Brevity is both the soul of wit and the spirit of horror. A horror novel carries its own pleasures, but shorter tales of terror often punch well above their weight. […]

If ever a trigger warning was needed, it’s the one for David Scott Hay’s new novel [NSFW], which cautions the reader that the novel includes “sex, drug use, witchcraft, profanity, […]

Anyone who’s joined a beginners’ writers workshop knows the difficulty of reviewing prose that is nowhere near polished. It’s awkward, stressful even, trying to devise cogent thoughts about art that […]

Chicago doesn’t play much of a role in Rob Wilkins’s biography of his boss, Terry Pratchett, the British mega-selling author of the fantasy-science fiction Discworld series whose life was cut […]

What was 2022 like in the world of Chicago, Illinois, and Midwest letters? I’ve asked the Lit section writers to share their favorite reviews and stories of the past year. […]

It’s Halloween, and everyone’s entitled to one good scare. Lucky you. Third Coast Review has once again asked several Chicago area horror writers and artists for their recommendations on the […]

Like the very best tangled and violent folklore passed down to us, Jasmine Sawers’s The Anchored World: Flash Fairy Tales and Folklore, (Rose Metal Press), is eerie and beautiful. A […]

Antony Barone Kolenc’s The Merchant’s Curse is a historical mystery with a strong supernatural element, set in 12th-century England and written for children and young teens. Even more, it’s a […]

Cora James lives in the heart of the Harlem Renaissance. She works in the Harlem Library, rubbing shoulders with the best and the brightest Black writers in New York City. […]

Don’t stay where you’re not wanted. In Ling Ma’s short story collection Bliss Montage, her characters learn this the hard way. Or at least, some of them do. These eight […]

Jerry and Estelle Cimino are on the road, spreading the Beat Gospel to the world. As founders of the Beat Museum in San Francisco, they’ve made a mission of keeping […]

Unlike the turbulent 1970s she lives in, Polly Wainwright is determined to be calm, competent, and professional. She’s got a boyfriend making a name for himself as a war correspondent […]