FOLLOWING THE THREADS: AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN HASKELL by Rebecca Gransden
How to move. John Haskell’s Trying to Be (Fiction Collective Two, 2025) plots the potentials in life by means of undefinable and expressively changeable essays. Always shifting, the collection weaves around the central conundrums of existence, and in so doing implicates itself in this unceasing mystery. At once a humane interrogation of headspace and exploration in what it means to pass through the world as a physical being, Haskell’s work teems with the presence of the engaged observer, caught in the maelstrom we sometimes call reality. I spoke with John about this slippery and enigmatic book. Rebecca Gransden: You
OBJECTS FROM FILMS by Marcus Merritt
Ghost World (2001) The Terminator (1984) The Thing (1982) I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians (2018) Crumb (1984) Marnie (1964) The Hit (1984)
BLOND CANYON by Ariel McCleese
It happened in four parts: 1. Driving on the 134, a whirlpool of leaves in the fast lane. Languid, suspension of air and oaks. 100 Animals! sound book shrill in the backseat. Mommy! Guess! A tapir? Lying in the lukewarm pool of the Los Angeles Zoo. Its heat radiant. Ladybug? A series of noises chosen at random, a constellation of voiceover sounds. A friend demonstrated once. The way she recorded Target commercials from her coat closet. Toucan? How does the color of its beak translate sonically? Mommy! Guess! Should I have taken her to school today? The car buffeting back
VACUUM by Filip Jakab
“Choke me!” Vinnie yells. His skaterboi Gen-Z body—a pale, rampant, mangled flesh to be further detested, desolated, deprived. Though the flesh and bone he otherwise soothes with a daily intake of smoothies that include collagen, selected antioxidants, and protein powders. He drinks a lot of purified water. He’s one of the lost by-products of his generation. He nourishes his Promethean body to the max so Sean can destroy it. He pumps it up twice, three times a week, with an unfuckable gym bro who goes by Dixon in the city center. Post-pump, they take dumb selfies (he never shows them to Sean).
X-R-A-Y 2025 SAMPLER
in 2025, X-R-A-Y published 169 things ! we read 2,808 submissions & accepted 114. here are some favorites for u to sample. but first, a big thank u to all the editors & readers ! Joshua Heppburn / short story editor / joshuahebburn.wordpress.com Rebecca Gransden / interviews & reviews editor / rebeccagransden.wordpress.com Claire Hopple / fiction editor / clairehopple.wordpress.com Alice M / short story editor / instagram: @notveryalice / bodyfluids.org Tex Gresham / fiction editor / squeakypig.com Michael Todd Cohen / creative nonfiction editor / michaeltoddcohen.com Jo Varnish / creative nonfiction editor / jovarnish.com Chris Dankland / managing editor,
by Mike Topp
$25 | Perfect bound | 72 pages
Paperback | Die-cut matte cover | 7×7″
Mike Topp’s poems defy categorization. That’s why they are beloved by seamstresses, pathologists, blackmailers and art collectors.
–Sparrow
