In late 2025, author Darrin Doyle sat down with North Meridian Review’s managing editor, Wesley R. Bishop, to discuss his fiction, writing process, and the distinctive voice he brings to the Midwest in his work. Over the course of the conversation, Doyle reflects on his journey from early short stories to novels and novellas, the challenges and rewards of teaching creative writing, and the ways his experiences shape the darkly humorous, often unsettling worlds he creates. This interview also explores the reissue of his acclaimed short story collection, his approach to body horror, and the ways place, identity, and human behavior inform his storytelling. The following discussion has been edited for clarity and length.

In the summer of 2025, novelist and librarian Jesi Bender released her fourth book, Child of Light. Set in 1896 upstate New York, the novel follows Ambrétte Memenon as she reunites with her family amid a world transformed by both spiritualism and the rise of electrification. Blending mysticism and science, Bender captures the way history has often entwined belief and fact. In this interview, she speaks with managing editor Wesley R. Bishop about her background, her craft, and the inspirations behind her latest work. The following has been edited for clarity and length.

Rekha Nath recently published a book, Why It’s OK to Be Fat (Routledge, 2024). The book critically engages with dominant narratives concerning how our society approaches being fat. After raising problems for popular anti-fat narratives, Nath offers an account of how we should instead approach fatness. The piece below is a talk that she gave at Jacksonville State University’s Spring 2025 Kaleidoscope public humanities lecture series. It draws significantly from the book.