First, in the Saturday Interview, Penny Perkins speaks with Ramona Ausubel about Ausubel’s latest novel, Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, her previous collections, and “the ways that stories change the real chemistry of the world.”
Then, Jeff Lennon reviews Cynthia Cruz’s “swirling” fourth poetry collection, How The End Begins. A well-chosen order helps to keep the collection cohesive. Cruz’s “narrative,” Lennon writes, “is a weaving of dreams and visions, drugs, madness, the ups and downs, days of light and of darkness, of a depressive, or of a madwoman.”
Meanwhile, Brandon Hicks shares a story of disassociation and distraction in “My Roommate’s Trick.”
Finally, dreams of glory in the world of competitive swimming dominate Edward Helfers’s world in the Sunday Essay. As a teen, Helfers pushes himself relentlessly, training his body to the point of exhaustion. One day, he watches a thirteen-year-old Michael Phelps compete in the butterfly. The encounter leads Helfers to reevaluate his Olympic dreams.
