A Jewish con sells himself out by getting a swastika tattoo.  A young woman finds a strangled guy on her first day of work at a synagogue.  A turn of the century Jewish bootlegger (the last man legally hanged in Illinois) asks for a black hood at his hanging -- as one final jab at the KKK. 

All this (not to mention Moses himself) is Jewish Noir, a collection of all-new short stories published in 2015 by PM Press.

In this episode, Nicky speaks with two St. Louis fiction writers published in the collection, Jedidiah Ayers & Tasha Kaminsky.  The two read excerpts from their stories & talk about the seedy side of fiction, the Jewishness of noir & the background behind their narratives.  Midway through, the group is joined by Kenneth Wishnia, editor of the collection. 

In 2016, what are the limits of what a magazine can do? Please Hold Magazine is a quarterly digital publication founded by Kristie Wickwire one year ago. Each issue collects multimedia pieces built around a different theme, the most recent issue's being "Home". Expanding the idea of literature beyond the written word, Please Hold compiles pieces poetry, video, audio, and even GIFs to accomplish what a print magazine cannot. Pictured: Mohsen Zare's contribution to the "Home" issue, a GIF titled "DVLottery to Home", which is discussed in the episode.

Also discussed in the episode: to hear the rest of Michael Ridge's Found Home Recordings, click ridge-found-home-recordings.html">here.

Nicky talks with poets and musicians Susan Trowbridge Adams and Ted Moniak about their collaborations, and the intersections between music and spoken word art.

Former Literature For the Halibut co-host Stefene Russell comes home to discuss her latest work, The Possum Codex, the latest in her series of Dante-inspired poetry collections. Stefene discusses  her view of the "mythical midwest", and the unusual combination of influences that led to her documenting Middle America in the style of Inferno.

Nicky discusses the poetic process with Emily Grise, organizer of the bridge-debut-writers-old.html">Natural Bridge Debut Writers' Series, and Natural Bridge's latest guest, New York Poet Joshua Mehigan. Mehigan also reads pieces from his most recent collection, 2014's acclaimed Accepting the Disaster.

Nicky talks publishing with Jen Tappenden, the chief editor at Architrave Press, the publisher that takes the "iTunes model" when it comes to selling poetry-- as their site introduces, "Why can't we we buy individual poems like we do songs?"

Ann and Nicky talk with poet Treasure Shields Redmond about her powerful new book Chop, a series of kwansabas about Fannie Lou Hamer, the brilliant, brave, and under-appreciated civil rights leader.

Nicky chats with graphic novelist Sacha Mardou about her latest work, a trippy coming of age story called Sky In Stereo. 

Nicky talks with publisher and author Jared Rourke and Bryan Borland from Sibling Rivalry Press about how the work they've written and published has helped spotlight under-represented LGBT voices.