I had avoided this book since it's release.. It was on the best seller's wall at the first bookstore I worked at forever.. I was too busy playing mall rat & looking at Maplethorpe photo books to pay it any head.
After years of avoiding it someone very talented digitally whispered that his avant garde book club had chosen it as the text for their next performance.
Dark Scifi is a risky venture for me. Many great authors have made their fame with novels which capture Distopian projections of their day. Camus, Asimov, Borroughs, Orwell, Bradbury, Lem all gave voice to a collective negative extrapolation of their societies. These books always are hard for me to read, but stay with me like no other style of writing.
I've been hearing little bits and pieces from several of the artists involved on what they are preparing to share on the next gathering on Tuesday, October 26th. Charlotte G has broken out her large brushes and has embarked on creating an amazing large scale painting to be used as the evening's backdrop. Last report she was wrestling studio spaces trying to manage the work's girth.
I'm hoping that maybe someone in the group suggests something from Cory Doctorow stock of sci-fi & speculative fiction in the near future. Once you go Doctorow... Oh I don't know.. Most of his books are young adult explorations of Distopic Fears but always infused with hope and illustrations of the under dog getting his due by story's end. In my old age I guess I look for positive Sci-Fi books when I want to explore such topics.
So Good Book, Solid Genre, Amazing Talent & Great Venue. You should go or at least spread the word via your Social Networks if you can not make it.
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Parkside Lounge
www.parksidelounge.com
317 E Houston St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 674-9308
A Book Club Burlesque inspired by "The Handmaid's Tale"
Pastors and Politicians, artists and performers: musicians, dancers, circus, variety, burlesque performers, film makers, puppeteers, piano players, drag queens, installation artists, photographers, actors, freaks, the bizarre, strange, and subversive
Contributors include:
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Walt Cessna:
Faux Pas
Jena Friedman:
Charlotte Ghiorse:
Nicholas Gorham:
Eric Jaeger:
Jeremiah Jones:
Simone L’Mew:
Leslie Lowe:
Gerri Visco:
Past books have included: Lolita, Valley of the Dolls, Less Than Zero, The Scarlet Letter, Archie Comics, the Brothers Grimm Collection, Siddhartha, Stranger in a Strange Land, City of Night, The Curious Sofa, Mutiny On The Bounty, Please Send Money, Geek Love, Volsungasaga, Joy of Cooking
These events have been a Voice Choice, written up in Time Out, La Dolce Musto, and the New Yorker.
For the New Yorker review of our past show: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/02/ fiction-fetish.htmlRead more at www.facebook.com
