Tonight (June 25, 2015) I read a chapter from Startling Figures, volume 1 at the No Shush Salon, the monthly open mic night at the Clarendon Hills Public Library.
For the past year and a half, the Clarendon Hills Public Library has been hosting an open mic night called the No Shush Salon on the last Thursday of the month. There it gives the microphone and the attention of the audience to anyone who wants to read from a published work or a work in progress — song, poem, short story, essay, novel — you get the idea. The speaker gets about 10 minutes and the chance to learn how others experience his or her work. (“Clarendon Hills No Shush Salon to showcase author,” June 11, 2015 by Sara Clarkson for the Chicago Tribune.)
The featured author tonight was local Chicago writer Brendan Detzner, author of the short story collection Scarce Resources whose other short fiction has appeared in the story anthologies Exigencies, Book of Dead Things, and One Buck Horror, volume 5, as well as various magazines.
I bartered with Brendan — a copy of Startling Figures for a copy of Book of Dead Things. Hopefully it won’t be too scary for me.
Brendan is also the founder of Bad Grammar Theater, a monthly open mic for authors of “Horror, Fantasy, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction, and the Unexpected.”
Clarendon Hills librarian Jeanine Vaughn runs the No Shush Salon. She read from her novel-in-progress and was also handing out free notebooks: nice hardcover ones, the kind with a snappy elastic ribbon to keep it closed. No author in his or her right mind would say “no” to that!
So I got to hang out with some amazing writers, got two “freebies,” and before I left I checked out The Hobbit, part 3: The Battle of Five Armies.
Here’s a challenge: say “No Shush Salon” five times fast. I can barely say it one time slow! 🙂 Thanks, Jeanine, for putting together this chance for local authors to share their work!
Links & Info
Bad Grammar Theater meets every 3rd Friday at Powell’s Books (University Village location: 1218 S. Halsted, Chicago, on the campus of the University of Illinois Chicago) from 6 pm to 9 pm. Upcoming dates: July 17th, August 21st, September 18th.
