.T. Robbins’ Leasing

Alana M. KelleyAugust 26, 2024

D.T. Robbins' Leasing is a striking foray into the complexities of modern existence, capturing the subtleties of human relationships, identity, and the somewhat...

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Adventures In Moontown: A Review of Rick Claypool’s “Skull Slime Tentacle Witch War”

Mallory SmartAugust 18, 2024

Rick Claypool’s latest offering, “Skull Slime Tentacle Witch War,” thrusts readers into the twisted lunar wasteland of Moontown—a place where mutants with bodie...

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Mr. Death Never Saw His Own Shadow: A Review of Eugene Marten’s ‘Layman’s Report’

Dmitry SamarovJuly 8, 2024

Sometimes a book will paint a person in an entirely new light. Fred Leuchter—the Holocaust-denying, self-taught execution equipment engineer and star of Errol M...

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A Review of Will We All Still See Each Other Afterward

Dmitry SamarovFebruary 16, 2024

Charles Bukowski called love a dog from hell but Tyler Dempsey shows it to be an animal resilient enough to withstand arctic freezes and the weeks-long days and...

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Hanging in an Alien Sky: a review of “Death Egg” by Nathaniel Duggan

Mallory SmartFebruary 14, 2024

September 22nd, 2023: I take a copy of Death Egg to a cabin in Wisconsin. Unable to read. A goat that has found its way onto the porch keeps trying to eat it. ...

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A Review of I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition

Dmitry SamarovFebruary 1, 2024

On February 16th, 2021, a writer downloaded FaceApp and fed it some childhood photos. The program alters race, age, and—most crucially, in this case—gender, to ...

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Time Presents Itself: A Review of Bennett Sims’ Other Minds and Other Stories

Mallory SmartNovember 2, 2023

Bennett Sims, celebrated for his acclaimed works like "White Dialogues," skillfully crafts a captivating tapestry of surreal and absurdist narratives that will ...

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Unveiling the Supernatural: Nora Fussner’s ‘The Invisible World’ Conjures Eerie Excellence

Mallory SmartSeptember 23, 2023

Nora Fussner's debut novel, "The Invisible World," offers a captivating and atmospheric narrative reminiscent of the eerie charm found i...

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We Are Like The Dreamer: A Review of Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology

Mallory SmartSeptember 10, 2023

Though we rarely speak of it today, humanity has always existed in a captivating world of superstitions full of myths of summoning shadows, broken mirrors, and ...

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Caught in Eternity: A Review of Izuki Suzumi’s Hit Parade of Tears

Ben DreithAugust 14, 2023

The 1970s and ‘80s in Japan were a time of profound change. The nation, after the war, had built itself up in the international eyes as an example of a high-t...

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Random Occurrences

Mallory SmartJanuary 21, 2023

A Review of Jaded by Wilson Koewing   Think nothing of mind or spirit whilst reading Jaded. It is neither the time or place to do so. Instead, focus on...

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I Am Disappeared

Mallory SmartJanuary 20, 2023

A Review of The Craigslist Incident by Jason Fisk   “Women Seeking Men: I’m an 18-year-old female and I want to take a hit out on myself.” This is the ...

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Any Wish Fulfilled for the Right Price

Mallory SmartJanuary 17, 2023

A Review of Immoral Origins: A Suspense Thriller by Lee Matthew Goldberg   Welcome to a land full of gangsters, murderers, petty thieves, and mysterious ...

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When I Was a Muse For Sin

Nicholas BoniNovember 20, 2022

A Review of Life of the Party by Tea Hacic-Vlahovic   Content Warning: This article contains references to body dysmorphia and eating disorders. &nb...

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A Review of The Distortions by Christopher Linforth

Alana M. KelleyJune 9, 2022

In The Distortions, Christopher Linforth explores the mundanities of life that continue to exist after war, where generational grief continues to linger. In the...

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