INTERVIEWS

Writerly Friendship: An interview with Jill Alexander Essbaum and Jessica Piazza
For these two writers, friendship supersedes competition and instead grows the relationship as they share their appreciation, adoration, and respect for each other. Interviewed by Sarah Suzor

Into The Depths Of Human Soul-Making: An Interview With Clayton Eshleman
In this extended conversation, Eshleman discusses the trajectory of his career and the recent releases of two meaty tomes, A Sulfur Anthology and his Essential Poems (1960-2015). Interviewed by Stuart Kendall

FEATURES

On One: The Writings of Roger Gilbert-Lecomte
Theory of the Great Game & The Book is A Ghost
Two new books of writings illustrate the wider current of poet Gilbert-Lecomte, one of the members of the notorious parasurrealist group Le Grand Jeu. Reviewed by Garrett Caples

COMICS REVIEWS

Killing and Dying
Adrian Tomine
With his penetrating new collection of short stories, Tomine explores the ebb and flow that makes up the daily surge of human endeavor. Reviewed by Steve Matuszak

CHAPBOOK REVIEWS

Dynamite
Anders Carlson-Wee
In the winning chapbook of the 2015 Frost Place Competition, Carlson-Wee pulls us into the poem’s universe and makes us accept its laws. Reviewed by J.G. McClure

POETRY REVIEWS

Troy, Michigan
Wendy S. Walters
In Troy, Michigan, Wendy S. Walters turns sonnets into maps that document the terrain of racial oppression. Reviewed by Ashleigh Lambert

Two Seagull Books:
Collected Poems by Rainer Brambach and Seasonal Time Change by Michael Kruger
Michael Kruger and Rainer Brambach are both German-speaking poets, and though born a generation apart, they share a sensibility toward their craft that is remarkably concise, unadorned, and bitingly candid. Reviewed by Peter McDonald

Directory of the Vulnerable
Fabiano Alborghetti
Italian poet Alborghetti’s collection of 43 cantos—his first to appear in English—feeds on the experiences of his fellow citizens affected by a murder case. Reviewed by Graziano Krätli

K: A 21st Century Canzoniere
I Goldfarb
Modeled on Petrach’s 700-year-old Canzoniere, Goldfarb’s 21st-century update is an epic spiritual love poem for the age of online dating and televised courting. Reviewed by Michael Boughn

A Roll of the Dice
Stéphane Mallarmé
In their new translation, Robert Bononno and Jeff Clark emphasizes the musicality of Mallarmé’s classic poem. Reviewed By Richard Henry

NONFICTION REVIEWS

Surrealism in Belgium: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Xavier Canonne
This exhibition catalog from the first major American survey show of Belgian Surrealism amply illustrates the range of visual art produced over 75 years. Reviewed by M. Kasper

Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age
Sven Birkerts
Changing the Subject embodies and performs its central claim that art is a necessary antidote to information. Reviewed by Scott F. Parker

Destruction Was My Beatrice:
Dada and the Unmaking of the Twentieth Century
Jed Rasula
Rasula’s expansive work keeps the reader in a liminal state, a participant and an observer in a constant inside/outside look into Dada. Reviewed by Laura Winton

Life Upon the Wicked Stage: A Memoir
Grace Cavalieri
This new memoir by poet and playwright Cavalieri chronicles a career in literary arts and media by one of America's most knowledgeable and involved literary figures. Reviewed by Daniela Gioseffi

M Train
Patti Smith
M Train is an elegiac exploration of loss, the mystical power of objects that hold sentimental value, the joy to be taken from a good detective story, and the inexorable pull of place. Reviewed by Christopher Luna

YA FICTION REVIEWS

Weird Girl and What’s His Name
Meagan Brothers
Brothers’s compassionate novel for young adults explores the ins and outs of love and identity. Reviewed by Jay Besemer

FICTION REVIEWS

The Drug and Other Stories
Aleister Crowley
The best parts of The Drug offer traces of the bombast and wit so evident in Crowley’s other works. Reviewed By Spencer Dew

The Sellout
Paul Beatty
Beatty’s satirical novel sends up institutionalized racism and political correctness with glee, irritation, and resignation. Reviewed by Calista McRae

A Gothic Soul
Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic
First published in 1900 and hailed as a fundamental work of Czech Decadence, A Gothic Soul presents anxiety-riddled philosophy as told by a nihilistic protagonist. Reviewed by Jeff Alford

Deco Punk: The Spirit of the Age
Edited by Thomas A. Easton and Judith K. Dial
This anthology envisions replacing steampunk with a new literary movement of science-driven fiction set between the two World Wars. Reviewed by Kelsey Irving Beson

The Creator
Salomo Friedlaender (Mynona)
This novella unfolds as a parable might, delivering a clear moral message: embrace the human capacity for imagination, or risk a reality defined by a crippling allegiance to objectivity. Reviewed by Jesse Freedman