Scott Alexander Hess is as prolific as they come, a natural storyteller who’s always plotting new ways to transport his readers to different eras and locations. For his new pair of novellas, The Root of Everything & Lightning, published on Rebel Satori Press, Hess presents authentic literary historical fiction with riveting LGBT+ themes. I caught up with Scott to ask about his choices, process, and personal connections to the vivid worlds he creates within both novellas.

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Rachel Lyon, author of Self-Portrait with Boy, talks with Zach Graham about nostalgia for old New York, researching housing laws, ghosts, and gentrification.

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Patrick Carr and Clayton Lamar are two creators of the popular Twitter account @dogsdoingthings. The good dogs (and the bad dogs) do what they do in an alternative existence that is remarkably similar to our own, although darker, more melancholy, often desperate, obsessed with mushroom clouds and contemplating the abyss.

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Wendy J Fox is the author of The Pull of It and The Seven Stages of Anger and Other Stories. She first met Lisa Morrow in Turkey, and for a time were both neighbors in the same apartment block. Ten years have passed, but the two recently caught up to discuss Fox’s new book.

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Scott Hess loves to tantalize a reader. His gorgeous prose soars off the page like the symbolic building in his latest novel, Skyscraper—a story of art, lust, and unexpected transformation. His previous novel, The Butcher’s Sons, was named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2015, and in all of his books, Hess pushes boundaries while also pushing readers to the edge of their wildest fantasies. I caught up with Hess to learn more about Skyscraper and his unrelenting passion.

Amy Dupcak: Another new novel, congrats! Your last book, The Butcher’s Sons, was historical fiction set in 1930s Hell’s Kitchen, but Skyscraper takes place in present-day New York. How do you choose the time period and setting for your novels? And how else does Skyscraper differ from The Butcher’s Sons?

Scott Alexander Hess: The dynamics of the story guide me to the time period. With The Butcher’s Sons, I wanted to tell a tale of three brothers in a butcher shop in Hell’s Kitchen, and the grit and intensity of that neighborhood circa 1930 made sense to me. Also, the brothers’ conflicts, which include an interracial relationship and a gay affair, were really amped up due to the danger surrounding these types of relationships in the 1930s. Skyscraper is a sharp, modern book of obsession and boundary pushing sex. As I began writing that novel, it demanded a bristling modern city scene.

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Amy Dupcak is a lot like her prose. On the surface: bright, elegant and meticulous. What lies beneath however, in both the woman and her work, is a relentless commitment to illuminating life’s quirky, raw underside.

In her searing debut short story collection, Dust, Dupcak unflinchingly gets under the skin of a tribe of fascinating young characters that offer insights beyond their years. Anchored with lush tangles of prose, Dupcak’s stories not only touch but often scorch the heart.

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Jonathan Corcoran is the author of the story collection, The Rope Swing, published in April 2016 by Vandalia Press, the creative imprint of West Virginia University Press. His work has been named a finalist for the Flannery O’Connor Award in Short Fiction and a semi-finalist for the St. Lawrence Book Award and is forthcoming in the anthology, Eyes Burning at the Edge of the Woods: Contemporary West Virginia Fiction and Poetry. He received a BA in Literary Arts from Brown University and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Rutgers University-Newark. He was born and raised in a small town in West Virginia and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. The Rope Swing is his debut.

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Roberto F. Santiago: Congratulations on the release of your first collection The Rope Swing! I am so proud of you! I must say outright that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have millions of notes in the margins. These notes range from ‘YASSSS!’ and ‘WERK’ to ‘STEAL THIS!’ and ‘THIS is poetry.’

Jonathan Corcoran: The highest kind of literary praise comes from a writer you respect, and you are that, sir. And to have a “capital P” Poet refer to my prose as poetry—I’m breaking out the champagne tonight (well, prosecco, if I’m honest). Thanks you. Seriously. It’s been such a journey getting this book out here. It feels like a victory lap getting to talk about it with you.

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Professor Vincent Toro, an English Kills Review contributor, is a poet and playwright from New York, where he teaches for The City University of New York’s Bronx Community College and The DreamYard Project, a nonprofit organization that places working artists in the schools and local communities. He has an MFA from Rutgers University, received a 2014 Poet’s House Emerging Poet’s Fellowship, and was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry for 2014. Ahsahta Press recently awarded Toro with the Sawtooth Poetry Prize; his manuscript of poems, just released in February 2016, is titled Stereo.Island.Mosaic.

Melissa Adamo: Congratulations, Vincent, on winning the Sawtooth Poetry Prize! Stereo. Island. Mosaic. is a stunning collection. How are you feeling now that your first poetry collection is out there in the world?

Vincent Toro: Thank you for the kind words. The first and strongest sensation I’ve felt since the book came out is one of relief. I’ve been dreaming of writing a book since the age of 17. I’m 40 now. The meal had been cooking for a long time. I think when I got the call from Janet Holmes about The Sawtooth Prize, the first thing I did was sigh because I thought maybe I could rest for a second and stop scaling the cliff, which is of course a myth. The climbing doesn’t cease. But at least you get to camp out for a night and make s’mores before you have to keep climbing in the morning.

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