An All Around Good Day May 14, 2008 – Posted in: Aberrant Normalcy, KGB Readings

After a long and arduous search, I finally found a new apartment. It’s right near Prospect Park in Brooklyn and it’s on this quiet, tree-lined street in a family-oriented neighborhood. I’ve been in Hoboken for six years and I’ve gotten used to certain things here, so it will be hard to say goodbye, but I’m looking forward to starting fresh in this new place. Not to mention my second bedroom which I will be using as an office. I hope my cat will like the new place, which I suppose is my subconscious wondering the same thing. Hmm. Cat as subconscious metaphor. I like that.

Last night, I went to the Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy reading yesterday at the usual NYRSF haunt. Rick Bowes and Carol Emshwiller read excellent stories, while Barry N. Marlzberg got stuck in traffic and never showed. The reading was followed by a good meal at the local pub where we dissected the plot(s) and theme(s) of Battlestar Galactica in Talmudic detail. My belief? The characters exist in our future.

Ellen Datlow and I were also talking about ways to attract readers outside of NY to read at the KGB Fantastic Fiction reading series. Part of the problem is that we just don’t know when authors will be in town. Outside of the NY Metro area, few people have heard of KGB, or know about its long and interesting history. I suggested that we spread the word far and wide; let people know the history of the organization and all the greats who have read there. So…

First the history: Terry Bisson and Alice K. Turner started the KGB Fantastic Fiction reading series in the late 1990s, attempting to bring together mainstream writers with writers of speculative fiction because, as Alice Turner says, “they are plowing exactly the same field.” Ellen Datlow took over for Alice K. Turner in 2000. Then Gavin J. Grant stepped in for Bisson in 2002. Matthew Kressel (me) took over for Gavin last month.

And, who has read at KGB? No less than:

Joyce Carol Oates, Lucius Shepard, Jeffrey Ford, Scott Westerfeld, Kelly Link, China Miéville, Nancy Kress, Jack McDevitt, Stewart O’Nan, James Patrick Kelly, Barry N. Marlzberg, Samuel (Chip) Delaney, Holly Black, Michael Swanwick, Kit Reed, Peter Straub, Andy Duncan, Richard Bowes, Catherynne Valente, Ellen Kushner, Jeff VanderMeer, Naomi Novik, Elizabeth Bear and a smörgÃ¥sbord of other talented authors.

Not bad, eh?

So, yeah, if you’re in NY on the third Wednesday of the month, you should come check it out. This month’s readers (on May 21st) are Jack O’Connell (The Resurrectionist) and Ekaterina Sedia (The Secret History of Moscow, Paper Cities, An Anthology of Urban Fantasy [editor]).