Mat Johnson with Nick Flynn

The strange and fascinating premise behind Mat Johnson's new novel, Pym: A slave tale confirms the existence of the strange land Edgar Allan Poe described in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, but the explorers who seek it out end up enslaved by the ice creatures in Poe's story. Engaging poet and memoirist Nick Flynn has just produced a new volume of verse, The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands.