Rainbow Road: Rebecca Gransden interviews Scott Laudati
A wearied resilience resounds throughout Rainbow Road (Bone Machine, 2026), the latest poetry collection from Scott Laudati. A gathering of poems written loosely about Laudati’s travels across various American states, the book seems something of a watershed, both a culmination of years as an active poet, whatever that means, and the marker of a new phase, at this point in time the character of which is unknowable. Scott has been around the block and then gone back for more, before heading off in yet another direction, loaded with nothing but the impulse to keep moving. Whatever is at his heels,
$20 by Mike Andrelczyk
I was standing in front of the Palms wearing sunglasses. My pupils were dilated. Each one was like the black spot in the palm of the hand of the blind man from Treasure Island. I was trying to be cool and keep my mouth shut. I’d already received suspicious looks from Denise and Brent at the front desk when I commented on the beautiful poem on the Palms sign, which read: “Welcome Hart-Graves wedding. Congrats Roarin’ Lions field hockey. Enjoy the sun and fun at the Palms.” I looked at my reflection in the gleaming cars in the parking lot
Lunar Departures: Ava Sharahy Interviews Emmalea Russo
An arts collective sets out to launch a second moon, dubbed “Moon2”, into the Earth’s atmosphere, an act in which even the group itself is unsure of the full consequences. What follows is The Moon Papers (Arcade Publishing, 2026), a masterclass in genre hybridity, balancing sci-fi sensibility with a literary lyricism. Following its cast of characters – from a bat expert, to the daughter of an art dynasty carrying on an Internet affair with a member of the collective, to the daughter’s gallery owner conspiracy theorist husband – The Moon Papers examines the art world, escapism, and the intersection of
Channeling by Tyler Dempsey
Samuel Peters Brown—a stereotypically thin dude with disheveled hair and that beard-with-no-mustache combination of the late-1800’s—was a descendant of the Mayflower and what you might call “uber successful.” But it wasn’t his severe look that got him places. It was a history in ship-building and time in the House of Representatives for the state of Maine that led to his appointment from President Lincoln as Navy Agent in Washington D.C. And it was through Mr. Brown, millions of dollars’ worth of ships, guns, and naval war materials were purchased during the Civil War. He founded a town in his lifetime.
Ted McLoof Recommends: Nicholas Montemarano’s “If the Sky Falls” and Anna Dickson James’ “Boys Buy Me Drinks to Watch me Fall Down”
Nicholas Montemarano, If the Sky Falls (Yellow Shoe Fiction, 2005) I was 24 years old when I first encountered Nicholas Montemarano. He was reading for a class I was TAing for, so I dutifully picked up his then-latest book, If the Sky Falls, a collection of short stories. You have to understand that this kind of thing happens a lot: reading the books of visiting writers is part and parcel of academia, and unfortunately the books are often at best easy to get through and at worst a chore. I was as a result not only pleasantly surprised but gobsmacked
Reply by Sam Lamplugh
I haven’t talked to my father for thirty years, and this news doesn’t change anything (it’s impossible to talk through three decades of life; the silence is too full – (though I should preface this by noting he has tried to talk to me during this time (very recently, in fact, for obvious reasons (via the usual channels on social media et cetera (which channels, incidentally, were a big part of why I broke off contact in the first place (in that they facilitated his transgression (though there was more to it than that, of course (the ‘more than that’