Our very own Robert James Russell recently wrote a piece for The Lit Pub discussing the evolution of Midwestern Gothic and MG Press, his love of the Midwest, as well as This Jealous Earth and why it was selected as our debut publication:

“I’ll be frank: The Midwest is dirty (in parts), dingy, full of hardworking folks — blue-collared, if you will — and I think the history here, the historical devotion to farms and factories, the nitty gritty, our mostly-congenial attitude (with a slight bit of snark), has produced very distinct literature . . . literature that, I believe more than any other region, holds a mirror up to us. Shows us the darker sides of life, of ourselves, the parts we may want to gloss over and not think about. But it’s not just about being dark, it’s about growing out of this darkness to find the light. And you can’t very well do that if you don’t embrace it.”

Check out the full post here.