a few favorites, old and new
“The Companion“
https://www.pinchjournal.com/pjo/thecompanion
a short story featured in The Pinch Journal online on July 14, 2026. Free view.
“Wild Spirit: An Appreciation of the Artist William Grill”
A lyric essay about award-winning British illustrator and author of The Wolves of Currumpaw, William Grill, with Grill’s comments on art, illustration, wolves, and color-pencil techniques in illustrating. Reproductions of pencil art from Grill’s notebooks. Link-Vol 40 #1, fall 2023 Weber Journal, (free viewing)
“The Expulsion of Karl Ove Knausgaard”
Personal essay that compares work by Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard and American visual artist Fred Tomaselli. Link to The Normal School web site, purchase option of Vol. 8. Issue #1.
“Eye of the Storm: on The Collected Works of Lydia Davis”
An appreciation and review of the collected fictions of award-winning author and translator Lydia Davis. Preview of essay–as published in Salmagundi–via JStor. Also anthologized in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 426.
“Missing Pages”/ Oh Reader! Issue 13
Personal essay about a decades-long quest to find a lost beloved book and the artist who created it. Link to Oh Reader web site for purchase option Issue #13.
“Closing Night for My Bit Part”/The New York Times, Modern Love
A 2008 “Modern Love” column recalls a 1980s summer-theater romance and production of The Three Sisters by Chekhov. A memoir from the New York Times. Non-subscriber paywall.
Speculative essay about a “found” photograph. 1st Graders pose for Time, history, and destiny. Direct free link to essay on Speculative Nonfiction web site, Issue #2: “What History Teaches”
On Film: “Lambs and Tigers: The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys”
An essay on the 2002 coming-of-age drama directed by Peter Care and starring the talented young Kieran Culkin. Direct link to the Chronicle Review, visible with free subscription.
On Film: “The Writing Teacher on the Screen”
Thoughts on several cinematic depictions of creative writing teachers. Do the movies get it right? Direct link to The Chronicle Review, visible with free subscription.