Language Is the Spell: Kathryn Nuernberger’s The Witch of Eye
A compendium of pungent and poignant biographical narratives of numerous so-called witches, The Witch of Eye is difficult to put down.
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Posts Tagged: magic
Possibility Is Spellbinding: The Lightness by Emily Temple
In short, lightness is the capacity to leave without regret.
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The Rumpus Book Club Chat with Jenny Hval
Jenny Hval discusses her new novel, GIRLS AGAINST GOD.
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FUNNY WOMEN: How to Write the Perfect Fantasy Novel
Get creative! “Brian” could become “Bryawn,” courter of women, slayer of ogres.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #227: Karen Salyer McElmurray
“You’re solving this mystery, you’re taking this journey, but that’s only an opening to another journey.”
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Queer, Magicked Reality: A Conversation with JD Scott
JD Scott discusses their new story collection, MOONFLOWER, NIGHTSHADE, ALL THE HOURS OF THE DAY.
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A Time and a Place: Talking with Faylita Hicks
Faylita Hicks discusses her debut poetry collection, HOODWITCH.
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A Modern-Day Witch: Talking Augusten Burroughs
Augusten Burroughs discusses his new memoir, TOIL & TROUBLE.
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The Rumpus Poetry Book Club Chat with Hanif Abdurraqib
Hanif Abdurraqib discusses his new collection, A FORTUNE FOR YOUR DISASTER.
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Rumpus Original Fiction: Em
For her twenty-first birthday, Kiều’s younger siblings set fire to her bed.
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The Thread: Mother Me
Enchantment. Lying. Are they really so different?
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Rumpus Original Fiction: One of Them Dies
We seldom forget when people promise to give us something, whether we need or want that thing or not. I promise you death, you want a death.
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Rumpus Original Fiction: My Name Is Jean-Pierre and I Am Still an End Table
I am glad to be free of that tyrant, even if it means I am an end table waddling inch-by-inch down this path on a foolish mission that might prove impossible. I may be an end table, but at least I am free.
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Reinventing Motherhood and Re-Dreaming Reality: Talking with Ariel Gore
Ariel Gore discusses her new novel We Were Witches, why capitalism and the banking system are the real enemies, and finding the limits between memoir and fiction.
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It’s Never Too Late to Be Found: A Conversation with Rene Denfeld
Rene Denfeld discusses her latest book, The Child Finder, the ways in which trauma traps us, and the important role of imagination in finding resilience and escape.
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As Long as What Is Said Is Understood: Talking with Lesley Nneka Arimah
Lesley Nneka Arimah discusses her debut collection What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky, mother-daughter relationships, and the pleasures of genre fiction.
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Names Are Always the First Lock on Any Cage: Talking with Dolan Morgan
Dolan Morgan discusses his latest short story collection, Insignificana, losing his favorite jacket, Internet comments, and the ending of Lost.
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The Storming Bohemian Punks the Muse #25: Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been, a Success?
In America, everybody, it seems, wants to be a success. Me, too. Recently, I confided to a family member that sometimes, in moments of deep despair (fortunately they are fairly uncommon), I find myself contemplating suicide as the most sensible retirement plan. The road ahead, paved with potholes and poverty, sometimes doesn’t look all that […]
...moreThis Week in Short Fiction
This week’s story is one of breathtaking imagination and emotional depth, a tale of borders and visas, dreams and language, captivity and liberation. At The Offing, Sofia Samatar’s “An Account of the Land of the Witches” takes us from an ancient land of flying boats and towering headdresses, where a single word can transport a […]
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Storytelling Is a Search: An Interview with Sequoia Nagamatsu
Sequoia Nagamatsu discusses his debut collection Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone, grief as a character, and the intersection of ancient myth and the modern world.
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The Rumpus Interview With Danielle Trussoni
Danielle Trussoni discusses her new memoir, The Fortress, black magic, the cult of marriage, and the dark side of storytelling.
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The Rumpus interview with Jeremy P. Bushnell
Jeremy P. Bushnell discusses his new novel, The Insides, themes of consent, and designing a post-apocalyptic board game.
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The Rumpus Interview with Wendy C. Ortiz
Wendy C. Ortiz discusses her new book Bruja, what a “dreamoire” is, the magic all around us, and why she loves indices—and cats.
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The Rumpus Interview with Emily Barton
Emily Barton discusses dieselpunk, genderqueer magic, and the collaboration between reader and writer in her latest novel, The Book of Esther.
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Wishing and Hoping: Card Tricks, Love Spells, and Methods of Escape
I’ll go one further and posit that we need our illusionists: to disprove our eyes, investigate our dreams, and sometimes charm the money from our pockets.
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The Rumpus Interview with Minsoo Kang
Writer and historian Minsoo Kang talks about his new translation of The Story of Hong Gildong, a touchstone novel of Korea written in the 19th century.
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The Sunday Rumpus Essay: The Sweetest Kidnapping
[S]ometimes you don’t know you’re experiencing a fairytale until years later.
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The Saturday Rumpus Interview: Karrie Higgins
The more narratives that approach reality “differently” get treated as “insane” or “unreal,” the less readers are exposed to them, and the more “unreal” or “insane” they seem. It’s like a feedback loop.
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Between Botany and Alchemy: A Return to Return to Oz
This was a world I wished I’d created myself.
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Jack of Hearts
Magic isn’t about making the impossible happen. Surely that’s a big part of it, but more importantly, magic reminds us how it feels to be bewildered by something.
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