Readings Wed 3/21, Fri. 3/23, Thurs. 3/29

Come see me (with clothes on!)

at IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21 at 8 PM


HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE
302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey)
212-334-9676
www.happyendinglounge.com

Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com

This month, join Cheri Crystal (Erotic Interludes 3, 4, 5), Joel A. Nichols (Dorm Porn 2, Travelrotica 2), Carol Novack (Mad Hatters' Review), memoirist Suzanne Portnoy (The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker), who's making an appearance all the way from London, and Claire Thompson (Golden Boy, Slave Castle), along with host erotica writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (He's on Top, She's on Top, Caught Looking) for hot stories from across the sexual spectrum. Free candy and mini cupcakes will be served and authors' books will be available for sale.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Andy Mo Beasley, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Susan Wright, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from Escape (Hong Kong), The L Magazine, New York magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette has been recommended by Dr. Ruth. This is not Amanda Stern's Happy Ending Reading Series.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, conducts interviews for Gothamist.com and Mediabistro.com, and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have been published in over 80 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006, and she's edited 13 erotica anthologies, most recently Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists and Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmo UK, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, Time Out New York and Velvetpark.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Cheri Crystal enjoys reading, writing, reviewing, eating, working out, and having sex—not necessarily in that order. Since appearing in Erotic Interludes 3: Lessons in Love, Cheri has erotica in other Bold Strokes Books, Cleis Press, and Alyson anthologies. When she's not busy raising a family or working in health care, Cheri is putting the finishing touches on her first novel, A Closet in Syosset.

Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz is a fiction writer and poet. Her work has appeared in various online and print journals as well as several anthologies. Though new to the erotic genre, Mintz has had work published in the online journal Clean Sheets as well as Down & Dirty 2 and Velvet Heat from Pretty Things Press. A very short work received an honorable mention in a contest at Katy Terrega's Sex-writers.com.

Joel A. Nichols was born and raised in Vermont. This year stories of his will appear in Dorm Porn 2, Travelrotica 2, Second Skin, Fast Balls, Distant Horizons: Queer Science Fiction (Haworth Positronic), C is for Co-ed (Cleis), Got A Minute (Cleis), and Sex by the Book: Gay Men's Tales of Lit and Lust (Green Candy Press), and have appeared in Alyson's Full Body Contact, Just the Sex, Ultimate Undies, and Sexiest Soles. An excerpt from his novel in progress won second place in the Brown Foundation Short Fiction Prize 2005. In 2002, he was a Fulbright Fellow in Berlin. Joel studied German at Wesleyan University and has a Creative Writing M.A. from Temple University. He lives in Philadelphia with his boyfriend and works for an internet porn company.
www.joelanichols.com

Carol Novack's writings can & will be found in many publications, including The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets, American Letters & Commentary, Del Sol Review, Diagram, First Intensity, 5_Trope, La Petite Zine, LIT, & Notre Dame Review. She publishes the e-journal Mad Hatters' Review.
carolnovack.blogspot.com

Suzanne Portnoy has been an entertainment publicist for twelve years. Divorced and with two children, aged 13 and 15, she is formerly from New York and now lives in London. Attractive and finally a size 8 after twenty years of yo-yo dieting, she is happily single and spends her spare time writing, having sex and acting as a one-woman car pool service. Her first book, The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker: An Erotic Memoir, is published by Virgin Books.
www.suzanneportnoy.com

Claire Thompson has written erotic fiction since 1995. Much of her work focuses on the romance of erotic submission, as well as the darker exploration of BDSM. Her most recent work focuses on the male/male romance and erotic submission. Claire has published numerous novels and short stories, both in print and ebook format. Says a reviewer for eCataRomance, "…Claire Thompson draws a compelling, graphic picture of a loving dominant/submissive relationship. Erotic and confronting, yet tender and intimate." Visit her website for a listing of all Claire's novels, upcoming releases, and more information.
www.clairethompson.net

Last year's True Sex Confessions night, with Dan Allen, Jessica Cutler, Miriam Datskovsky, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Judy McGuire, Audacia Ray and Felicia Sullivan drew the first really huge crowd for In The Flesh. We're back with more racy confessions from another equally talent group of writers, along with some much-anticipated audience participation!


____________________________________


Mad Hatters' Review Edgy & Enlightened Literature, Art & Music in the Age of Dementia
Poetry, Prose & Anything Goes Reading Series
Curated & Pickled by Publisher/Editor Carol Novack
6th Reading
Friday, March 23, '07, 7 – 9 pm



KGB Bar
85 East 4th St. 2nd Floor
(between 2nd Ave and Bowery)
212-505-3360
http://www.kgbbar.com



Features:

Patricia Catto, former Finger Laker, now "Midwasterner," is Associate Professor of Something at the Kansas City Art Institute. She was tenured in 1994 after a now legendary battle with Franconian fascists. Her book Aunt Pig of Puglia (edible portions published in various journals – one such to be published in MHR) recounts the magical realist tale of her cruel, unacceptable, beloved family whose Auntie was born with bristles and trotters. The true but utterly fake tale of the Ferri Family, this fable can be understood as the Sopranos Meet the Fawkers and They All Call Into Car Talk For Advice on Existential Problems. Catto is the author of a poetry book, Wife of Geronimo's Virile Old Age (Mathom Press), several poesms, art reviews and earnest articles dealing with the ecospiritualviagra issues of our day. In addition to teaching creative writing (like, RIGHT) and raks sharki (belly dance ), she does large scale murals in Indian restaurants. She has studied with the Maurice Sendak Kalighat School of the Indian Restaurant Mural. Catto's latest triumph was surviving if not partially mastering a parasite ingested last summer in Chandigarh India. You'll want to come and see her -3 dress size and query her about weight loss strategies.

Ted Pelton is the author of three books, most recently the novel Malcolm & Jack (and Other Famous American Criminals) (Spuyten Duyvil, 2006). In 1994, he was awarded an NEA Fellowship in Fiction. In 2000, he founded Starcherone Books (starcherone.com), an independent publisher of innovative fiction, and he now serves as its Executive Director. He's also an Associate Professor of English at Medaille College of Buffalo, NY. See samples of his work at tedpelton.com.

Steve Tomasula's short fiction has appeared widely and most recently in McSweeney's, The Denver Quarterly and The Iowa Review where he received the Iowa Prize for the most distinguished work published in any genre. His essays on body art and culture appear in Leonardo and other magazines both here and in Europe. He is the author of the novels IN & OZ; The Book of Portraiture; and VAS: An Opera in Flatland, a novel of the biotech revolution that has been released in paper by the University of Chicago Press. He teaches in the writing program at The University of Notre Dame.

WITH LIVE MUSIC PLAYED BY BEN RUSH MILLER

For further info, email: madhattersreview@gmail.com
(type READINGS in the subject line)


_________________________________________

2ND OFFICIAL CLWN WR EVENT
MARCH 29TH , Brooklyn, NYC, 7pm

The Safe-T-Gallery at 111 Front Street,
Brooklyn ( D.U.M.B.O.), Gallery 214



The reading will start around 7:00, and will feature Jane Ormerod, Carol Novack and Bob Hart plus a number of special guests including Nathan Whiting, Jean Lehrman, EK Smith, Judy Kamilhor, Thomas Fucaloro and some others still to be announced - take the F train to York Street, walk downhill to Front and turn left under the Manhattan Bridge - for more information and alternative directions (from other subway lines) please check the Gallery website at http://www.safetgallery.com

Since its first issue in 1972, Clown War and its successor CLWN WR (both published by MHR contributor Bob Heman) have frequently published very small poems in both regular and special small poem issues. Among the writers who have contributed small poems to Clown War/CLWN WR are Cid Corman, Ted Berrigan, F.A. Nettelbeck, Ray DiPalma, Bruce Andrews, Lyn Hejinian, Eileen Myles, Bob Holman, Keith Abbott, Dave Morice, Joel Dailey, Nathan Whiting, Brian McInerney, Charles Bernstein, Alex Caldiero and many others. We have also published very small visual poems by David Cole, John M. Bennett, Scott Helmes, M. Kasper, Hannah Weiner, Roy Arenella and others. After a long hibernation CLWN WR is once again starting a series of special issues devoted to the very small poem in all of its manifestations. The website is currently being built.

I'm reading my poetry!

Come to my readings?

Christine Hamm is reading her poetry!

Many places and not quite all at once.

One on Tuesday:

The Battle Hill Reading Series
will be serving up a Highfill-Hamm extravaganza…

on Tuesday March 13th at 8PM

CHRISTINE HAMM
&
MITCH HIGHFILL

Their brilliance will be accompanied by bourbon & brisket, thanks to
our venue-Bar BQ -


(Directions)

Battle Hill Readings
at BarBQ: 20th Street & 6th Avenue
Corner of 20th/6th ave in South Slope/Greenwood Heights
in Green-Wood Heights/South Slope Brooklyn

Take the R or M to the Prospect Avenue station. Walk up the hill and
turn right on 6th Avenue. Two blocks down on 6th Avenue.

One on Sunday:

JOIN US FOR A READING AT PARK SLOPE’S 440 GALLERY!

WHEN: Sunday, March 18th from 4:30-6:00 pm

WHERE: 440 Gallery, 440 Sixth Avenue (at 9th St., F to 7th Ave.)

CONTACT: Brooke Shaffner at brshaffner@hotmail.com

Admission Free

WHO:

NICOLE STEINBERG

MATTHEW THORBURN

AMY LAWLESS

CHRISTINE HAMM

RICHARD EAGAN

For more information, go to http://www.440gallery.com


One on another Tuesday:

The Drew Graduate Student Creative Writing Group
reading their works-in-progress
in the Drew Writing Center
Drew College
7:30 pm
on Tuesday March 20, 2007.

Featured readers include: Joel Campbell, Andrea Braunius, Terri White,
Christine Hamm, and Rachel Bower.

poem about Queens

I thought I'd share this, since it's related to Queens.

Queens Ascending

all over Jamaica     Kew Gardens 
Astoria and Forest Hills
beauticians are taking flight

 they put down their curling irons
leave the blow-dryers on full

rise away from the toxic puddles
  of nail polish remover,
 the sad piles of tweezed eyebrow hair

the mounds 
 of fluffy bleached curls
strewn like rushes on the checked linoleum

they rise up over the 99 cent stores
the dry cleaners     the funeral parlors
the basketball courts and the bodegas

the bridges humming with cars like shining eggs

the subway lines singing their mechanical vibrato

their press-on nails     their aprons
the scissors in their pockets    fall away    

their lipstick peels away to nothing

 and high, high above the borough 
that is shaped like two clasped hands

they sprout wings
              our angels of beauty