Live from the “Poedown Throwdown” at DV8 11.10.2012

I had a wonderful time reading poetry alongside Stephanie Wytovich (who read a battery of amazing "psycho ward" poetry) at DV8 Espresso Cafe & Gallery in Downtown Greensburg, PA, this past weekend. It was standing room only, there were a lot of laughs, and weirdness was definitely in high abundance. Among other things, I got to share my current Mutterverse experiment, which featured a slideshow of strange images...until the power went out on the projector, that is. But I just continued reading in the darkness, which was perfect. Perhaps the highlight of the night was a "Poedown Throwdown" slam poetry…

“Dog Con” Launches a Yearlong Anniversary Party for Raw Dog Screaming Press

Welp, the very first ever "Dog Con" has come and gone, and as you'll see below, while I didn't go, I still went. The good folks at Raw Dog Screaming Press hosted a semi-private party-slash-convention to launch the celebration of their ten year anniversary, and from all reports, the festivities were nothing short of transformational. The press is renewed, launching a brand new science fiction imprint called Dog Star Books -- with Heidi Ruby Miller (co-editor of Many Genres One Craft) at the editorial helm. There will be a new website, a new focus on community, and pack of new…

Attack of the Bleu Man Group — Live at Morgantown Poets

Happy Halloween! The Science Fiction Poetry Association has gathered together a number of new readings of poetry related to Halloween on their website, as part of an annual tradition of terror. I've shared a clip from my live reading at Morgantown Poets this past June, which was a lot of fun: "Attack of the Bleu Man Group." This poem, which appears in The Gorelets Omnibus, actually had its very first publication in the form of a musically-enhanced number on this website a few Halloweens ago, which you can still listen to right here. Visit the SFPA Halloween Readings to hear…

To Write Well…

The following is an excerpt from the front page of my Fiction Writing syllabus at SHU, which I posted to scribd and soundcloud as part of the course. I was surprised to find out tonight that it was highlighted as a "Featured Document" by scribd.com! Neat. To Write Well Here's the audio version, recorded for the students in the class to respond to. Teaching does take time away from my writing, but it's just as rewarding to me, and it's fun to share in the students' creative spirits. Our class is going to be doing a lot of experiments with…

On the Irrelevance of Genre Poetry [Live]

At the fun "Raw Dog Screaming Press Book Party" at the Morgantown Poets group in West Virginia last month, I opened my reading by sharing a piece I'd written for Locus Magazine, a poem about why I write poetry, which I contributed to their running Roundtable series on speculative poetry.  Here's my recitation of "On the Irrelevance of Genre Poetry," recorded during the reading. I don't often write things like this -- an opinion essay told in the form of a poem -- but the audience really seemed to laugh and also get charged up by the poem. Press the…