This is good.  He does the slamming.

WIndy City Story Slam

Brought to you by issue 1 contributor Bill Hillman.

from issue 3 - truthiness

Issue 3 visual art contributor Siebren Versteeg’s show “Zero if the Center” recently opened at the Max Protech gallery in NYC.  

While the piece he contributed is great, his recent work is another bird entirely.  If you live in NYC, we highly recommend you not miss this one.

Issue 5 featured the five-story feature “Five Dead Guys: A History of Chicago” by John McNally.  The many-more-than-five-guys version is now complete and being published by Jefferson Press.  You can now purchase Ghosts of Chicago via Amazon.  Head directly to his website to purchase. www.bookofralph.com

He will also begin a grueling book tour. Check the dates.

Many will be in Chicago, including October 10th (thanks Nicolette) at Chinaski’s as part of Windy City Story Slam.

Many people have moved to Portland, but few can claim to be a finalist in the Oregon Book Awards.  Issue 2 contributor (short story, Andrew (A-Z) is a 2008 finalist for his book The Sum of His Syndromes

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 ”Syndromes is funny; it’s insightful; it’s gonzo” –Willamette Week  The book will be available February, 2009.

The novel Andrew (A-Z), grown from the short story will be available this November.  More on that soon.

“We are pleased to announce that Evanston essayist AMY LEACH will receive a 2008 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award, which is given annually to six women writers who demonstrate excellence and promise in the early stages of their careers. Now in its 14th year, the Rona Jaffe Awards have helped many women build successful writing careers by offering encouragement and financial support at a critical time. The Awards will be presented to the six recipients on September 18th in New York City.”  

www.ronajaffefoundation.org

amy leach

(downtown) omaha lit fest

The featherproof books & MAKE magazine Slowdown Happy Hour, featuring readings by Zach Plague, Jonathan Messinger, Starlee Kine & Amy Guth. @ the Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St.

We don’t want to be a huge bummer, but thunderstorms and paper goods don’t mix well.  We’re going to hold off today, but will be there tomorrow, rain or shine.  And it will be rain, just hopefully not so much!

Meanwhile we’re laying out our galoshes, slicker, and aqua net.  

Thanks for understanding.

Dean Rank’s film Head, which he wrote and directed, premieres Saturday, Sept. 13th at AV-aerie -  2000 W Fulton , Suite 310, 
Chicago, IL.  Doors open at 7:30 pm and the film screens at 8:30 pm.  The screening will be followed by a Q & A with the cast and crew, as well as a musical performance from Jim Becker and Reid Coker.

Dean curated the screening of experimental videos at the issue 6 release party.  We’re pleased to help him announce Head is ready for the world.

The film features Dean De Matteis as the horse-headed man and Kate Sheehy as the woman who wants to be close to him, with Damon Locks and Jim Finn.  Darryl Miller photographed the film, which also features a haunted score written by Jim Becker and Reid Coker.

Advance praise for Head:

               “From Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête to the recent Penelope, featuring a girl with a pig’s snout, “Beauty and the Beast” is a story that cinematically endures, but no one has approached it quite like Dean Rank with Head. In this case, the main character is neither leonine nor porcine, but equine. Rank subverts the classic fairytale into a fabulist nightmare filled with Monte Carlos, an alarming analyst, and Freud’s unheimlich.  Kate Sheehy delivers a touching opening performance with the horse-man (Dean De Matteis). While Head continually two-steps between horror and humor, the base note is one of profound sadness.

The film’s fulcrum is a primeval forest scene that dramatically shifts from narrative to musical spectacle. Though the film could devolve into mere jokiness, the director never lets it.  A palpable sadness pervades the film’s surprises, where we are lead through a labyrinth of fender-benders, to the graffiting of “I love you more than god,” to a trio of singing dryads, to a Tarantino-style dialogue between horse-man and a character donned in a #9 jersey.

A notable D.P. (Darryl Miller), good special effects, solid acting, a superb score by Jim Becker and Reid Coker, and smart, droll dialogue make this film unnervingly enjoyable, resonating with visual metaphors that will linger beyond the film’s finale: a clay horse ridden by a cowgirl, a marshmallow head splotched with bloody handprints and a series of neon Xeroxes.Head is an exploration of identity and estrangement, of misconnection and disconnection, when the masks we wear become who we are.”

—Simone Muench, Asst. Prof. of English, Lewis University    

Morales’ newly released chapbook From Here You Can Almost See the End of the Desert is available from Momotombo Press.

And the long-anticipated Drowning Tucson is forthcoming in Spring 2010 from Coffee House Press.  A short story from the book, “El Camino,” appeared in the inaugural issue of MAKE.

www.aaronmichaelmorales.com