Tricks and Treats: NYRSF Readings Series’ Night in Haunted October

On the evening of Tuesday, 23 October (the fourth Tuesday of the month), after rescheduling the date twice and making changes in the lineup of readers (one on-site!), the New York Review of Science Fiction (or NYRSF) Readings Series held its October 2012 event. The venue, the SoHo Gallery for Digital Art on Sullivan Street, at least, was unchanged.

 

“This month has certainly been haunted – it must be Samhain!” (Halloween to most of us mortals), quipped Jim Freund, the Series’ Producer and Executive Curator, by way of explanation. “Behind the scenes we have had to deal with conflicts with several other excellent events and overcrowded schedules,” and, even so, ran into conflicts. Accordingly, the evening’s originally programmed readers, Terry McGarry and Veronica Schanoes, will be rescheduled for another date, and Keith R.A. DeCandido and Aaron Rosenberg, both authors of media tie-in novels and humorous sf, were invited to be October’s readers. (Whew! But wait, the haunting wasn’t yet done.)

 

The evening began informally with Freund toasting New York fan (and frequent NYRSF Readings attendee) Danny Lieberman, who had died (of leukemia) a few days earlier, with – and sharing – a bottle of an Islay single malt Scotch Whiskey called Ardbeg Uigeadail (Danny was an aficionado). Following that memorial, he announced upcoming events in the Series. Next month, on 20 November, guest curators Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling will host a special evening of readers from their new young adult anthology of post-apocalyptic or dystopic stories, After: Matt Kressel, Genevieve Valentine, and N.K. Jemisin. December’s readings, on the 4th (returning for the first time all season to the usual first Tuesday), will once more be the traditional “Family Night,” again featuring Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner, plus, he promised, a surprise couple. Ron Hogan will be guest curator on 8 January 2013.

 

(Amid October’s chaotic changes, it should be noted that Hour of the Wolf, the radio program on sf and fantasy hosted by Freund, returned to the air, and in its current timeslot, Thursday morning from 1:30 to 3:00 am on WBAI, 99.5 FM.)

 

Aaron Rosenberg, the evening’s first reader, has written tie-in novels for Star Trek, Stargate Atlantis, Eureka, StarCraft, WarCraft, Exalted, and Warhammer, and has received the Origins Award, the Gold ENnie, the PsiPhi Award, and the Scribe Award. He is also the author of the Dread Remora space-opera series and the humorous science fiction novel No Small Bills (which was a best-selling e-book on Nook), and the co-author of the O.C.L.T. occult thriller series. He “dwells” online at http://gryphonrose.malibulist.com.

 

His selection was the first two chapters from the just-released sequel to No Small Bills, Too Small for Tall, featuring DuckBob Spinowitz – so called as he looks like a duck, from his large feathered head to his webbed feet, the result of an alien abduction – and Agent Thomas, a “MIB,” whom he has nicknamed Tall.

 

In a brief Q-&-A, asked whether he preferred writing licensed novels or works set in his own original worlds, he said that, if he had his “druthers,” he would continue to do both, as each has benefits. He added that he would love to write Doctor Who and James Bond novels, and was open to writing screenplays. To another question, he responded that he had not heard from Steve Gerber (Howard the Duck creator), nor from Disney.

 

During the recess, Freund reported that the second reader of the night, Keith DeCandido, would not be appearing due to a dead car battery. (Shades of Barry Malzberg!) “This is the most improvised reading in the Series’ 21 seasons,” he sighed. Fortunately, James Ryan graciously offered to read from his online novel Red Jenny and the Pirates of Buffalo (which updates Thursday mornings at redjennybuffalo.wordpress.com). The setting is a postwar future where the center of political and economic power in North America has moved north, across the Canadian border – “and where there is money to be made in trade, there also be pirates” – and where Jenny and the West Seneca Crew (West Seneca is south of Buffalo) prowl and prey in Lake Erie. Afterward, in an even briefer Q-&-A, Ryan (who goes by Jim) responded that the name wasn’t consciously from The Threepenny Opera’s Pirate Jenny and was indefinite about the novel being printed and bound into a book.

 

In consequence of the schedule changes and conflicts, the gathering was much smaller than usual, but, after the chairs were folded up and stacked, Freund (who really deserves kudos for dealing with the tsuris-storm) invited those present to adjourn, as customary, to Milady’s, a nearby pub.