Monday, August 3, 2009

N@B2


Thanks a million to everybody who showed up last night for Noir at the Bar and made it such a fun evening. All the usual elements certainly helped: dim lighting, Irish oat sodas, surly sumbitches with books, but the sum outweighed the parts, I think we’d all agree. I read an excerpt from my yet to be completed Terry Hickerson novel, Peckerwood, (available to the public now as 1998 Was a Bad Year – Thuglit Issue 30). Theresa Schwegel totally showed me up with a slice her latest book, Last Known Address. It was a choice selection for the evening as it revolved partially around a young woman’s fateful choice to live in Chicago instead of St. Louis – a suggestion for any young women out there faced with this choice – choose the Lou. We took an intermission for boozy schmoozing with the likes of Rodney Wiethrop, afore mentioned afficianado and writer – friend of HBW and Robert J. Randisi – author of, I shit you not, some five hundred books under sixteen different pseudonyms. And speaking of pseudonyms, I took the opportunity during the break to introduce myself to Malachi Stone, the literary reprobate alter ego of one of St. Louis County’s finest upstanding citizens who will remain anonymous thank you very much. A wise choice that seems to be too as his novel St. Agnes’ Eve portrays a society of strip mall massage parlors, cranked out lawyers and their sexually deviant client/dealers and Satanism run amok beneath the idyllic veneer of West County. Seriously, if this novel finds a ballsy publisher, Mr. Stone will be well served by a secret identity to write beneath, but I will never look at the Chesterfield valley the same way. Scott Phillips closed the evening with his short Ten Gallons of Infected Saliva, or The Cuckold Avenged from the Jen Jordan edited anthology Uncage Me. Let’s just say that I was happy to have gone first in this line up of escalating perversity. Thanks to Byron Kerman at Sauce magazine, Paul Friswold at The Riverfront Times, J. Kingston Pierce at The Rap Sheet and Keith Rawson at Bloody Knuckles, Callused Fingertips for helping spread the word about N@B, Blake at The Delmar Lounge and Kelly at Subterranean Books for making it possible. See ya next time.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

More than happy to spread the word, Jed. I just hope all two of my readers made a difference? Noir at the bar looks like an awesome time and I wish I lived a little closer so I could make it down to the delmar for some beers and crime.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Isn't Theresa the bees knees?

jedidiah ayres said...

bees knees, elbows, stripes. whole package.

jedidiah ayres said...

bees knees, elbows, stripes. whole package.

Unknown said...

Hey, a nice shout-out for Malachi. Awesome!

jedidiah ayres said...

Malachi deserves it. Somebody will grow a pair and publish his book soon.

Scott Phillips said...

it were a great evening all around. And Malachi is one hell of a reader, too. His son is an actor/comedian and they both have a gift for voices.

Unknown said...

Dammit I missed a good time. You guys deserve a good shot of bourbon for the support you keep giving to the crime writing community...Thanks