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GOSSIP: Week of May 18

Oh, using your money to buy access and control, what's new.

MAY PAID SUBSCRIBER ZOOM SESSION

2 days ago
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CONVERSATION: Iphgenia Baal talks with Laura Albert about Man Hating Psycho

In a loose conversation with Iphgenia Baal, we talk about her new collection of stories Man Hating Psycho, which was recently published on Hagfish in the US, which Zona's proclaimed, "is alive and brimming with personhood." Baal is not her...

2 days ago
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REVIEW: Zine Motel #3: What Is a Zine Fest, Even?

A zine fest is when a group of people who make zines gather together to trade or sell their zines. Zine fests are typically free to attend, and open to all. Some of them require masks. If you want to have a table to sell your zines, you usu...

3 days ago
14

CONVERSATION: Aoife Josie Clements on Horror, Music, and the Making of “Persona”

For some artists, it would be enough to create one of the most haunting tales of the uncanny in recent memory. This is not the case for Aoife Josie Clements. Clements is, most recently, the author of Persona, a novel that begins by introduc...

4 days ago
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ESSAY: Cheerfulness, Titillation, Melancholy, and Anguish

“The emotion of pleasure when it is simultaneously related to mind and body I call Titillation [titillatio] or Cheerfulness [hilaritas]; the emotion of pain when it is similarly related I call Anguish [dolor] or Melancholy [melancholia].”...

5 days ago
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#191

Authors

The writers behind this newsletter.

  • Zona Motel

    Zona Motel is a brotherhood and web space that exists to support good literature.

  • August Lamm

    Writer, painter, and anti-tech activist in New York City.

  • Katie Bennett

    writer-mom in west philly ☆

  • Juliet Escoria

    hello my name is juliet escoria and I am an Editor-in-Chief at Zona Motel! I also wrote these books: You Are the Snake (Soft Skull, 2024), Witch Hunt & Black Cloud (CLASH, 2023), and Juliet the Maniac (Melville House, 2019).

  • Graham Irvin

    Dispatch Editor at Zona Motel. Graham Irvin lives in Philadelphia. He is originally from North Carolina. He is the author of Liver Mush and I Have a Gun.

  • Chris Oxley

    I live in Charleston, West Virginia, and try to maintain a creative life, personally and professionally. I'm also a contributing editor at Zona Motel.

  • Mia Risher

    <3

  • elle nash

    Elle Nash is the author of the novels Deliver Me (Unnamed Press & Verve Books, 2023), Gag Reflex (Clash Books, 2022) and Animals Eat Each Other (Dzanc Books & 404 Ink), and the short story collection Nudes (404 Ink).

  • Andy Anderegg

    ANDY ANDEREGG lives in so-called Los Angeles. She co-founded Making Art at the End of the World, new editions at the end of every month. She is a contributing eitor at Zona Motel and her debut novel PLUM from Hub City Press is out now.

  • Josh Boardman

    is from Michigan. He is the author of the chapbooks Colossal (2025), Plantain (2018), and the Latin translation project We, Romans (2015). joshboardman.com

  • Caleb Bouchard

    Author of The Downside Up Year: A New Dad's Diary (Suburban Drunk Press 2025)

  • Brian Allen Carr

    Books: Opioid, Indiana / Bad Foundations / Motherfucking Sharks, etc. Aspen Words Finalist. Wonderland Book Award (x2), Texas Observer Story Prize Essays in Zona Motel, Hobart, The Rumpus Stories in Granta, Ninth Letter, McSweeney’s etc

  • Mallory Smart

    THE ONLY LIVING GIRL IN CHICAGO• Editor-in-Chief @MaudlinHouse \ud83d\udcda • Person who talks about music @PodHealing \ud83c\udfa7 • Horror movies @horrorpod666 \ud83c\udfa5

  • Anna Mebel
  • lake markham

    writer and photographer based in chicago, il. novel Lo Siento out with Apocalypse Confidential on 10/21

  • Khaholi Bailey
  • Barrie Miskin

    Barrie Miskin is the author of the memoir Hell Gate Bridge. She lives in Queens, NY with her family and you can find more of her writing at barriemiskin.com.

  • Cora Lee

    Born and raised in San Diego, CA.

  • Katie Coleman

    Writer, reader, teacher, expat. Contributing editor @zonamotel.

  • Matt Randal O’Wain

    M. Randal O'Wain is the author of Meander Belt and Hallelujah Station. He is contributing interviews editor at Zona Motel and teaches at UNC Chapel Hill.

  • Jimmy

    I'm from Mississippi but I don't live there right now.

  • Kristen Felicetti

    Head of Support at Substack. Author of the novel LOG OFF (Shabby Doll House, 2024). Interviews Editor at Zona Motel.

  • Sam Heaps

    Philadelphian, author of The Living god and Proximity

  • Niina Pollari

    Poet. Author of the books Path of Totality and Dead Horse. Contributing editor (Reviews) for Zona Motel.

  • Tracy Dimond

    Tracy Dimond is the author of the full-length poetry collection, Emotion Industry (Barrelhouse). Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Smartish Pace, Lines + Stars, Washington Writers Publishing House, and other places.

  • Taylor Lewandowski

    Taylor Lewandowski has work in Bookforum, Interview, The Whitney Review of New Writing, BOMB, and others. His most recent book, The Mystery of Perception: a Conversation with Lynne Tillman, is out now from Archway Editions.

  • Elinor Abbott

    Aren’t I a human being? Don’t I yearn and ache and shop? Don’t I deserve love and jewellery? | Reviews at Sad & Famous | Contributing Editor at Zona Motel | Aesthetic Services at House Cravt

  • Joseph Grantham

    Author of the poetry collections Tom Sawyer (CCM Press) and Raking Leaves (Holler Presents). Editor of R&R.

  • Libby Marchant

    Local journalist, global scoundrel. I write about art, socialism and other things I think we need more of.

  • Francesca Kritikos

    editor-in-chief of SARKA, a journal & publisher focused on works of the flesh

  • Sebastian Castillo

    Sebastian Castillo is the author of Fresh, Green Life, SALMON, and other books. He lives in Philadelphia, PA.

  • Stephen Mortland

    A fiction writer from Indiana. Member of the Downsville School.

  • Kayla Jean

    Kayla Jean Murphy is from Pennsylvania. Her work has appeared in Joyland, Blue Arrangements, and elsewhere. You can find her at kaylamjean.wordpress.com.

  • Megan Boyle

    Sub on my stack

  • Catherine Foulkrod

    Writer. Novel: DON'T CURE ME (forthcoming from McSweeney's Books), Reviews Editor at Zona Motel, Board at The DiTrapano Foundation for Literature and the Arts.

  • Dasha Sikmashvili
  • mackenzie crosson
  • Ivan Genc

    I'm just some guy—running socials for ZONA MOTEL! \ud83d\udc10 Catch us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zona.motel/ 〇 read my poetry published in SPECTRA: https://spectrapoets.org/JAMAIS-VU-by-Ivan-Genc

  • Brittany Ackerman

    Brittany Ackerman is the author of The Perpetual Motion Machine and The Brittanys. She has a forthcoming novel with CLASH Books called The Style of Your Life. She does not like elevators and prefers to take the stairs.

  • Claire Donato

    Run your fingers over the surface of your life to make sure it's still there.

  • R. Wang

  • Scott McClanahan
  • Ken Baumann

    Ken Baumann is a writer who lives in New Mexico. https://kenbaumann.com

  • Allie Rowbottom

    Author of AESTHETICA, JELL-O GIRLS and LOVERS XXX, out June 2026 in the US and UK. Bylines: NY Times, Vanity Fair, Elle, Playboy, etc. I co-edit the DISPATCHES column for Zona Motel. https://linktr.ee/admin/links

  • greta

    writer \ud83e\udd40

  • Dmitry Samarov

    Painter and writer in Chicago. Publish letter.dmitrysamarov.com every Monday morning.

  • Laura Albert

    Author of JT LeRoy NEW EDITIONS "SARAH" & "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" from Harper Perennial (US)/Little Brown Book Group (UK) IG: @laura_albert / Twitter: @lauraalbert / https://buymeacoffee.com/lauraalbert

  • Tobias Carroll

    Author of five books, most recently the novel IN THE SIGHT.

  • luke goebel

    Your brother from another planet.

  • Jillian Luft

    Florida Apologist. Red Bull Fiend.

  • Lucy K Shaw

    Founding editor of Shabby Doll House and managing editor of Zona Motel. I also wrote some books.

  • Charlene Elsby

    Charlene Elsby wrote Hexis, Affect, Psychros, Agyny, Musos, Letters to Jenny Just After She Died, and Bedlam. Her essays have appeared in Bustle Books and the LA Review of Books.

  • Sarah Edwards
  • Grant Gerald Miller

    Grant Gerald Miller is a writer, freelance portrait and headshot photographer, and manuscript consultant from Memphis, Tennessee. He can be reached at [email protected].

  • Andrew Duncan Worthington

    Contributing editor for Zona Motel. More about me: http://www.andrewduncanworthington.com/

  • Izzy Casey

    Essays Editor at Zona Motel

  • Oscar d'Artois

    I'm a Franco-American writer & translator. I wrote Teen Surf Goth (Metatron, 2015) and The Island (Shabby Doll House, 2024)

  • Mesha Maren

    Co-editor-in-chief of Zona Motel and Hub City Shorts. I also write novels and other things

  • Dalton Monk

    Fiction and Essays / Zona Motel Interview Editor

  • Raegan Bird
  • mariah barden jones

    Contributing Editor at Zona Motel

  • Emma Burger

    Emma Burger is the author of two novels, Little Rich Kids (2025) and Spaghetti for Starving Girls (2021). You can find her work in Hobart, X-R-A-Y Lit, and The Republic of Letters. She is an essays editor at Zona Motel.

  • Nikki Volpicelli

    Nikki Volpicelli is writer, reader, and contributing editor @ Zona Motel.

  • Katherine Faw

    novel writer: ULTRALUMINOUS (MCDxFSG, 2017), YOUNG GOD (FSG, 2014)

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