dangerous flora: an evening of surreal botany at the kgb bar
In three and a half weeks, I'll be on my way to Noo Yawk Sittay to visit with my sister and parents for the holidays, and I can't wait. Last time I saw them was a year ago, and I miss them all a lot. My sister's planned some cool things for us to do, although much of the schedule is loose, so that we can just do what we feel like. Some definite things are seeing Spamalot (she gave me the soundtrack a couple of years ago, and it always makes me laugh; Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of my all-time favorite films, but she tells me that Spamalot goes even further, and hilariously), as well as checking out the offices of PEN American Center and 826NYC, and spending some time at The Strand, Shakespeare & Co., Forbidden Planet, and Book Court.
As I previously mentioned, I'll be attending KGB Fantastic Fiction on the 17th to hear Chris Barzak and Alaya Dawn Johnson, and generally hang out with all my skiffy peeps that I haven't seen in a few years. So if you're going to be there, keep an eye out for me; I'm very receptive to hellos and hugs.
But I also have some very cool news: just two nights later, on 19 December, Surreal Botany will be invading the KGB Bar from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Dangerous Flora: An Evening of Surreal Botany
Friday, December 19, 2008
7:00pm - 9:00pm
KGB Bar
85 East 4th Street
New York, NY
Two Cranes Press presents A Field Guide to Surreal Botany, an anthology of fictional plant species that exist beyond the realm of the real, fully illustrated in gorgeous full-color by Janet Chui. The specimens contained herein-dutifully and, in some cases, painfully recorded by our keen-eyed assortment of contributing cryptobotanists, field researchers, and graduate assistants (laden with glass jars, magnifying glasses, and appropriate body armor)-will be presented in erudite detail by nine of our contributors.
Christopher M. Cevasco (Time Cactus, Chronocactus hematophageis) is editor/publisher of Paradox: The Magazine of Historical and Speculative Fiction. His own fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Black Static, The Leading Edge, Twilight Tales, Allen K's Inhuman, and Lovecraft's Weird Mysteries, among other venues. His poetry has appeared in Star*Line and Dark Wisdom. Chris is a graduate of the 2006 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop and of the 2007 Taos Toolbox workshop.
Livia Llewellyn (Teslated Salishan Evergreen, Cupressuceaohm salishan nikola) is a writer of horror, dark fantasy and erotica. She was born in Anchorage, Alaska, raised in the Pacific Northwest, and currently lives in New Jersey. Livia's a 2006 graduate of Clarion; and her fiction has appeared in ChiZine, Subterranean Magazine, Sybil's Garage, PseudoPod, and several erotica and horror anthologies, including the recent Jack Haringa Must Die! She has work forthcoming in Apex Online and Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet.
Born in New Hampshire, Erik Amundsen (Waterbaby Cress, Nasturtium Charleskingsleni) has been a baker, itinerant schoolteacher, and potty-mouthed lefty pundit. He's skated on the fountains in front of the Eiffel Tower, gotten in bar fights in South China, and, taken in very broad terms, had a Very Interesting Life. Erik now lives in Connecticut with his wife and their four legged minions.
Kris Dikeman (Nightmare Lotus, Nymphae somnium maledictus) lives and works in New York City. Her stories have appeared in All Hallows, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet and Yellow Bat Review.
Susan Fedynak ((Floating) Armor of The Dark Blue Heart, Armorea Navum) is a writer based in Boston and New York. She grew up in Queens, NY where she encountered surreal examples of both flora and fauna.
With academic credentials in botany and mycology best described as "sketchy," John Bowker (Burning Bush Fungus, Encephalitozoon Elysium) has often been forced to find employment outside the field as a systems engineer and writer of equally sketchy fiction. Some of his less fungal stories have appeared in On Spec, Sex in the System, Sybil's Garage, and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.
James Trimarco (Cloud Anemone, Bromeliaceae Tillandsia nebularia) practiced surrealism and botany separately for many years before he thought to put them together. On the surrealist side, he writes cultural critique and science fiction. On the botanical side, he grows fresh basil, rosemary, and oregano on his Brooklyn windowsill every spring. His work has appeared in Escape Pod, Strange Horizons, and Vanity Fair.
Writing weird things is not strange for Steve Berman (Esemtep, Unclassified). He has sold over eighty articles, essays, and short stories. His young adult novel, Vintage, was a finalist for the Andre Norton Award. He lacks a green thumb.
Matthew Kressel (The Sembla, Spasmodicus plasticosa) lives in Brooklyn with a fecund array of tropical plants that whisper secrets to him while he dreams. His fiction has or will be appearing in the Ellen Datlow-edited anthology Naked City: New Tales of Urban Fantasy, Electric Velocipede, Farrago's Wainscot, Abyss & Apex, Apex Digest, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and other markets. He runs Senses Five Press, which publishes Sybil's Garage and Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy.
Jason Erik Lundberg (Co-editor/publisher, Emcee) is an American expatriate living in Singapore, and the author of The Time Traveler's Son (2008), Four Seasons in One Day (2003, with Janet Chui), and over forty articles and short stories. His short fiction has been honorably mentioned in The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, nominated for the SLF Fountain Award, and shortlisted for the Brenda L. Smart Award for Short Fiction. With Janet Chui, Lundberg runs Two Cranes Press, an independent publishing atelier. A graduate of the Clarion Writers' Workshop and the Creative Writing Master's program at North Carolina State University, he now teaches English and creative writing at Hwa Chong Institution.
Click here to RSVP at the Facebook event page.
Many wet and sloppy thanks go to ecmyers for coordinating with Denis at KGB, and with Mobile Libris, who will be selling copies of Surreal Botany at the event. It should be a fantastic evening, so please come on down if you're in the area.
As I previously mentioned, I'll be attending KGB Fantastic Fiction on the 17th to hear Chris Barzak and Alaya Dawn Johnson, and generally hang out with all my skiffy peeps that I haven't seen in a few years. So if you're going to be there, keep an eye out for me; I'm very receptive to hellos and hugs.
But I also have some very cool news: just two nights later, on 19 December, Surreal Botany will be invading the KGB Bar from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Dangerous Flora: An Evening of Surreal Botany
Friday, December 19, 2008
7:00pm - 9:00pm
KGB Bar
85 East 4th Street
New York, NY
Two Cranes Press presents A Field Guide to Surreal Botany, an anthology of fictional plant species that exist beyond the realm of the real, fully illustrated in gorgeous full-color by Janet Chui. The specimens contained herein-dutifully and, in some cases, painfully recorded by our keen-eyed assortment of contributing cryptobotanists, field researchers, and graduate assistants (laden with glass jars, magnifying glasses, and appropriate body armor)-will be presented in erudite detail by nine of our contributors.
Christopher M. Cevasco (Time Cactus, Chronocactus hematophageis) is editor/publisher of Paradox: The Magazine of Historical and Speculative Fiction. His own fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Black Static, The Leading Edge, Twilight Tales, Allen K's Inhuman, and Lovecraft's Weird Mysteries, among other venues. His poetry has appeared in Star*Line and Dark Wisdom. Chris is a graduate of the 2006 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop and of the 2007 Taos Toolbox workshop.
Livia Llewellyn (Teslated Salishan Evergreen, Cupressuceaohm salishan nikola) is a writer of horror, dark fantasy and erotica. She was born in Anchorage, Alaska, raised in the Pacific Northwest, and currently lives in New Jersey. Livia's a 2006 graduate of Clarion; and her fiction has appeared in ChiZine, Subterranean Magazine, Sybil's Garage, PseudoPod, and several erotica and horror anthologies, including the recent Jack Haringa Must Die! She has work forthcoming in Apex Online and Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet.
Born in New Hampshire, Erik Amundsen (Waterbaby Cress, Nasturtium Charleskingsleni) has been a baker, itinerant schoolteacher, and potty-mouthed lefty pundit. He's skated on the fountains in front of the Eiffel Tower, gotten in bar fights in South China, and, taken in very broad terms, had a Very Interesting Life. Erik now lives in Connecticut with his wife and their four legged minions.
Kris Dikeman (Nightmare Lotus, Nymphae somnium maledictus) lives and works in New York City. Her stories have appeared in All Hallows, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet and Yellow Bat Review.
Susan Fedynak ((Floating) Armor of The Dark Blue Heart, Armorea Navum) is a writer based in Boston and New York. She grew up in Queens, NY where she encountered surreal examples of both flora and fauna.
With academic credentials in botany and mycology best described as "sketchy," John Bowker (Burning Bush Fungus, Encephalitozoon Elysium) has often been forced to find employment outside the field as a systems engineer and writer of equally sketchy fiction. Some of his less fungal stories have appeared in On Spec, Sex in the System, Sybil's Garage, and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.
James Trimarco (Cloud Anemone, Bromeliaceae Tillandsia nebularia) practiced surrealism and botany separately for many years before he thought to put them together. On the surrealist side, he writes cultural critique and science fiction. On the botanical side, he grows fresh basil, rosemary, and oregano on his Brooklyn windowsill every spring. His work has appeared in Escape Pod, Strange Horizons, and Vanity Fair.
Writing weird things is not strange for Steve Berman (Esemtep, Unclassified). He has sold over eighty articles, essays, and short stories. His young adult novel, Vintage, was a finalist for the Andre Norton Award. He lacks a green thumb.
Matthew Kressel (The Sembla, Spasmodicus plasticosa) lives in Brooklyn with a fecund array of tropical plants that whisper secrets to him while he dreams. His fiction has or will be appearing in the Ellen Datlow-edited anthology Naked City: New Tales of Urban Fantasy, Electric Velocipede, Farrago's Wainscot, Abyss & Apex, Apex Digest, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and other markets. He runs Senses Five Press, which publishes Sybil's Garage and Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy.
Jason Erik Lundberg (Co-editor/publisher, Emcee) is an American expatriate living in Singapore, and the author of The Time Traveler's Son (2008), Four Seasons in One Day (2003, with Janet Chui), and over forty articles and short stories. His short fiction has been honorably mentioned in The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, nominated for the SLF Fountain Award, and shortlisted for the Brenda L. Smart Award for Short Fiction. With Janet Chui, Lundberg runs Two Cranes Press, an independent publishing atelier. A graduate of the Clarion Writers' Workshop and the Creative Writing Master's program at North Carolina State University, he now teaches English and creative writing at Hwa Chong Institution.
Click here to RSVP at the Facebook event page.
Many wet and sloppy thanks go to ecmyers for coordinating with Denis at KGB, and with Mobile Libris, who will be selling copies of Surreal Botany at the event. It should be a fantastic evening, so please come on down if you're in the area.