Author: Heavy Feather

  • “The Devil in the Details”: History and Myth in Lee Klein’s JRZDVLZ, a review by Jesi Buell

    “The Devil in the Details”: History and Myth in Lee Klein’s JRZDVLZ, a review by Jesi Buell

    “Whoever languishes in thoughtful reenactmentof the past falls prey to cruel beasts.” —Lee Klein In his latest novel, Lee Klein introduces the Jersey Devil (JeRZey DeViLZ) as a sympathetic beast living across hundreds of years in the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey. The novel blends archival fact with longstanding myths, which serves to both amplify…

  • “Cults, Monsters, and Strange Rites” for Haunted Passages: On The Void and the Cosmic by Sean Oscar

    “Cults, Monsters, and Strange Rites” for Haunted Passages: On The Void and the Cosmic by Sean Oscar

    Previously, I discussed a film described by some as ‘Lovecraftian’. I rejected this designation, observing that ‘for a text to be truly Lovecraftian, it requires more than cults and monsters and strange religious practices—it requires existential dread’. Here, I shall discuss a film that does meet this designation, and I shall explain why. But, further…

  • Three Poems by Matthew Broaddus

    Three Poems by Matthew Broaddus

    It’s Good to Be Ashurnaspiral II The dunes part. Enter oasis. I emerge from the desert on my immaculate Bactrian, sipping an adult beverage from one of those neon crazy straws and tipping my hat to no one in particular. My pride of lions, cast in copper radiance by the god Ninagal, tails me and…

  • Two Poems by Vincent Poturica

    Two Poems by Vincent Poturica

    The Unknowable A small German boy splashes inpuddles of radioactive measuredcalmness. The puddles are not,in fact, radioactive or measured. But these adjectives seem the mostappropriate signifiers in depicting thespecies of calmness the German boyfeels while splashing after waking too early from a troubled dreamstarring clowns without eyes or mouthsbut only brilliant red noses much largerthan…

  • “A Catalogue of Things That Follows from Looking”: William Lessard Interviews Julia Madsen

    “A Catalogue of Things That Follows from Looking”: William Lessard Interviews Julia Madsen

    Julia Madsen is a writer who thinks like a filmmaker, a filmmaker who thinks like a writer, and an artist who thrives on intertextual uncertainty. With the publication of The Boneyard, The Birth Manual, A Burial: Investigations into the Heartland (Trembling Pillow Press, 2018), the first-time author joins Anne Boyer, Michael Martone, Ander Monson, and…

  • “Lovers’ Lane,” original short fiction for Haunted Passages by Michael Cole

    “Lovers’ Lane,” original short fiction for Haunted Passages by Michael Cole

    Lovers’ Lane was a lake, an old crater, faintly heart-shaped, about a mile outside of town. On any Friday night, it was a guarantee that the ridge overlooking the water would be lined in Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles; they were candy apple red, dusty rose, Tiffany blue—all parked with just enough space in between for privacy.…

  • “The Roadmap to Escape the Inferno”: Jason Teal Reviews Candice Wuehle’s Poetry Collection BOUND

    “The Roadmap to Escape the Inferno”: Jason Teal Reviews Candice Wuehle’s Poetry Collection BOUND

    Too often presses aspire to publishing on the basis of reaching an audience and having an impact on letters—and everyone tries to sell books the same way—all while passing the claim that subverting our expectations and experiences comes second, or postmortem, to artmaking. Too often this quality of art goes unremarked on more deeply than…

  • “A Growing Crisis,” a Presidential erasure by Tara Campbell

    “A Growing Crisis,” a Presidential erasure by Tara Campbell

    *Ed.’s Note: click images to view larger sizes. Tara Campbell (taracampbell.com) is a fiction editor at Barrelhouse and an MFA candidate at American University. Prior publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review, b(OINK), Booth, Spelk, Jellyfish Review, Strange Horizons, and Heavy Feather Review. Her debut novel, TreeVolution, was published in 2016, and her collection, Circe’s…

  • “Change Is Always Possible”: Hillary Leftwich Interviews Mairead Case

    “Change Is Always Possible”: Hillary Leftwich Interviews Mairead Case

    Mairead Case is a teacher, writer, and editor in Denver, Colorado. She publishes widely, and wrote the novel See You in the Morning (featherproof), the poetry chapbook TENDERNESS (Meekling), the forthcoming novel Tiny, and, with David Lasky, the forthcoming Georgetown Steam Plant Graphic Novel. Mairead holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a…