If you’re in DC for AWP this year, be aware that Issue Six contributor Jim Ruland is unleashing his irreverent reading series, Vermin on the Mount, to the uninitiated East Coast. Including readings from Issue Seven contributors Amber Sparks and Nicolette Kittinger, as well as heavy-hitters Kim Chinquee, Roy Kesey, Lindsay Hunter, Tom Williams, Al Heathcock & Scott McClanahan. And it’s sponsored by yours truly.

Over at Big Other John Madera’s been compiling a bunch of year end lists, including one from yours truly.

Keep your calendar open Wednesday, February 16th for the release party of Burrow Press‘s Fragmentation and Other Stories, a book of 11 short stories and 11 photos by folks having some sort of connection with the Central Florida, including a story form yours truly.

This has not much to do with yours truly other than it was in yours truly’s brain this morning: Did you know Arrested Development is still around?

There is a party this Sunday. The purpose is to celebrate beautiful words and images that have been made here. Many people are very excited about this. So much so that they have been designing posters of their very own. The count is up to three.

Melissa Broder‘s design:

And Adam Robinson‘s entry:

I am going to be there having a good time. If you would like to be there and have a good time as well, come join.

After interviewing Justin Taylor earlier this year, I learned about The Word Made Flesh book he was working on. I got a Bible verse cut into me a while back so I took a pic and sent it his way and it made it into the book. I got a chance to see an advance copy last night and it looks amazing. There’s a running tumbler here, but if you’re into tattoos, books and hope to merge the two somehow, you’re gonna want to purchase this. It’s also going to be required material for every tattoo shop coffee table from now on. Well done, Justin and Eva, you put together a fun one.

Anna is teaming up with La Petite Zine to throw a bitchin’ rager in Brooklyn next month celebrating the cool shit we’ve been up to over the last couple months. Won’t you come join us?

Say friend, do you like things? Were you aware that people still do things these days? It’s true. Here are some things that have happened (are happening):

Issue #4 and Issue Six: Sacrifice contributor Todd Jordan‘s Now I Remember collective is showing the world through their cell phones at New Image Gallery (best click through image) in LA this weekend. I know you live there, I have Google Analytics. Go to this show.

Issue Five contributor Amelia Gray released her second collection of fiction, Museum of the Weird on FC2 yesterday. Amelia is a writer in a class of her own that never disappoints. Buy this book.

Dear friend, Alix Soubiran, is showing her lovely animals at Bold Hype‘s new gallery in New York this weekend. Go see them. You will fall in love with them and her.

We’re hard at work laying out Annalemma Issue Seven: Endurance. To break up the monotony, print designer Jen O’Malley takes an opportunity to lay some tasty shapes on some phat beatz.

A crew of dear old friends put together a pilot for Dragons, an original comedy series about two skate buddies transcending their human forms and attaining enlightenment, starring skate legend Mike Vallely. Treat yourself to a half hour of good vibes.

Looking or a laugh on a Tuesday morning? Check out Chadwick Whitehead‘s new joke book/zine, Knock Knock.

You get the idea. This last one’s a personal fave.

G’head and cheer up.

Issue Five contributor Max Kauffman is throwing his first solo show in a long time in Chicago. Go and check out his freakiness next month. From the press release:

R’fuah- new works by Max Kauffman

presented by Pawn Works

1050 N Damen Ave Chicago, IL

opening reception Friday Sept 10th 6-10 pm

available by appointment 312-841-3986

R’fuah: a renewal of spirit. A way of looking at things you hold dear, without idolizing them: knowing that these inanimate things you keep are important because of the emotions you impart on them. Are they real? Are the emotional ties meaningful because of the item or because of the emotion itself?

These thing we hold dear: they keep us happy, bittersweet, positive, appreciative of the things in our life. Why? Are they simply coping mechanisms or do they actually uplift us? From prophets and idols and relics to symbols and talismans of today, we alternately assign them power and draw power from them. We are actually pulling on the strength within ourselves, our thoughts and spirits when we look to these things. When we fall on dark times, we become even more attached to the inanimate—sure and committed to the power we believe they bring, until the storm passes and we relinquish them until next time.

This renewal, this evolution, this cycle of spirit and material. Does it make us more or less human? By putting our faith in objects, are we overpowering or overpowered by them?

They calm us; they bring us peace. R’fuah.

R’fuah will feature new mixed media paintings on paper and wood, ceramic works and a site specific installation.

Show runs through October 10th

for more information contact marz09@yahoo.com or mhkauffm@gmail.com

This is Sasha Fletcher. His writing is like walking towards a door but first putting on a blindfold and spinning in circles and then trying to walk towards a door and eventually ending up at the door but you’re not entirely sure how you got there. Sounds nauseating, but it’s a delightful experience.

Sasha emceed the Dzanc Best of the Web reading that took place last Tuesday at McNally Jackson. Other people read there. And I took videos of them too, but I was too far from the PA and they reading in semi-hushed tones. Sasha speaks loud when he reads in front of an audience. He knows how to perform. That’s what you’re doing when you’re reading at an event by the way. You know that, right? You’re supposed to be entertaining the folks in the audience. If you move some people on an emotional level, that’s fantastic, but priority number one is to be compelling. Sasha’s compelling. Take note, readers.

Leigh Stein read some very good poems. Elissa Bassist read some interesting anxieties on writing about Infinite Jest originally published on The Rumpus. For an extensive take on the evening, head over to Vol. 1.