To Rebecca, Elisa was “impossibly vibrant” in a way that only a 30-year-old can be to someone who is 41. The two women became close more than a decade ago, spotting in each other the same traits that dazzled outsiders: talent, charisma, saber-tooth smarts. She’s also the author of a novel and four poetry collections, including Manderley, selected by the National Poetry Series she has a fifth coming out in the fall. She’s the founding editor of the literary magazine Fence, a haven for genre-resistant writing and writers that’s now almost 25 years old. Rebecca is someone I knew only by reputation until recently. The same articulate fury suffused After Birth, her follow-up her next book, Human Blues (her “monster,” as she likes to say), comes out in July. I was instantly struck by how unafraid of darkness and emotional chaos she was. She was such mesmerizing company that I rushed out to buy her debut novel, The Book of Dahlia, which had been published a few months earlier. I met Elisa one evening in 2008, after an old friend’s book reading. Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.