What a night!

We filled up the Stain Bar with friends, well-wishers, rowdy patrons, and unexpected scoundrels, and we read our little guts out, silencing the critics and maintaining our rightful place as New York's best goddamn fiction reading by 68%.



It's hard to say who is second best. The rest are so far behind...

I would have said Opium Magazine's Literary Death Match is second best, but we challenged them to show up last night so we could sort it all out, and then they declined at the last second out of FEAR.



As a beautiful Russian lady told me during the show:

"It's hard to believe, but there are still people who don't mind being cowards in this day and age," she said. "You or I would never punk out from a challenge like that, but some people get off on being craven, soul-less American bitches."

Xerxes Verdammt read last June's slash-fiction contest winner, "A Father's Love," a story about a cruel, betrayal-filled bondage relationship between Scout Finch, Atticus Finch, and Holly Golightly. Goodman Carter, MD read a selection from the "Knowthing Project," a hypertext encylopedia that chronicles the life and work of that doomed artists' cult you probably read about first in Time Magazine.

I read a story called "Fuckchanged," about sex, body modification, and cartoon characters, and Dr. Future capped off the night with his tour-de-force tale "Satan in Love," a story about the phenomenological ramifications of an obscure metaphysical theory. It was also about God letting the Devil fuck her through a Craigslist ad.

Artist Amy K. did fast, amazing sketches during the performance and Goodman Carter, MD did illegal things with his Laser Harp that made everyone feel complicit and culpable.

It was a good fucking show, as always.

Bad Bill Chapters was too sick to attend.

Everybody light a candle and say a prayer for him.




Posted by miracle on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:07:33 -0500 -- permanent link