Love, The Other 2/3s of Knee-Jerk

Last chance to enter our Essay & Chapbook Contests before midnight, June 30th, 2011.

Guest judges for the Chapbook contest are Lindsay Hunter and Mary Hamilton. Win publication and up to $500.

Enter our ESSAY AND CHAPBOOK CONTESTS by June 30th, 2011.

ENTER THE ESSAY & CHAPBOOK CONTESTS by June 30th, 2011.

Read our interview with Ben Tanzer 

Read our Follow-up interview with Ben Tanzer

You don’t want to see this video. So spend your time instead submitting to KNEE-JERK’S ESSAY & CHAPBOOK CONTESTS. Deadline: June 30th, 2011.

It’s exactly what it sounds like. Enter our Essay and Chapbook Contests. Deadline June 30th, 2011.

We’ve never seen Battlestar Galactica. So we decided to parody it. Send us your parodies to the KNEE-JERK ESSAY & CHAPBOOK CONTESTS! DEADLINE: JUNE 30TH, 2011.

Submit before June 30th, 2011 HERE!

Submit your nonfiction and story collections/novellas about gaming (or anything at all!) to our Essay & Chapbook Contests! Deadline: June 30th, 2011.

QUICKIES! Chicago - October 13

QUICKIES! Chicago – October 13, 2009:

JAC JEMC
ELIZABETH WYLDER
BEN TANZER
KATE DUVA
CAROLINE PICARD
AARON PLASEK GRAY
CASEY BYE
ZACH DODSON
RICHARD THOMAS
AARON BURCH
BLAKE BUTLER
AMELIA GRAY

Wow, so what a great night. I was thrilled when Mary and Lindsay invited me to read at QUICKIES! Chicago, but little did I know that I’d be part of this fantastic FUNdraiser and mini Dollar Store Tour event. GO here to their blog to get more information on QUICKIES! and all of the authors that read. QUICKIES! Chicago

For the second night in a row I hopped in my car and fought traffic to get to the city. Last night it was to the Inner Town Pub in Wicker Park (my old stomping grounds) only to find the bar empty, but for one barfly and the bartender. I guess 7 pm is only a suggested starting time. After conversing with several Columbia students, including Casey Bye who also read some awesome fiction, and Jacob from ACM, I realized that it never starts until almost 8. Oh well. Gave me time to hang.

Lots of great talent on hand. Our hostesses Mary and Lindsay were HILARIOUS and I loved their stories as well. They were totally prepared to blow the whistle at the 5 minute mark and had no problem escorting Aaron and Amelia off the stage mid-sentence. Didn’t matter that we were in the middle of a hot dildo story by Aaron or that Amelia was on fire spewing voracious insults at the crowd. HOOKED. And pulled.

I read my story that is up at Opium called “Animal Magnetism”. I mean, if you have a story that involves a guy getting an elephant penis, you have to read it. Right? It got some good laughs, and several people afterwards told me they really liked it, so I’m happy with the results. Stiff competition. I need to get my open mic mojo back.

Some of the highlights for me were the aforementioned Aaron Burch of Hobart. He’s always entertaining, and his story was funny and a bit sad, and somehow kind of hot. Amelia Gray was hilarious, her voice is one that I’m really getting into. Like I mentioned in my last post about the SCORCH ATLAS reading, she’s a great mix of sexy, dark, and funny. Wearing a tight black dress with fishnet stockings never hurts either. Blake Butler read another great story that was dark all the way up to the end, and then twisted into something bittersweet and funny. I’m really digging his style. Jac Jemc had a really strange and dark little story that I really loved. I’ll have to check out more of her work.

Thanks to everyone that chatted me up before, during and after. I had an excellent chat with Ben Tanzer, who also read. So many great local writers.

For sure check this event out if you can in the future. I had so much fun. Thanks Nik for the encouraging text, so very cool of you. And I got to meet a Cult buddy Golding (Gus Moreno) as well, thanks for coming out to see me read and support the group, such a cool guy Gus, and another really talented writer.

Peace,
Richard

For those new to Reading Under the Influence, here’s the lowdown: it’s a  Chicago based reading series where writers read from their own work along with selections by other authors and trivia questions for the audience, all of which are tied together by that month’s chosen theme. On top of all that, there’s plenty of drinking to be done, with each reader toasting the audience with a shot before they go on.

 This Wednesday will feature book release readings by our friend, Billy Lombardo (“How to Hold a Woman”), whose shear awesomeness can be seen in his story “Your Dreams Will Become Like Idiots’ Dreams,” featured in the inaugural issue of Knee-Jerk, along with Jamie Freveletti (“Running From the Devil”), as well as short fiction by Robert McDonald (co-author of “A Field Guide to Gay and Lesbian Chicago”), Ashley Kjos, Maggie Ritchie and RUI’s Julia Borcherts.

RUI will be on their normal stomping ground in the back room at Sheffield’s, 3258 N. Sheffield Ave starting at 7pm this Wednesday, June 3rd. There’s a $3 cover. You can’t put a price on awesomeness (but if you were to, this would be an extremely cheap one).

Keep tabs on upcoming RUI events over at http://readingundertheinfluence.com/

It pretty much speaks for itself. And yes, it is exactly what you think it is. You can check it out here .

I suppose it could be symbolic of growth and change.  But mostly it seems like to some people the first thing to spring to mind when they hear “first black American president” is “sprout afro.” To be fair, the people at Chia apparently equate the same thing to the words “Garfield” and “Scooby Doo.” At least someone’s found a way to make a few bucks in this economy.

Make sure to check out both styles of Chia Obama: “Happy” and “Determined.”

What amplified is is basically regularly updated video interviews done by Dan Harris, who I guess finds time to rock out to Dan Deacon and Bob Mould whenever he’s not busy reporting from Ground Zero or Gaza or Afghanistan. Pretty cool, right? And surprise, surprise: it’s not even pandering in the least (not at all like that awful Fox News interview with Stephen Malkmus from about a year back.

So props to Dan Harris (and ABC). He not only seems to know what’s he’s talking about, like any good reporter should, he seems to actually care about it. Check out his interviews with the likes of Camera Obscura, Lykke Li, Neko Case, Bon Iver, and Andrew Bird at Amplified.