All posts tagged Vermin on the Mount

David Agranoff in SD

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

AGRANOFF: I read a story for 2014 World Horror Convention’s annual gross-out contest. It was nerve wracking reading my story in front of 500 horror writers. I didn’t think my story was funny or gross enough, but it came in second place out of 12 entries and many thought I was robbed. I won a print of a human centipede painting. So that is pretty weird. I also caused two grand masters of horror who were judges to keel over.

David Agranoff is the Wonderland award nominated author of two short story collections and four novels. His novels published by Eraserhead press include Punk Rock Ghost Story, Boot Boys of the Wolf Reich and The Vegan Revolution with Zombies. He writes primarily horror but this summer is releasing his first Science Fiction novel Flesh Trade co-written with Edward Morris.

Come see David read at 3rdSpace in San Diego on Saturday, April 15 at 7pm. 

Tiffany Scandal in LA & SD

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

SCANDAL: Once watched a man recite poetry about blackbirds into a microphone that was hanging out from the fly of another man’s pants.

Tiffany Scandal is the author of three books. The first, THERE’S NO HAPPY ENDING, is part of the New Bizarro Author Series from Eraserhead Press. Her second book, JIGSAW YOUTH, has made numerous “Best Of” lists and is available as an audiobook which the author narrated herself. She returns to Eraserhead Press for the release of her third and newest book, titled SHIT LUCK, which is already making waves and considered to be a great introduction to the Bizarro Fiction genre. She also models and does photography, but that stuff isn’t as important. She lives in Portland, Oregon. With cats.

Come see Tiffany read at Book Show in Highland Park on Friday, April 14 at 7:30pm and at 3rdSpace in San Diego on Saturday, April 15 at 7pm. 

Look Who’s Coming to Vermin SD: Heather Fowler

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

FOWLER: Filming for the short film adaptation/trailer shoot for Beautiful Ape Girl Baby had paused due to torrential downpour and the cast and crew came together in a single room. As the book author, I was invited to watch the entire process. While we waited, the actors practiced their lines in the round. It was great to be seated there, watching my characters come to life and listening to director Lauren Rachel Berman advise on the scene. The best moment for me, because it was so privately amusing, was when the actors made slight adjustments to a line here or there and Lauren said, “Try that again. In the book and adapted script, it reads…” 

I’m a constant reviser–to the extent that sometimes, if reading unpublished work, I’ll even revise right as I read, so it was really fun to have the script kept so sacrosanct even when I myself was amenable to more fluid adjustments. Being an author often open to other people’s creative adjustments but having my exact terms kept precise–definitely memorable. I had to remind myself that the novel had yet to drop (but the edits were done), so Lauren was right. Now I’m writing plays and screenplays, so such things may not happen again in this way any time soon–a play/movie in development can be changed at every turn. 

I welcome the organized chaos to come. Here’s the trailer. These actors are great!

Heather Fowler is a novelist, a poet, a fiction writer, a librettist, and a playwright. She is the author of the novel Beautiful Ape Girl Baby (2016) and the story collections Suspended Heart (2010), People with Holes (2012), This Time, While We’re Awake (2013), and Elegantly Naked In My Sexy Mental Illness (2014). She is also co-author of a collaborative book of poems called Bare Bulbs Swinging with Meg Tuite and Michelle Reale. Her work has appeared in such venues as PANK, Night Train, storyglossia, Necessary Fiction, Feminist Studies, and more.

Come see Heather read at 3rdSpace in San Diego on Saturday, January 21 at 7pm. 

Look Who’s Coming to Vermin SD: David Eric Tomlinson

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

TOMLINSON: This is a reading in Dallas, early September, so it’s hot. The locals, myself included, are all in shorts, t-shirts, open-toed sandals. One of the performers is from Ohio and he comes in wearing cowboy get-up – boots, Wranglers, long-sleeve denim shirt, a black Stetson. His book is very good, as is his delivery. But it’s just too damn hot for all that gear.

David Eric Tomlinson was born and raised in Oklahoma. He studied writing at the University of California, San Diego, and has worked as a copywriter, art director, karate instructor, and stay-at-home dad. David lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and two daughters. His first novel The Midnight Man, about five Oklahomans who overcome deep-seated racial, political, and social differences in the year preceding the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, was published this month by Tyrus Books.

Come see David read at 3rdSpace in San Diego on Saturday, January 21 at 7pm. 

Look Who’s Coming to Vermin LA & SD: Vi Khi Nao

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

NAO: The reading was at a hair salon in New York. It had been raining intermittently and it had been terribly noisy and stuffy. It was hard to hear the readers. I was in the arms of my lover and I had fallen asleep. When it was my turn to read, I jolted awake, wheeled myself to one of the tall, swirly chairs made for cutting hair and read. I wish I had requested that my hair got either permed or washed during my reading. I see now how limited my imagination was.

Vi Khi Nao is the author of novel, Fish in Exile, and poetry collection, The Old Philosopher. Vi’s work includes poetry, fiction, film and cross-genre collaboration. She was the winner of 2014 Nightboat Poetry Prize and the 2016 Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Contest.

Come see Vi read at Book Show in Highland Park on Friday, January 20 at 7:30pm and at 3rdSpace in San Diego on Saturday, January 21 at 7pm. 

VOTM in S.D. 1/21

It’s been six months since the last Vermin in San Diego. That changes on Saturday 1/21. Come celebrate the arts with writers from L.A., San Diego, Seattle and points unknown. Books and merchandise will be available for sale and surprises abound in the world famous Vermin raffle. Everything you need to know is right here.

VOTM + Razorcake = Awesome

Razorcake & Vermin on the Mount present a night of irreverent readings in L.A. with Alice Bag, Keith Morris, Michelle Gonzales, Michael Fournier and your host Jim Ruland. This once-in-a-lifetime event will be held on Saturday, April 2 at 8:30pm.

This event will be at a new location for Vermin on the Mount: pehrspace 325 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles.

Little D will DJ and a Q&A will follow the reading. Books and merchandise will be available for sale. $5 suggested donation. Poster by Alex Barrett.

Add yourself to the Facebook invite or check out Razorcake for more details.

  • 16 Feb VOTM SD Trump1Not this shit agian
  • 16 Feb VOTM SD BeckerLauren Becker
  • 16 Feb VOTM SD LopezPaul Lopez
  • 16 Feb VOTM SD GillAllison Gill
  • 16 Feb VOTM SD Shaw1Johnny Shaw
  • 16 Feb VOTM SD Gill2Allison Gill
  • 16 Feb VOTM SD Shaw2Johnny Shaw
  • 16 Feb VOTM SD Shaw3Johnny Shaw
  • 16 Feb VOTM SD Trump2Down for the count

Gallery of Vermin: SD

The photos from the most recent Vermin on the Mount event at 3rdSpace in San Diego are up.

Check out all the action from a night irreverent entertainment, including Lauren Becker reading from If I Would Leave Myself Behind, new poetry from Paul Lopez, hilarity from Allison Gill, and Johnny Shaw reading as his alter ego Brace Godfrey.

Watch for details about the next Vermin on the Mount event in San Diego!

 

  • 16 Feb Group2Verminators!
  • 16 Feb StallingsJosh Stallings
  • 16 Feb Gonzales1Rebecca Gonzales
  • 16 Feb Gonzales2Rebecca Gonzales
  • 16 Feb SothernScot Sothern
  • 16 Feb JuSiel Ju
  • 16 Feb MoffettKevin Moffett
  • 16 Feb ShookDavid Shook
  • 16 Feb JenJen Hitchcock
  • 16 Feb GroupPoor pinata

Gallery of Vermin: LA

Check out the photos from last week’s Vermin on the Mount event at Book Show in LA.

The unexpectedly saucy night of literary entertainment included Josh Stallings reading an excerpt of Young Americans, Rebecca Gonzales reading from a work in progress called Love, Sex, Family & Other Freak Shows, Scot Sothern reading from two works of street photography and text, Flash Flash Click editor Siel Ju reading from hilarious short story “Chef Grace,” and Kevin Moffett reading from work in progress.

Audio of all the performances will be posted soon!

Look Who’s Coming to Vermin: Rebecca Gonzales

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

GONZALES: My most unusual experience was when I traveled to NYC to feature at the newyorican poets cafe and the organizer double booked me for the night with a man who was having his book release… In our communication through email he gave me twenty min. So I prepared my work, I arrived early, he called me up and about seven min. into my set he walked over to me and cut me off the mic… I was mortified. The entire trip was built around that one event. He called me later that night and apologized several times and invited me to feature at another event the following day with a 15 min. set… I was running late to the space and very nervous and forgot all of my work in the house I was staying and only one piece with me…

Cultivated by the sun and moon peeking past the shoes dangling from the phone lines, Rebecca Gonzales was raised and resides “one block East of El Pino” in East La. Rebecca’s work has been published in various literary anthologies and journals such as Dryland Lit., Brooklyn and Boyle, Inchas de Poesia, the Mas Tequila Review, Cipatli, San Antonios St. Sucia, Literature for Life and others. She was the March 2014 winner of “The Poets of New York” series at the Bowery in New York City and has performed all over Los Angeles and Inland Empire . She has three self-published books of poetry and is currently working on a book of short stories, poetry and prose. As a mother she is humbled, as a poet she is obedient, and as a woman she is unapologetic.

Come see Rebecca read at Book Show in Los Angeles on Friday, February 19 at 7:30pm. 

Look Who’s Coming to Vermin: Josh Stallings

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

STALLINGS: My first writer’s panel was at Bouchercon, a huge, crime/mystery readers and writers yearly event. It was titled “Street Writers and Grit,” whatever that meant. The time slot was Sunday morning, traditionally reserved for, well, newer writers. Most people would be too hungover from the award dinner and parties the night before to show up, so I wasn’t too worried about showing my ass to a large crowd. Mistake one of many. Sitting on a raised platform with four other writers and the moderator, my guts did the old flip flop. The room was filling. Shit, writers I liked and respected started to fill the large hall. Sweat broke. Pull it together. Be here now. Fuck, that is Chris Holm looking up at me. Fuck. What is that buzzing drone? The moderator? Did he say my name? Fuck, was that a question? “… Stallings you write from the street, do you research…” I had just enough context to figure out the question. “Research, um, yeah, by that um, see I lived life and wrote about it.” I dropped back into my body and found I could form sentences. We were discussing craft and process, something I normally do when hanging with other artists. Easy-peasy. The audience isn’t hurling metaphoric spoiled vegetables at me. I may just pull this off. This may not be the day they discover I’m a total fraud. And then, the moderator asks the question. The wheels come off. “What animal would you describe yourself as, sexually I mean?” Fuck, what? Brain freeze. Down the line authors answer. “Tiger.” “Pit-bull.” “Lion.” And I’m next… Empty headed. “Unicorn,” I answer “yeah, unicorn, ‘cause the chicks dig a good unicorn.” The room laughs, not erupts into, but not just polite laughter either. I survived that morning, and I know it can’t get weirder, until the next time. “So, if you could engage in consensual bondage with any dead writer, who would it be?”

Josh Stallings is the massively dyslexic award-winning writer of the Moses McGuire novels, Anthony Award nominated memoir “All The Wild Children,” and 2016 Left Coast Crime’s Lefty Award nominated, “Young Americans.” A ‘70’s glam-rock disco heist novel. Raised by hippy activists in the mountain above Palo Alto, he now happily resides in Los Angeles with his wife, two dogs and cat named Riddle.

Come see Josh read at Book Show in Los Angeles on Friday, February 19 at 7:30pm. 

Look Who’s Coming to Vermin: Kevin Moffett

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

MOFFETT: I read at City Lights with the two other authors of the Silent History (Eli Horowitz and Matthew Derby). We arrived about 30 minutes early and there was one person there, a man sitting in a rocking chair reading from a book of poetry. I am always the last of my friends to recognize famous people but even I knew immediately who it was: Tom Waits. I thought, Well of course Tom Waits is at our reading, what else would Tom Waits be doing? As people started accumulating, the manager of the store started making martinis in plastic cups, then announced that the reading would be starting in 15 minutes. Tom Waits stood up, replaced his book on the shelf, and gracefully ducked out. Of all the readings I’ve given where people have walked out–including the couple in Philadelphia who stood up in the middle of my story and as they were leaving said, “It’s not you. We just remembered we have tickets for the opera”–this was the best.

Kevin Moffett is the author of two story collections and a collaborative novel, the Silent History, which was first released as an app for mobile devices and is currently in development at AMC. He is a frequent contributor to McSweeney’s and his stories and essays have appeared in Tin House, American Short Fiction, The Believer, The Best American Short Stories and elsewhere. He has received the National Magazine Award, the Nelson Algren Award, the Pushcart Prize and a literature fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts. He teaches at Claremont McKenna College and in the low-residency MFA at the University of Tampa. 

Come see Kevin read at Book Show in Los Angeles on Friday, February 19 at 7:30pm. 

Look Who’s Coming to Vermin: Siel Ju

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

JU: There was a woman at this reading whom I’d met before, but whose name I couldn’t remember. I admitted this to her thinking she’d be cool with it since we’d really only met in passing. But she was really not cool with it! She yelled at me! Then she told me her name again, just spat it at me spitefully. I’ve since forgotten it.

Siel Ju’s novel-in-stories, Cake Time, is the winner of the 2015 Red Hen Press Fiction Manuscript Award and will be published in Spring 2017. Siel is also the editor of Flash Flash Click, and the author of two poetry chapbooks: Feelings Are Chemicals in Transit from Dancing Girl Press, and Might Club from Horse Less Press. Her stories and poems appear in ZYZZYVA, The Missouri Review (Poem of the Week), The Los Angeles ReviewDenver Quarterly, and other places.

Come see Siel read at Book Show in Los Angeles on Friday, February 19 at 7:30pm. 

Look Who’s Coming to Vermin: Johnny Shaw

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

SHAW: When my first book came out, I wanted to do a reading in my hometown where the book was set, or at least somewhere in the Imperial Valley.

First I contacted the library, but it had been condemned due to a recent earthquake. Next I contacted the one bookstore that I knew was in town, but it had recently closed. The only other bookstore was the adult bookstore on the edge of town called Books ‘n’ Things. To be perfectly honest, it didn’t have a lot of book. It was mostly things. I considered doing the reading there, but the area in front of the beaded curtain was too small. 

So I contacted a few bars in town. Hot Rods & Beer in Holtville, California is a former garage converted into a bar, and they were more than happy to let me bring a little spoken word to the place. It ended up being a great night with a bunch of people coming out, and now I almost exclusively read in bars. Since I write in bars, it makes sense.

Johnny Shaw is the author of the novels DOVE SEASON, BIG MARIA, PLASTER CITY, and most recently FLOODGATE. His short stories have appeared in Thuglit, Plots With Guns, Shotgun Honey, Crime Factory, Blood & Tacos, and numerous anthologies. He was won the Anthony Award and two Spotted Owl Awards. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Come see Johnny read at 3rdSpace in San Diego on Saturday, February 20 at 7pm. 

Photo by Rose O’Keefe.

Vermin in LA Feb 19