'I Think Most People Feel Haunted': An Interview with Sara Peters

The author of Mother of God discusses the limitations of realism, Frank Bidart, and the anguished duality of shame.

The Dead Mall Society

Standing in the wreckage of these spaces unlocks a sensation people often crave, but can’t name.

Picture This: You're a Frog

It’s an imagined past, a pastoral imaginary, an alternate timeline in the multiverse.

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'I Think Most People Feel Haunted': An Interview with Sara Peters

The author of Mother of God discusses the limitations of realism, Frank Bidart, and the anguished duality of shame.

The Dead Mall Society

Standing in the wreckage of these spaces unlocks a sensation people often crave, but can’t name.

Picture This: You're a Frog

It’s an imagined past, a pastoral imaginary, an alternate timeline in the multiverse.

The Empty Tune

“Bird,” he cried, “I come on behalf of the emperor. Your voice is all anyone speaks of.”

Soul Blind

On interrogating fear and what bats can teach about human connection.

The Creature

She stops to look into her mother's face. It is smooth and blank as a stone. Nothing emerges; nothing shifts.

The Nanny as Audible Ambien

Who could possibly fall asleep to the sound of Fran Drescher’s voice?

The Eternal Becoming of Sofia Coppola

Like so many of her heroines, the director seduces to control.

Anxiety at the Gates

Why did I go to work for the TSA? To try to connect with my father? To soothe various concerns as a new father myself? Was I researching a book? Having a midlife crisis? All of the above?

Along Came Harvey

My father defaulted on his dreams, abandoned his daughter, and resigned himself to living on a futon in his parents' living room. Then he bought a two-foot-tall stuffed rabbit.

Mourning My Dad, the Identical Twin

The fact that I’ve always had an exact replica of my father, with a startlingly similar voice, mannerisms and, well, face, never really struck me as exceptional until he passed away.

'Sadness Sharpens Into Anger Very Quickly': An Interview with Pasha Malla

The author of Fugue States on upending Diaspora clichés, disingenuous narrative arcs, and dharma.