There is no one quite like Jeff VanderMeer. With his naturalist’s eye, philosopher’s heart, and extreme imagination, the man can set a singular saturated mood–one that positively vibrates with life, ...
Krankenhaus is German for “hospital.” Literally, sick house. You can’t look at the hospital environment from the eyes of someone who’s healthy. The less sick you are, the less the environment makes ...
THE WIND WHIPS our small figures as we follow the trail of packed snow over the frozen waters of Medicine Lake in a suburb outside Minneapolis. I’m in graduate school, yet to pass my qualifying exams.
There’s a spider in the room; what do you do? I move carefully and don’t scare it. I get a glass (I’ve had to use a wide-mouth canning jar a couple of times) and then I put the glass down quickly and ...
THE FIRST DIRT I tasted was a fistful of siltstone dust outside the house where I was born in the Mojave Desert. My father was rarely around. When she could, my mother took long walks around the ...