Essay: Dreaming My Dreaming—Thoughts on Seeing Patti Smith at the Chicago Theatre
Despite her fame as a rock and roll singer, Patti Smith is a poet at heart. Poetry has always been her passion. Even her prose sounds like poetry. At the […]
Review: Kings and Queen: Mia Zapata and the Gits, by Steve Moriarty
Some people are born with an inner light that fills every room they enter. By all accounts, Chicago-born Mia Zapata, singer/songwriter for the Gits, had talent, presence, and charisma to […]
Review: A Mythic and Intimate Tragedy, Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative), by Herman Melville, Illustrated by Barry Moser
Herman Melville’s novella Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative) is both mythic and intimate. So, too, are the woodcuts Barry Moser created for the centennial edition from the University of […]
Dialogs: Rushdie’s Return to Fiction—Bopping Until He Drops
He wore a black patch over his right eye while the other eye, the good eye, looked out towards the standing room only audience. Salman Rushdie wasted no time in […]
Review: A Unique, Grassroots Biography of Chicago, The Plan of Chicago: A City in Stories by Barry Pearce
One of the many fascinating things about a city like Chicago is how the lives of millions of strangers are unknowingly intertwined. Barry Pearce gets at this in a savvy […]
Dialogs: Jill Lepore’s Book We the People Tells Us Why Our Constitution Needs an Overhaul
I like to think of Jill Lepore sitting down at her desk to plan her new book on the US Constitution. We don’t need just another history, she thinks. There […]
Poetry: Coin of the Realm (1793–2025)
We hardly knew ye Or at the very least we took you for granted Even though your pedigree runs deep Alexander Hamilton gave you birth Despite your modesty You meant […]
Review: The Ghost of Yeats in a Wine Bar: Jessie McCarty’s Pretty Punks
Reviewed by Tori Rego To talk about Pretty Punks by Jessie McCarty, it is necessary to talk about W.B. Yeats. Like many, I’d venture to guess, I had not experienced […]
Review: The Fracturedness of a Life, Simone in Pieces by Janet Burroway
Simone Lerrante is 70 years old. It is the year 2000, and she is ruminating as she looks at the panes of a large Florida window near the bed of […]
Horror Stories: Abbott and Costello Meet the Crazy Mixed-Up Featured Creatures from Planet X
Welcome to the sixth installment of Third Coast Review’s Featured Creatures, in which we ask Midwestern horror authors to recommend writers, artists, musicians, and stories that deserve more attention. Find […]
Interview: Becky Siegel Spratford’s New Anthology Asks Horror Authors Why They Love Their Genre
Horror authors are often asked where they get all their wonderful, horrible ideas, but rarely why they get them. Librarian Becky Siegel Spratford wondered about this herself. Since 2007, she’s […]
Review: Monsters Loom but Heart Prevails in Christina Henry’s Latest Release The Place Where They Buried Your Heart
Christina Henry’s latest release, The Place Where They Buried Your Heart, is for more than just horror fans. It’s a story of redemption. The book is a David and Goliath […]