Randy Hardwick

i think if you ride public transit enough you learn that most weird behavior is not dangerous, and conversely i think driving a car teaches you that everyone is trying to kill you at all times

What a vile POS that man is.

A truly insightful article. My own experience of Giovanni’s Room as a young man was similar to Garth’s. His brilliant analysis provided a framework for me to have deeper insight into that.
Thanks, Garth!

Finding Joy After Grief: No Stars in Jefferson Park - Chicago Review of Books No Stars in Jefferson Park, Maggie Andersen’s debut memoir scheduled to release in October, is at its core a Chicago story of working-class triumph in the face of adversity. It is a romantic story of ...

Happy to see my latest review for Chicago Review of Books published this morning.
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/10/15/f...

Enamored of the Abyss, by Garth Greenwell On the place of affirmation in art

Terrific essay by @garthgreenwell.bsky.social on Giovanni's Room and why the best art is anything but consoling

share.google/N1ipypQilELA...

I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America

A total self-reveal. Yuck.🤮

Randy Ray's review of Evenings and Weekends 4/5: A Big Cast of Characters in a Bigger Story A touching story about self-awareness and the timelessness of our human struggle of finding our own place. Setting all of that within the framework of ...

www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I asked AI about AI and cognitive decline…

Brilliant breakdown on the Jimmy Kimmel story 🔥🔥🔥

Thank you @underthedesknews.bsky.social

Lucky guy.

Congratulations to all of the semi-finalists, especially my pal Meg Jerit.

I’m not in that subset. Your character work was brilliant.

The World Cup should move to Canada just in case.

Our Black Earth Peter Newall

Our Black Earth arcturusmag.com/2025/08/15/o...

A Diversity of Horror in "Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories" - Chicago Review of Books With Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories, Editor Michael W. Philips, Jr. has mined Chicago’s considerable pool of talented horror writers to curate an entertaining, if uneven, mosaic of the city. The met...

Had my first literary review published today in Chicago Review of Books. Feeling great!

chireviewofbooks.com/2025/08/12/a...

I loved this book!

I loved this book!

Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil, by Ananda Lima: Wow. Just Wow. Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil(out today!) is unlike anything I've ever read.

@anandalima.bsky.social's terrific book CRAFT: STORIES I WROTE FOR THE DEVIL is out in paperback this week. Have you read it yet? YOU SHOULD!!!

#books
#booksky

thenewdorkreviewofbooks.substack.com/p/craft-stor...

Thank you so much (and I love this review so much)

Our Flag Is Not ‘Surrender’ Pride has a name. LinkedIn has a dollar to say it, but won’t.

Those of you using LinkedIn for desktop (not the phone app) please do me a favor (cw: #homophobia #transphobia) —

Start to write a post. Press the happy face to insert an emoji. Use the magnifying glass search box to type "surrender".

🤔

@jesskeller42.bsky.social, @storystudiochicago.bsky.social's Executive Director) talks Saïd Sayrafiezadeh’s story “Nocturnal Creatures” on the latest episode of the
@chicagowriterspod.bsky.social. Check out the pod in the link below!
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/06/08/s...

I am super excited to announce that I have been invited to StoryStudio’s 2025 StoryBoard Conference in August at The Newberry Library.

sweet talk Caroline Fernandez

sweet talk arcturusmag.com/2025/06/02/s...

Unaskable Questions in Heather Christle's "In the Rhododendrons" - Chicago Review of Books “So we’re breaking into a National Trust property full of horny deer in the dark.” Anthony gives Jack a look.“It’s for poetry,” he says. Can a work of memoir also be a work of poetry? Yes, I’d argue—a...

Unaskable Questions in Heather Christle's "In the Rhododendrons" chireviewofbooks.com/2025/04/28/u...

A screenshot of a tweet by the official White House account. Text: “Fixed it for you, @NYTimes. Oh, and by the way, @ChrisVanHollen - he's NOT coming back.” There is also a screenshot of the front page of the NyT with a large headline and photo about Van Hollen meeting with Abrego Garcia. They have edited the headline with red ink handwriting to say “ Senator meets with deported ms-13 illegal alien in El Salvador who’s never coming back.”

The only appropriate response to this is impeachment and removal from office. Every moment the political press spends spinning out theories about 2026 and immigration polling is a minute they are not spending asking Republicans in Congress about their plans to enforce the rule of law

Srsly?… He’s like sexy as a dishrag 🤷‍♂️

Birds of Gaza Hadeel Salameh

Birds of Gaza arcturusmag.com/2024/01/24/b...