There are three upcoming readings in the northeast, regulars all, with good performers (and good crowds of attendees, which make for interesting evenings out). The first one is tonight:
The Philadelphia Fantastic Authors and Editors Series, which is held the fourth Friday of each month, is meeting for the last time at Barnes and Noble (see this article for their change of venue notice). Readings, starting at 7:30PM, are followed by signings, followed by a pay-your-own-way group dinner. Tonight, 25 April, they’ll be hosting Gregory Frost reading from his latest novel, Shadowbridge.
Gregory Frost has been writing stories of fantasy, horror and science fiction for twenty-five years. His story, “How Meersh the Bedeviler Lost His Toes”, was a finalist for the 1998 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for Best Short Science Fiction. He is the author of fantasy and science fiction novels, short stories and articles, including Lyrec, Táin, and Remscela (published by Ace Fantasy Books/Berkley Publishing Group), The Pure Cold Light (Avon Books), and Fitcher’s Brides (Tor Books, a finalist for the 2003 International Horror Guild Award for Best Novel). He has twice taught in the Clarion Writers program at Michigan State University (he’s also a Clarion alumnus).
His shorter work has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Whispers, Realms of Fantasy, and in anthologies such as Snow White, Blood Red and Black Swan, White Raven, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling and Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Anthology edited by John Kessel & Richard Butner. Some stories have been reprinted in the Best New Horror collections edited by Stephen Jones.
In television, he has worked as a researcher, for “Wolfman: The Science & the Myth,” an episode of Science Frontiers on the Discovery Global Network, and for “Curse of Tutankhamen” also for Science Frontiers. Both shows have won multiple awards for non-fiction TV. He’s also a graphic designer, and a student of doshinkan-style aikido in Philadelphia.
This Philadelpahia event will be held at Barnes and Noble, 1805 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On 23 May, their reader will be Jonathan Maberry, at Robin’s Bookstore.
Next will be the New York Review of Science Fiction (NYRSF) Reading Series at the South Street Seaport Museum. On 6 May, the doors will open at 6:30PM for the usual 7 o’clock start time. This month’s readers will be Jennifer Stevenson and Kelly Link.
Jennifer Stevenson’s first novel, Trash Sex Magic, from Small Beer Press (June 2004), was twice long-listed for the Nebula Award and short-listed for the Locus best first novel award. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies such as Sex in the System, Horns of Elfland, Women at War, and Fields of Blood: Vampires of the Heartland.
Stevenson’s current trilogy is a Ballantine release: The Brass Bed (April 2008), The Velvet Chair (May 2008), and The Bearskin Rug (June 2008). Stevenson divides her time between writing, swimming, gardening, riding at a hunter barn, and skating with Derby Lite, a recreational roller derby league “for women old enough to know better.”
Kelly Link’s debut collection, Stranger Things Happen, was a Firecracker nominee, a Village Voice Favorite Book and a Salon Book of the Year. Stories from the collection have won the Nebula, the James Tiptree Jr., and the World Fantasy Awards. Her second collection, Magic for Beginners, was selected for best of the year lists by Time, Salon, Boldtype, Village Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Capitol Times.
Link is an editor for the Online Writing Workshop and has been a reader and judge for various literary awards. With Gavin J. Grant and Ellen Datlow, she edits The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror (St. Martin’s Press). Link and Grant also publish a twice-yearly zine, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet—as well as books—as Small Beer Press.
The NYRSF Reading Series takes place the first Tuesday of every month at the South Street Seaport’s Melville Gallery, 213 Water Street. Admission is free, but $5 donations are encouraged to offset costs and buy dinner for the readers. The producer and executive curator is radio producer and talk show host Jim Freund. For more information, see www.hourwolf.com/nyrsf.
Finally there’s the Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series, hosted by Ellen Datlow and Gavin J. Grant (although it isn’t really final, because they all come again a month later). On 21 May they’ll be presenting Jack O’Connell and Ekaterina Sedia. As always, readings start about 7, but arrive early if you want to get a seat (the bar is kind of small).
Jack O’Connell is the author of The Resurrectionist, just published by Algonquin, and four previous novels set in the fictional citry of Quinsigamond, including Box 9, Wireless, The Skin Palace, and Word Made Flesh.
Ekaterina Sedia is the author of The Secret History of Moscow, published by Prime Books this past November. Her next, The Alchemy of Stone, will be out this July. Her short stories have been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies.
Fantastic Fiction at KGB is held in the KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street (just off 2nd Avenue, upstairs) the third Thursday of every month. Mobile Libris is usually present to sell readers’ books. For more information on the location, see www.kgbbar.com; for information on the reading series, see their Yahoo group. Co-host Datlow also usually takes and posts many photos of the events. Her photos from the 16 April reading (Jack Ketchum and P.D. Cacek) are available at this link.