Ric Royer

On William T. Love, Love Canal, and Model City. Originally published in Western New York Heritage Magazine, Winter 2022.

Finally watched that Woodstock 99 doc on a plane. Figured I should since I live in that neck of the woods. What a fine pairing of a garbage fire event …

I’ve always been curious about this book, My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgård.   I was working in bookstores when the first book of this 2,700 page memoir of someone …

I overheard a guy in a diner tell his friend that his wife was having difficulties: “…her joints flare up, she moans in her sleep, psoriasis, you know. She can …

[originally published on Vol. 1 Brooklyn, http://vol1brooklyn.com/2021/08/09/best-of-all-possible-worsts-a-review-of-jeff-schneiders-therapists-gone-wild/] There is nothing particularly wild about Jonathan Epstein, the main character in Jeff Schneider’s new book, Therapists Gone Wild. He’s hardly protagonist material: a sheepish, soft-spined  …

How to read poetry: Buy a book of poetry from a poet everyone is talking about. Skim through the book if you want, or put it straight on your bookshelf …

On the surprising conservatism of “progressive horror” [Originally published in Arc Digital, Feb 25, 2021. ] “Climate of the Hunter is an Atmospheric Slow-Burn that Skewers Patriarchal Hierarchies & Misogyny,” declares …

[First published at http://vol1brooklyn.com/2021/02/26/fearless-and-loving-near-las-vegas-a-review-of-lisa-carvers-the-pahrump-report/] There is a moment in her new book The Pahrump Report, when Lisa Carver responds to a question about her occupation by answering: “I am a writer.” …