VGA Limned the Video Star—Interview with Tiffany Funk of the Video Game Art Reader
What’s the status of art in state of the art video games? Do pixelated citizens have a sense of aesthetics? Will we find a Van Gogh or Basquiat skin among […]
Dan Kelly has been a writer and editor for 30 years, contributing work to Chicago Magazine, the Chicago Reader, Chicago Journal, The Baffler, Harvard Magazine, The University of Chicago Magazine, and others.
All the Dery Details—Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey—Book Review
Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey by Mark Dery Little, Brown and Company If cartoonist Edward Gorey didn’t exist, we would have had […]
Review: Temporary Monuments: Work by Rosemary Mayer, 1977–1982
Temporary Monuments: Work by Rosemary Mayer, 1977–1982 Soberscove Press Edited by Marie Warsh and Max Warsh Introduction by Gillian Sneed I was never an art student, but I picked up […]
Review: The Leopold and Loeb Files: An Intimate Look at One of America’s Most Infamous Crimes
Chicago has had its share of dynamic duos: Adler and Sullivan, Jordan and Pippen, Bozo and Cooky, Moo and Oink… Less dynamic and more demonic were Chicago killers Nathan Leopold […]
How Do You Smoke a Weed?—Graphic Novel Review
I have a secret, neither dark nor deep. Never have I ever smoked pot. You kids still call it pot, right? Marijuana is pejorative. Grass, Mary Jane, and reefer seem […]
Books-a-Seven-Thousand: Pilsen Community Books to Host First Annual Book Sale, October 5–6
Mary Gibbons, co-owner of Pilsen Community Books says her store had a bevy of books… Nay—a surfeit of books… Strike that—a profound profusion, if not potential plethora of books in storage, […]
Da Sacred and Profane: The Best of Royko: The Tribune Years—Review
I met my good friend, Flats Slobnik—tuck pointer, softball shortstop, and professional Chicago everyman—at our favorite watering hole, Brzbchynski’s Tavern on Pulaski and Lower Wacker Drive. Karol Brzbchynski, a 300-pound […]
She Wore Red Shoes by the Newsstand: An Interview with The Gold Pawn Author L.A. Chandlar
New York-based writer L.A. Chandlar is the author of The Silver Gun and the just-published The Gold Pawn, the first two books in her Art Deco Mystery series. I spoke with […]
Review: Happy Campers Are All Alike
Journalists love looking for America, and Dave Hoekstra—WGN radio host and author of The Camper Book: A Celebration of a Moveable American Dream—is as smitten as the rest. For the […]
Gilded Age White People Problems: Henry Blake Fuller’s The Cliff-Dwellers: Book Review
Whatever happened to melodrama? A hero, a villain, a damsel in distress—a histrionic trinity entangled over late rent payments, potentially besmirched honor, and the inevitable train track bondage scene. Well, […]
Anna and Her Sister: An Interview with The Window Author Amelia Brunskill
In her debut novel The Window, Amelia Brunskill tells the story of Jess Cutter, a Montanan girl whose twin sister Anna is found dead below her bedroom window. Jess—as thoughtful, […]
Folk(tale) Hero: An Interview with Author Edward McClelland
I wish I could describe Edward McClelland in legendary terms—it would be so damned apropos. I’d tell you he’s as tall as a redwood, as strong as a herd […]