Last night was one of the monthly Fantastic Fiction at KGB Bar Readings, curated by Ellen Datlow and Matt Kressel. SFScope is pleased to present Justin Howe’s review of the evening’s proceedings. And remember, if you’re at an event that we ought to be reviewing, e-mail SFScope at editor at sfscope dot com.
KGB Bar hosted another night of Fantastic Fiction on Wednesday 21 May with readers Ekaterina Sedia and Jack O’Connell. Ellen Datlow and Matt Kressel were on hand as usual to host the night’s events, and Ellen announced an upcoming raffle to raise funds to support the series. More details will follow, but prizes include a chance to be “tuckerized” in the works of Elizabeth Hand, Lucius Shepard, or Jeffrey Ford, manuscript pages from Peter Straub, and original artwork by Teri Windling and Gahan Wilson.
The audience size was large with close to fifty people in the room by the end of the night, and while no folding chairs had to be dragged out from behind the bar, a half dozen or so more people would have made the bar uncomfortably crowded. Books were available in the back of the room, with Gordon Linzer doing a fill-in for Mobile Libris for the night.
Ekaterina Sedia read first, reading an excerpt from her novel, The Secret History of Moscow. The piece featured a former Soviet scientist named Sovin who befriends the rats in the abandoned warehouse where he winds up working as a security guard. It was an elegant and evocative piece, and one that hinted at greater mysteries come.
Jack O’Connell followed with an excerpt from his novel, The Resurrectionist, featuring the denizens of a town of carny folk and the “family” of freaks hated by them. Their particular nemesis is a violent Prima Donna knife thrower. It was outlandish and rollicking, setting the stage for the potential of violent conflict to come.
Both authors left the audience wanting to hear more—and there was a bit of a rush on the books at the end of the show. Folks interested in learning more about the readings or taking a look at the list of upcoming authors should check out the new Fantastic Fiction website at www.sensesfive.com/kgb.php.
Ellen Datlow’s of the evening’s festivities are available here.