On the evening of Wednesday, 19 March 2014 – the last full night of winter – the KGB Bar in Manhattan’s East Village, the venue for the Fantastic Fiction Readings Series, hosted readings by authors Ellen Kushner and David D. Levine. (This is not the first time the two have read together; previously they’ve been at WisCon in Madison.)
The Bar, known for its red walls and Soviet era-themed décor, undisturbed by current world events (though they did fuel a few conversations), is a love-it or hate-it locale. Up a steep and very narrow stairway, dark and dimly-lit (I use a penlight to set a path), some find it crowded and cramped – the room is SRO within minutes of opening – others cozy. Fascinating conversations abound on myriad topics within and outside the science fiction/fantasy genre(s) and community. Drinks are reasonable, readings are always free, and readers are topnotch.
The event opened with Mercurio D. Rivera, filling in for Readings Series co-host Ellen Datlow who was traveling to ICFA, the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts) – though he declined to wear a wig – welcoming all and introducing the first reader, David D. Levine. The author of over fifty published sf and fantasy stories that have appeared in Asimov’s, Analog, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Realms of Fantasy, as well as various anthologies, he has won or been nominated for awards including the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon and Campbell. (Full disclosure: years ago, David and I were in an apa, or amateur press association, together, and he still co-edits a fanzine, Bento.) His selection was from his story in the anthology, Old Mars (ed. Gardner Dozois and George R.R. Martin), alternate histories set on “Mars the way it used to be before science ruined it,” with canals, Martians and breathable atmosphere. “The Wreck of the Mars Adventure” imaginatively offers the first Englishman on Mars, a 1709 voyage by Captain William Kidd – here pardoned by King William III – by balloon-lifted sailing ship. (In this reality, a term used loosely, there is interplanetary atmosphere and winds carry the vessel between worlds. An incidental divergence, in our history, the pirate died in 1701 and the king in 1702.)
After a break, Series co-host Mathew Kressel reported on upcoming events in the Series (next month’s readers, on 16 April, are Doug Clegg and John Langan; details are available at http://www.kgbfantasticfiction.org/), and introduced the second reader of the evening, Ellen Kushner. Ellen’s (as we were “Datless,” she was the lone Ellen) award-winning novels include Thomas the Rhymer and the “mannerpunk” cult classic Swordspoint (notably the recipient of an Audie and Audiofile Earphones Award). That latter launched “The World of Riverside” series and was followed by The Privilege of the Sword, The Fall of the Kings (co-written with Delia Sherman) and a number of related short stories, and her offering for the evening was from a work-in-progress, the beginning of a new novel likewise set there, and, as the audience demonstrated, as witty as its predecessors. Occurring between The Privilege of the Sword and The Fall of the Kings – in a brief Q-&-A later, Kushner explained that the books were written out of order (continuity daunted even her sometimes) and the short stories filled in the gaps, and apologized for spoilers (as must I) – Jessica, the daughter of Alec, formerly the Mad Duke Tremontaine, comes to Riverside, and quickly displays the family’s wild, unconventional side.
Books were for sale at the back of the room, and Kushner had postcards for Sherman’s The Freedom Maze, which has just come out in paperback.
Kressel filled in for Datlow as photographer (though he too declined to wear a wig), and scurried around snapping photos of the readers and audience.