“There’s an Anne Carson story winding through Anne Carson’s life…” Read the rest of my review of Red Doc> here at Paste, as Anne Carson offers a continuation of sorts to the characters and story she first introduced in the much-adored Autobiography of Red. My thanks as well to The Rumpus and The Millions for helping expose the piece to their readers.

“Thao Nguyen began her last full-band album with the double-timed handclaps of an ominous, fatalistic field holler, a chorus of voices rising as the singer squared off against a ruthless adversary: “If this is how you want it, oh-kay…OK!” Leaving no doubt as to the romantic nature of the demon being exorcised, the cover photo ofKnow Better Learn Faster showed Thao peeking out from under a blindfold, armed to take a whack at a giant piñata heart…”

Read the rest of my interview with the very talented, very personable frontwoman of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down in Issue #79 of the Paste mPlayer.

I’m very pleased to have a piece of short fiction, “After I Smothered The Baby,” included in the latest issue of The Literary Review. Expanding on the theme “Loss Control,” TLR has produced a fantastic issue featuring new fiction from Percival Everett (revisiting the desolate terrain of Assumption — only now, with snakes!) In addition, Melanie Braverman offers a captivating excerpt from her prose-poetry project The World with Us in It, Martha Witt deftly reviews Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, and poet Will Schutt contributes my favorite piece in the issue, “American Window.” Print copies or PDF versions can be ordered here.

Kicking off the New Year, my review of Prosperous Friends by the incomparable Christine Schutt. Find the piece here at Paste.

Returning to Paste for a review of Blue Lines, Massive Attack’s seminal debut. Find my piece on the new remaster/reissue here.