This year's Essential Summer Reader is the first installment of the annual summer anthology sponsored by Vital Narrative Press. It features fiction, poetry and erotica with the theme for this year's collection of pieces as "elements," which is befitting for an imprint that is practically brand new. Featuring work from sixteen writers, the anthology starts off with Tony Bowers' "Love is the Thing," about life on the south side of Chicago, written in the same vein as his debut book, On The Nine. Newcomer She Ishurr pens a hauntingly beautiful short which outlines the circular life of a mistress, while Q. Vergara's description of a young woman going through a mental breakdown proves to be just as chilling. On the poetry side, there's Vicente the Poet who remarks on recent events involving police brutality with his poem, "50 Shades of Freddie Gray." And for fans of erotica, "The Cabin," written by author Valerie Rene'a, is sure to whet their appetite for more. All in all, this collection kicks off what looks to be an amazing series of anthologies for years to come.