Immersing yourself in the works of the Guatemalan writer Rodrigo Rey Rosa is never less than rewarding. Rey Rosa’s work translated into English has ranged in tone from the psychologically harrowing aftermath of a kidnapping (1996’s The Good Cripple) to 2011’s Severina, a story about one man’s obsession with an alluring book thief. The Country of Toó is the latest of his books to be translated into English, this time by Stephen Henighan. It’s about a lot of things, including political corruption and reform; a young man’s surreal recovery from a traumatic injury; and the moral crisis faced by a man known only as the Cobra, who has begun to feel the strain of years of working as a hired gun.

The title of Jordan A. Rothacker’s The Pit, and No Other Stories might make you do a double-take the first time you see it. After its initial publication in 2015, Spaceboy Books—home to several of Rothacker’s other works—is reissuing this novella-in-stories with a new introduction and afterword.

Long ago, when I was in college and editing a punk zine, Duncan B. Barlow was one of the first people I ever interviewed.