Thursday, October 30, 2014

Aqus Halloween Takeover!


A big thanks to everyone who came to see us at the Halloween Takeover Literary Speakeasy in Petaluma at the Aqus Cafe. It was an amazing night with some great talents.

My personal advice to my fellow Lao writers and artists is: Keep an eye out for them if they're ever in your area. You can learn a LOT from all of their work and their sense of showmanship, whether dealing with the classics or their own material. Absolutely inspired stuff!

The setting was particularly evocative with the art of Peter Perez from his series "Circles of Life and Circles of Death," with works such as "El Santo Muerto and the Last Book of Names" and "Los Enamorados Reunited."

My fellow performers included Constance Ann Fitzgerald, Spike Marlowe, Christopher Reynaga, Jennifer Quinlan, Ross E. Lockhart and Andrew Goldfarb/The Slow Poisoner. A very special thanks goes to Ransom Stephens for asking us to convene the Halloween Takeover!


As can be expected, we touched on the Lovecraftian and the weird, the bizarre and the unexpected.

Christopher Reynaga shared his riveting short story 'I Only Am Escaped Alone to Tell Thee' that goes toe-to-tentacle with the legend of Moby Dick and did a wondrous reading of "The Raven". Andrew Goldfarb/The Slow Poisoner is an electrifying live performer who handily answered the question, "Can you set the phrase "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" to music?"


The enigmatic Spike Marlowe took time off from her crime-fighting to surprise and astound us, while Constance Ann Fitzgerald presented a short tale of laundry, entrails and quick thinking.  Ross E. Lockhart took us to a support group before the rise of the Great Old Ones, and Jennifer Quinlan shared a haunting excerpt from Byron's "The Giaour".


As for me, I did a reading of several of my poems from DEMONSTRA, including "Idle Fears," "A Fragment of a Dream of Atlantean Yellows," "The Deep Ones," "The Robo Sutra," an excerpt from "The Dream Highway of Ms. Mannivongsa," and "The Terror in Teak."

A big thanks to everyone who helped spread the word, and hopefully it won't be too long before we're back in Petaluma! :)

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