Enola D.--No Gods No Mattress Reading Tour

Monday, December 20 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm

Reading at the Cyberpunk House--5431 Carnegie St
Traveling act: Enola D. (No Gods No Matress zine)
Local acts: Dan Nowhere (Living in a Dying World zine) and O'ryan (Kerk comic zine)
Bad ass.

Come one come all.

Cooling off this December!

We are so busy around the house these days. Some nights we even invite some friends over and all sit around the wood stove working on projects at the same time. Certainly there's a lot of writing going on, but also comics. There's a local compilation comic zine called Andromeda, and it's really spurring a few of us to draw comics more frequently.

What are you working on that's cool? We'd love to know. This Saturday, December 11th is our second monthly Cool-Off, where we invite you to present your cool project to a warm room of your peers. Popular vote will decide who wins half the door money. 7 pm. Be timely, friends.

Scary Story reading tonight!

Now that we've all had our fill of Thanksgiving pierogi, brave the cold weather and join us at 8 pm for a free evening of scary stories, hosted by our visiting writer Jamie, who's only in town for another few days. Jamie will read from recent original work. Artnoose will read from the HP Lovecraft story "Call of Cthulhu" and our uphill neighbor Dave will come with something to read as well. Bring a scary story if you would like, or just come to enjoy the ambiance. Oh, and Artnoose is making a Cthulhu cake, so come if for nothing else than to see the Old One in sweet delicious cake form.

As a side note, the last day of Artnoose's Birthday Week is today, so there's going to be a store from 5-8 pm in the front house with back issues of Ker-bloom!, prints, books and zines from the distro, original art, and last-minute holiday cards.

Artnoose's Birthday Week

Artnoose's birthday week started with a handful of friends ghost riding the whip. Here's a video, set to a song from a CD that Artnoose bought for $5 from a local rapper at the supermarket down the block.

Other birthday week events include knot tying, letter writing, food, cake, and zines.

November Cool-Off reportback

Our first ever Cool-Off was a success. That is to say, people showed up, the wood stove created a warm atmosphere, and all the cupcakes got eaten.

There were readings, chili necklaces, videos, technological experiments, and a comic book slideshow. The Queer Negation Tour folks who have been visiting this weekend ended up winning, and will be taking half the door money and the golden torso trophy with them on their way to points elsewhere.

This event will be happening every month, on the second Saturday. Start doing cool stuff now so that you can present it on December 11!

THE COOL OFF

The first Cool Off is this Saturday at 7pm. Come and share what cool stuff you did this month, or just come and see what everyone else did.
2-4 dolla donations at the door. Half the door money goes to the coolest person there. Will it be you?

Call for readers! Halloween isn't over yet!

Our new visiting writer Jamie came in from colder northern climates and is bringing a lot of enthusiasm into the house. Not that we're short on enthusiasm, mind you. There's a burst of activity these days before it gets all snowy. Building, painting, soldering, cleaning, cooking, putting the garden to bed for the winter.

At any rate, at the end of the month, we're hosting an evening of scary stories, featuring our visiting writer. Any local writers who want to read short selections of their spooky works should get in touch.

COOL OFF 7pm

Free turkey status

Holy cow. Holy What progress. "Progress"? What? What is this, the Renaissance? No, this is the Cyberpunk Apocalypse, and I've spent nearly seventy more government bills towards Thanksgiving, towards tradition, towards progress: frozen turkey.
$214.21 more for the 10-14 pound bird, with the weight of ice crystal buildup subtracted from the total. Shop 'n Save is gracious, and Grade A, and just $364.21 more for a 14-22 lb bird. Is it really a bird anymore? Not until it thaws in the oven. In our oven.
On a side note, what am I spending all this money on? Chicken-flavored Baked Lays? Yes, and broccoli, bagged in plastic to maintain freshness. This is where your taxes go, and mine.

Tater tot cook-off

Thanks everyone for making the tater tot cook-off a success. Highlights include (and these are all dishes made with tater tots): General Tso's with Veggies, Macaroons, mock tuna salad, vegan nachos, hot dish, cinnamon raisin bakes, apple crisp, tofurkey sandwiches, homemade sweet potato tots, dessert pie, tacos, pakoras, and lady locks.

Free turkey status

Welcome to the holiday season.
We're $284.51 away from a free honeysuckle grade A frozen 10-14 pound turkey courtesy of our favorite neighbor, and we're $434.51 away from a free honeysuckle grade A frozen 10-14 pound turkey courtesy of our favorite neighbor.
We've got till November 10. Spend, spend spend.

Philly Zine Fest

Artnoose will be at the Philly Zine Fest on Sunday with the most recent issue of the Cyberpunk Apocalypse publication as well as many issues of Ker-bloom!. Come say hello.

The Zine Fest will be held at:
The Rotunda
4014 Walnut Street
noon to 6, free to the public

Also, a hearty welcome to Jackie Wang, the new visiting writer who just arrived in the wee house of the morning today.

Tater Tot Event

Gender Edge event on Saturday

This Saturday, October 2! 7 pm!

Traveling writer Leah B. and local writer Katie Geise will be reading from their works about gender.

In addition, local performance group "an academic investigation of corporeal presentations and judgments using geographic guidelines also limiting our skepticisms" will be creating a live performance about gender constructs.

Leah's zines will be available for sale, and donations towards tour expenses will be greatly appreciated.

More Content

Posters are kind of like the covers of novels. They hint at a story, but lack content. They are huge hollow books. Yet, somehow--despite their vapid nature--they weigh a whole lot.

For five weeks I put down the pen and picked up a truck full of several tons worth of posters and poster products which I sold around the country to help pay for the houses we live in here, and to support the writers' project. It's crazy ridiculous work that pays less than minimum wage for most parties involved, but who else would ever give you so many hours in just one month?

I'm back now. Back to writing essays, and stapling books. Tomorrow and the next day I'll be tabling at the Small Press Festival at the Artist Image Resourse Center, and on Sunday at one I'll be giving a lecture there, "Islands in the Void: creating and maintaining a writers' project and producing in a non-collegiate environment."
The house is in the best form I can remember it ever being, and I imagine some impressive things should be sprouting out of this crowd sometime soon. It's good to be back. It's good to be writing.

Pittsburgh Small Press Festival

The Cyberpunk Apocalypse will be sharing a table with Six Gallery Press this year for the Small Press Festival. Nearby, resident Artnoose will have a table for the letterpress zine Ker-bloom!. Now's your chance to ask residents of the Cyberpunk Apocalypse all the burning questions you have about the space, the publications, and the visiting writer project.

Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 25-26, noon to 5 pm
Artist Imaging Resource
518 Foreland St., on the North Side
Free to the public

(Sunday at 1 pm Daniel McCloskey will be facilitating a discussion.)

Birthday for Baggins

We're pleased to be hosting this year our friend Lindsay's annual celebration of the birthday of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins. While we can't promise wizards with fireworks (although if you are one such person, let us know) but we can guarantee food and fun.

Shirefolk potluck followed by Lord of the Rings themed Risk game. Other thematic events and treats left up to chance. We do have copies of the trilogy in our house library, so if anyone dares to do any readings from it, feel free. Oh, and speaking of free, the event is free to the public.

Wednesday September 22, 2010 at 6 pm
5431 Carnegie St., Upper Hobbiton, Pittsburgh

Zine release party at the Big Idea!

Cyperpunk Apocalypse resident Artnoose invites you all to a double zine release party on Thursday, Aug. 26, 7-9 pm at the Big Idea Bookstore (504 S. Millvale @ Liberty).

Artnoose recently finished issue #85 of Ker-bloom!, a somewhat metaphorical look at relationships as constellations. It features a two-color cover which Artnoose has described as "one of the best covers ever" as well as "hecka hard to print."

Artnoose also managed to guest-draw issue #9 of local comic zine Attack of the Zombie Soy Bot!, which also happens to have "one of the best covers ever" and besides all that is "hecka cute."

There will be juice and elaborately decorated vegan cupcakes. This event is free to the public, although current and back issues of both zines will be available for purchase.

Call for readers!

We'll be hosting a touring writer in early October as part of the GenderEdge Tour, and we're looking for local folks to perform. It won't be a music show, but more like readings and other similar performances. We're looking for folks who identify as queer, genderqueer, trans, OR whose work addresses/challenges gender constructs. Please get in touch if you would like to perform. We'll post more about the final line-up and specifics a little closer to the event time.

Orange Kitty, resident mouser

We added a new resident to the back house, none other than Orange Kitty, otherwise known as Orange K., otherwise known as Chaton Orange, otherwise known as Gatita Anaranjada, otherwise known as Orange Kittaytay.

She's been mostly living up in the back house bedroom, getting used to her new surroundings. Yesterday she found some really good hiding places in the basement that we are not yet privy to. Today she went on a supervised jaunt through the first floor of the house to get used to things and hopefully get accustomed to the grounds of her new employment. Orange Kitty has a Facebook page.

So much has been going on.

we've been very busy here. i'm sorry we kept you out of the loop. so busy that we haven't had time to replace this keyboard with the broken 'shift' key. we had a couple of big readings. bingo night. the ice cream social --did we talk about that?--, and we released issue 3 of the cyberpunk apocalypse publication.

at the same time elwin left for a second tour, dave moved in and did dry wall work while i've been drawing my comics and painting the houses.

we also got a cat--she's hiding right now.

there's a noise show tour kickoff here tonight. --flyer below--. and a paint day from 9am to 5pm tomorrow so come on down and help me cover this naked house.

everything has been good but it's hectic as all get out as i prepare to leave for a month to sell posters and bring home the bacon.

anyway i have some reading to do and then i'll be cleaning up for the show.

-be well.

-dan

Writing can be a monster. It can lurk behind the thin life we walk. It can become so scary. A parrot you neglect. It can be your friend, but every day you ignore its calls for attention the chances double that it will bite when you reach out to pet it.
Why haven't you been writing? Because by the time I realized I wasn't it became too scary. It's not my pet at all, just some wild thing in my room. But there's this wild thing in my room. There's no ignoring that. So I sit at the opposite wall. Let it smell my smell. Let it get used to me. So we can be friends again.

Yes No Yes

There was another successful reading this Tuesday. Watermelon, prose, orange drink. There were a lot of new faces. Some of which were new to the city.

A young man in the back row told me that he had name dropped the Cyberpunk Apocalypse in his college application. The argument was that Pittsburgh was a good place to be a writer. I still find it amusing when I find that we've worked our way into resumes or applications.

On the writing front both Gunner and I are somewhere in the awkward post-first-novel phase where you hold the thing out like a toddler with some rock he/she/it found not sure what to do with it except maybe to walk up to one adult after another, hands outstretched, hoping someone will take it.
I'm reading through issue III of the Cyberpunk Apocalypse publication right now. It'll be out by the end of the month.

I can feel this blog entry petering out. There's nothing I can do. It feels so limp.

Gorsky Press event tonight!

Gorsky Press authors Mike Faloon and James Jay stop through the Iron City on their book tour. Mike Faloon will be reading from The Hanging Gardens of Split Rock, and James Jay will be reading poetry from his book The Journeymen.

Donations accepted for touring writers. Also, Cyberpunk Apocalypse resident Artnoose will take a break from straight-up zine reading by singing them.

Reading al fresca

Last night's reading was another success. It was the exit reading for Joel, our visiting writer who has been with us all month translating a book from Swedish into English.

It being a lovely summer evening, we began the readings in the yard, with about 15-20 people (and one dog) present. Artnoose (that's me) read two issues of Ker-bloom!, including the brand-new one finished up only hours before.

When the neighbor's pool party next door got so animated that we found it hard to resist crashing it, we moved the reading indoors, and Joel finished up in there. A discussion on the challenges and process of translation followed the reading, and then many of us stuck around for a little while eating snacks.

Every visiting writer we've had so far has been stellar, and although I miss them every time they leave, I appreciate the time that I do spend with them and value the space that we've given them to do important work.

I don't remember if this was ever posted...

CpA yeahhhh!!!!

Comic book skate park

Flies are dancing under our ceiling fan, and my arms ache from scraping sanding and painting the house. The laptop adds another couple degrees to 84 through primer speckled denim. I can't help but feel good about things right now.

I feel at the tip of it all. At the top of the bowl where you give a nervous grin shift your weight to either eat shit or roll and ride your weight and physics--swooping forever. I've gotten two form (or near form) rejection letters from agents. I'm waiting on another three. The two I heard from were the two I was least excited about--that seemed to like only vaguely what I like (what I am). What am I? Whatever.

When I get the rest of my rejections, I'll send queries out to another handful of agents that might be good for my book. When they shake their heads I'll pump out the rest of the polished comic pages, and submit to publishers.

In august I'm leaving to sell posters to college kids. It's grueling, obnoxious, work, and commission based. I got my rough run outline. Texas mostly. There's more money in it for me this time. It means I might pay off the rest of the debt on these houses before the end of the year (I hope).

In the mean time we work. We eat shit over and over in the hopes that one day we'll succeed, so we can move on to the next trick.

Bloomsday hits Pittsburgh!

Joel and I were talking the other day about how Bloomsday was coming up, the celebration of James Joyce's novel Ulysses that happens every year on June 16, the day in which the novel is set. We wondered if we should host a Bloomsday event at the house.

I offered to see if anyone else was already planning an event, and of course I found bloomsdaypittsburgh.org and their list of events all around the city throughout the day. Check their website for more complete descriptions and locations, but here's the gist:

9:00 am - Bloomfield Crazy Mocha
10:30 am - Homewood Cemetery
12:00 pm - Murphy's Tap Room, Regent Square
2:30 pm - Carnegie Main Library
4:00 pm - Washington's Landing
5:30 pm - Harp & Fiddle, Strip District
8:00 pm - City Books, South Side

Bring your copy of the book to any (or all) of these events and read along.

Reading> 27th June, 7pm

The Book of Adam is about a book that never got written. It is about why it was never written, and the life and childhood that prevented Adam from writing it. Adam has manic-depression, and has lived through the madness of the mental health system. This is a book about life in exile, not from a country, but from anywhere that could be called home.

Adam Inczedy-Gombos and Asa Moberg fell in love while translating Simone de Beauvoir into Swedish. The Book of Adam documents their relationship, and the chaos let loose through Adam's condition.

Joel Duncan is translating Adams bok into English, and is Cyberpunk Apocalypse's resident writer for June. He will give a reading of excerpts from the book at the house on Sunday, June 27th at 7pm.

Reservoir Dogwoods in Bloomington

I saw a post from the Reservoir Dogwoods on facebook, and realized I still haven't shared this with you yet. It's from tour. These guys have their own style, and they wield it well.

I've got a riddle.

What does this iphone app have to do with us? Nothing, but we still seem to have squeezed in that damn photo.
If you're interested in the article check it HERE.

Halifax in the house!

There's an informal reciprocal relationship between Pittsburgh and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Some of our folks have attended residencies there, at the Anchor Archives project, and now we're pleased to have a Haligonian as a visiting writer this month.

Mark your calendars for the event that our visiting writer is hosting at the end of the month. We hope to see you there.

Writing Oppressions Not Your Own:
Queer feminist writer Mary Burnet reads from her novel addressing some of the oppressive histories of Nova Scotia, and shares her research and writing process. Come join a discussion about how folks can (and whether or not we/they should) write about oppressions that aren't our/their own, while remaining accountable to people who experience those oppressions and taking responsibility for our/their privilege.

Sunday, May 30th, 4-6 pm
Cyberpunk Apocalypse
5431 Carnegie St.

Ker-bloom! reading tonight at AIR

Tonight we are celebrating the release of issue #83 of Artnoose's letterpress zine Ker-bloom!. This issue relates the story of six friends doing a week-long paid medical study together.

Local drag performer SlyShyFruitFly will kick the evening off with a performance, followed by a short set from local acoustic favorite Joddo. After that, Artnoose will read two issues of Ker-bloom! with Joddo accompanying on various string instruments. Yes friends, we at the Cyberpunk Apocalypse can predict the future, which is why we speak in the future tense.

The event is free to the people, although zines will be available for sale. Artnoose will be providing vegan cupcakes, biscuits, and xbeveragesx.

7-9 pm at AIR, 518 Foreland Street (on the North Side, yo!)

L'Apocalypse de Cyberpunk

Late last night we welcomed our first international writer into the Visiting Writer program. Mary flew in from Canada and has already attended an event at the library and eaten O-fries on the Wall. The amount of French spoken around the house has increased exponentially--- we can draw you a graph if you want--- and we're really looking forward to the literary event that Mary will be hosting at the end of the month. More details as they form.

As you can see, the cloud mural in the back house is complete, so if you want to imagine you're floating across an unnaturally placid ocean, you're welcome to.

4 shows left

Bloomington, IN-Boxcar Books-May 3, 7pm
Chicago, IL-Quimby's-May 5, 7pm
Madison, WI-Rainbow Bookstore Collective-May 7, 7pm
Cincinnati, OH-U.Turn Art Space-May 8

last dates.

Updates

Elvin Slaughter updates. 3

Haven't had time to upload all the readings. Hope this satisfies your burning wonder and curiosity. What have we been up to?

Elven Slaughter Update.

I am aware that I sometimes spell Elven Elvin. But sometimes people read Elven as Eleven. What I'm trying to say is that it's an imperfect world we live in. Go figure.

Elvin Slaughter updates. NYC

It's a kickstarter world

Our friend Nat is doing a kickstarter for his porn book. I didn't do any illustrations for this one.

Kundiman & Friends Poetry Reading last week

...a success! I joined Soham Patel, Sally Mao, and Jenny Johnson in a reading featuring Jennifer Chang. The event was to benefit Kundiman, a collective of Asian-American poets that sponsors a poetry retreat and a reading series (more info on kundiman.org).

Sally and Soham, joint organizers of the event, decided to hold the reading at Modern Formations, where Elwin held a reading a couple months ago. In addition to a raffle in which everyone won, they put together breathtakingly irresistible and delicious tea and soups.

Everyone was honestly a pleasure to read with. The atmosphere overall was warm, inviting, and other such friendly synonyms. Thanks Sally and Soham for putting this event together, thanks Jenny for being the best honorary Asian-American I've read with, and thanks Jen Chang for your and your poetry's existence!

(right to left: Brenda Battad, Jenny Johnson, Jennifer Chang, Soham Patel, and Sally Mao)

Elvin Slaughter part 1: wetting our blades

Our station wagon reeked faintly of Elvin blood as we cruised down I-78 last night with Dio in the tape-deck. It had been a rainy night in Philly so there was low attendance at the Wooden Shoe, but we gave our best performance and the collective members seemed to enjoy it.
Two nights previous was our first opportunity to read together at Bloombar's in DC and then we preformed back to back for the first time at Red Emma's in Baltimore. We're knee deep in this tour now, and we expect to kill tonight at Blind Willow Books.

We'll keep you posted.
In the meantime here's a clip of Elwin reading in Philly. More videos of us reading and the rest of this story can be found on our youtube channel.

Brenda Battad: readings & screenings

CpA resident Brenda Battad will be reading a handful of poems tomorrow night: 23 April
CMU Senior Reading

8 - 11:30pm

Carnegie Mellon University Creative Writing Class of 2010 Senior Reading, 8pm

at Adamson Wing, Baker Hall, Carnegie Mellon University (5000 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh PA).

Epic list of readers: Elyssa Goodman, DAN ARCHER, Tony Paletta, Fracesca Halleman, Felix "Ahmadinejad" Park, Nathan Zoob, Dillon!, Elliot Smith, Alice Sun Seger, Austin Redwood, Jordan Rosenfeld, John Lehman, Jane Wu, Shannon Deep, Corey Werner, Brian J Burdulia, Tom Pike, Su Chu, MAJA orsic, Gahl Pratt (in spirit), Graham Swindoll, Alicia Ledden, Brenda Battad, Lucas Seidman, Jonas Altman-Kurosaki, Jackie Sizemore, and Katherine James.

-------------------------------------

Also tomorrow night: 23 April

START ART RIGHT
at the NEW 21st St Coffee & Tea at the base of the new PNC building

255 5th Avenue

6 - 9 pm

part of the Gallery Crawl!

across the Pittsburgh metropolis!

videos by BRENDA BATTAD
music by SUNDOGPEACEHOUSE
art by JULIE MALLIS

yesyesyesyesyesyes

-------------------------------------

Battad participates in more video screenings this weekend!: April 24 - 25

ART ALL NIGHT LAWRENCEVILLE

Iron City Brewery, 3340 Liberty Avenue

Doors open at 6pm & stay open until 2pm the next day.

VIDEO LOUNGE:

5 hours of video from Pittsburgh's own video artists and filmmakers!

The cinema is in the 3rd building, next to the live painting & the bar, a cozy corner for video viewing.

-------------------------------------

2 video works by Battad will screen on 28 April

CAUGHT LOOKING IV
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
SCREENING, 7-8pm, PNC Park, North Side
RECEPTION, 8:30-10pm, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, 477 Melwood Ave.

For the 4th year in a row the School of Art and Pittsburgh Filmmakers take over one of our country’s most beautiful sports stadiums in the name of video art! Don’t miss this rare chance to see 1-minute videos on Pittsburgh’s biggest screen — the Jumbotron.
CO-CURATED by JACOB CIOCCI and ANDREW SWENSEN.

Screening order included on the Facebook event page.

Help Dan G. make a movie!

Former visiting writer Dan Gingold is working on an exciting new project: the production this summer of a short film called Brother Go Find Your Brother. Dan has already written the screenplay for this film, which takes its title from a line in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It's about a rafting trip that three friends take together and is based on similar trips that Dan has taken on the Delaware River.

He made a very short video describing his project on a fundraising page through Kickstarter.com. He's offering some rewards at different donation levels, including a copy of the finished DVD and a poster made by yours truly. Definitely check out the link above. The video will take less than two minutes of your time, and it's very... well, I like it.

Elvin Slaughter Tour

Elwin Michael Cotman (author of The Jack Daniels Sessions EP) and Daniel Patrick McCloskey (founder of the Cyberpunk Apocalypse Writers' Project) are coming to a reading venue near you. Join them for a night of entertainment, magic, comics, despair, excitement, and speculation. Because if you don't come they'll curse you, and it'll give your grandma nightmares.

Elvin Slaughter Tour 2010: making genre a threat.

Cotman solo gigs:
Washington DC-Bloombars-April 19th, 8-10pm
Baltimore, MD-Red Emma's-April 20, 7pm

Cotman/McCloskey gigs:
Philly-Wooden Shoe Collective-April 21, 7pm
Emmaus, PA-Blind Willow Books-April 22, 7pm
NYC-Times Square-April 24th, 4am
Ithaca, NY-house show (don't know address yet)-April 27
Buffalo, NY-Talking leaves Bookstore-April 28
Cleveland, OH-Visible Voice Books-April 29, 7pm
Athens, OH-UnionArts-April 30
Columbus, OH-sporeprint-May 1st, 2pm
Bloomington, IN-Boxcar Books-May 3, 7pm
Chicago, IL-Quimby's-May 5, 7pm
Madison, WI-Rainbow Bookstore Collective-May 7
Cincinnati, OH-U.Turn Art Space-May 8

Release party

Just a reminder that tonight is the launch party for my debut book, "The Jack Daniels Sessions EP." Starts at 7pm, at Artist Image Resource on the northside.

DJ sets from:
Sean MC
DJ Sideboob
DJ Sara Vicious

Readings from:
Elwin Cotman
Bill Kirchner, Pitt professor of English
Madeleine Barnes, three-time poetry contest winner

With a special appearance from Pabst Blue Ribbon. Hope to see you there!

Karen Lillis reading from her novel, The Second Elizabeth

April 22, 2010 - 4:00pm - 5:30pm

2201 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Women's Studies Program

Lillis is the author of the feminist novels, i, scorpion: foul belly-crawler of the desert (Words Like Kudzu Press, 2000) & Magenta’s Adventures Underground (WLK, 2004). She is Program Assistant for the Cultural Studies Program, and a 2009 MLIS graduate of the School of Information Sciences.

“Karen Lillis writes with a cadence and a rhythm that are hypnotic….The Second Elizabeth celebrates what my theologian father called ‘the mystery in the ordinary.’ ”

Eckhard Gerdes, Journal of Experimental Fiction

"...A novel of simplicity as well as survival, and the often untouched-upon intimacy of these two concepts....With The Second Elizabeth, the coming-of-age novel grows up."

Kimberly Ann Southwick, Gigantic Sequins Magazine

Light reception to follow.

Elwin got his book in the mail.

Amanda Huminski reads her poetry

Amanda Huminski reads at the Cyberpunk Apocalypse 1 year anniversary from Cyberpunk Apocalypse on Vimeo.

James Jones

Cyberpunk Apocalypse Issue 3 is coming. To the right is an image I just put together to be coupled with Elwin's story.

The reading on the 9th was great. Peter Kusnic extrapolated from a brutal youtube video in order to create an emotionally dense story about a drag queen on her birthday.

Of course the Elvin Slaughter tour is creeping up, 500 posters are stacked in our living room waiting to be filled out and sent out.

I gave a talk at Parsec yesterday. If you haven't heard of Parsec, it is Pittsburgh's Premiere Science Fiction Organization For the promotion of literary Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and other Speculative Fictions--and you should check them out. Parsec has their hands full with an affiliated publication, a program for teen fiction writers, and Confluence the Pittsburgh sf convention.

These guys are into what I'm into, and have been doing in 10 times as long. Apparently sf writer's colonies were once a fairly common thing. Like the James Jones "Handy Writers' Colony" which seems to have ended in utter failure.

So let's toast all the folks that gave it a go, and continue our work in the cyberpunk apocalypse.

reading friday 7pm at the house

The snow has melted, so it's time to really start heading out to all those rad local events. There's a lot of great literary talent here in the City of Steel, and the bill for this event is no exception.

Featuring:
Sally Mao
Peter Kusnic
Elwin Cotman
Patti Emory

Reading to welcome spring

Time:7:00PM Friday, April 9th

Location:Cyberpunk Apocalypse

Ex Libris

We were pleased to get this wonderful rubber stamp in the mail to mark books in our permanent collection. It was drawn and made by one of the house's fans, and is a good example of the kind of community support we get in the form of donations, whether it's fire wood, coffee, or shelving for our library. Thanks!

Titles affect how you interpret a story

The Cyberpunk Apocalypse is one year old. We have kept a lot of our promises. We have created a space for writers and we have maintained a residency program--we have written our hearts out of our asses and so on. But I know that some of you are disappointed.

Because we promised to be crazier than your average writers' house. We promised to keep the idea that we live in a cyberpunk apocalypse close to the heart of our project. We promised to be cheesy and bold and write angry essays about the end while wearing tinfoil hats.

I feel personally responsible for this disappointment.

And this is my promise: I will be crazier this year. Cross my damned heart.

Now to play catch up with what's been going on:

We got a stamp from my friend Alfredo for the perminent collection here.

A big wind blew a hunk of our roof away and I patched it in time to stop the rain from getting gunner and my bedroom wet.

I've been busy with preparations for Elvin Slaughter Tour with Elwin.

I've been working on a speech for PARSEC.

Artnoose's Kickstarter is kicking ass.

I should really fix up our website but I am not up for it currently.

Our visiting writer Marisa is great. She's working on a zine about borders.

Gunner finished a draft of her first novel (novella?--it's in the border regions).

Elwin's book is coming out on the 15th.

Brenda... where is Brenda? Brenda's busy.

Here is a list of things you should check out.

Crazy Pittsburgh sf nerd music

Me N' Gunner's work plus a nice description of Artnoose's room

A picture of a bear (any will do)

DOKTA D()()M

When I grow up I want to be able to write like Deltron 3030. Until then here's Ross (former best resident) holding it down.

Cyberpunk Apocalypse one-year anniversary party

Thanks to everyone who came out for the Cyberpunk Apocalypse's one-year anniversary party at AIR. The party was a lot of fun. Several current and former residents read their work, as did a few other members of the local small press community. Todd recounted a history of the Cyberpunk Apocalypse that spanned centuries and even included a history of the future, which is always nice. DJ Attila the Hunk kept the party downstairs going until open hours ended and Todd became reigning arm-wrestling champion.

Small Press Pittsburgh

Here's a stolen segment of a facebook post by Karen Lillis:

Small Press Tourism in Pittsburgh

Today at 1:28pm

To my fellow comrades in the Pittsburgh small press scene,

Last night I attended a reading at the awesome Cyberpunk Apocalypse writer's house in funky Upper Lawrenceville. Eric Nelson was reading from his newly-published book, Silk City, out from Knickerbocker Circus Press (Astoria, Queens). The audience was attentive, appreciative, and intimate; one of the resident writers baked cookies for us; and we retired to the kitchen for some fine post-reading banter about New Jersey, Pittsburgh, reading tours, contemporary fiction, and Bruce Springsteen. I really enjoyed Eric's stories of working-class Paterson, New Jersey, and when I realized that he had flown to Pittsburgh (from NYC) for a 2-day stay (they gave him a couch at the Cyberpunk house), I wanted to take a moment and remind us, as a community, that we are bringing people to Pittsburgh who wouldn't have come. We, the run-everything-on-a-dream-and-a-shoestring small press community, are responsible for a small but growing tourism in Pittsburgh: Small Press Tourism. (I give credit for the concept to Larry Portzline, who invented Book Store Tourism.)

I'm writing today to thank the reading series and small press events that have brought out-of-towners to read in Pittsburgh, as well as sleep in our hotels, sample our bookstores and restaurants, visit our art museums, and best of all, spread the word that Pittsburgh is greener than you think, that Pittsburgh is alive and well, that Pittsburgh is writing and reading and listening.

Gist Street Reading Series has generally brought 2 out of town readers a month for almost a decade (sometimes Pittsburgh writers are featured instead) and in the summer they feature one small press with several writers included.

The New Yinzer Presents series has brought out of town writers such as Michael Kimball and Jen Michalski (Baltimore), Jackie Corley (New Jersey), and Amy Guth (Chicago). Matt Bell (Ann Arbor) is coming soon.

The Six Gallery Press Showcase brings Scott McClanahan (West Virginia) to Pittsburgh a few times a year (and I hear he'll be reading at Gist Street this summer!).

The Cyberpunk Apocalypse writer's house hosts readers more often than I realized. My pal Mike Faloon (Go Metric) is coming to read from a new book in July, and when I asked Daniel McCloskey (Cyberpunk's founder) about it, he said he'd have to look it up--that there were so many readings arranged for July he'd lost track of the exact dates. They also host 5 writers for a long-term writer's residency program, and now they have a small room for short term residencies of 3 to 4 weeks.

The Typewriter Girls have been mixing up their Pittsburgh lineups with some out of town writers--I saw poet Sandra Beasley (Washington, DC) at a Howler's reading and she came back to town for the Typewriter Girls' Save the Libraries benefit reading.

Pittsburgh's wonderful small press, Autumn House, holds regular readings. Out of town readers they've featured have included Sam Ligon (Spokane, WA), Ada Limon (NYC), and Mary Crockett Hill (Virginia).

The City of Asylum/Pittsburgh has residencies for writers in exile from foreign countries. For readings they bring in wonderful writers from other City of Asylum cities, as well as luminaries such as Wole Soyinka, showcasing them alongside Pittsburgh's top writers and poets.

Recently, small press collaborators in town were able to host readings for Chicago's Ben Tanzer (Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine) and San Fran's Stephen Elliott (The Adderall Diaries).

And of course, Open Thread hosted the first Small Press Festival last summer, with the next one slated for September 2010. Last year's event brought small press folks from West Virginia, Ohio, Nashville, and Buffalo, among other places. This year's promises to draw even more folks in.

Please let me know if there are any reading series I'm forgetting in relation to out of town readers!

And lastly, I plan to start keeping track of these numbers, because I think it could give us some leverage as a community in the future.

Eric Nelson reads at the Cyberpunk Apocalypse house, March 27, 2010.

Brenda receives a Fine Foundation Electronic & Time-Based Art Grant!

I found out yesterday that I've received a production grant for electronic & time-based art. This is awesome. I have one and a half months to complete my proposed performance and video installation piece, which is part of a project titled "Balikbayan," for which I'm working on a written component at CpA.

Letterpress house project makes Pop City

Local online news source Pop City is featuring my letterpress house project on its most recent issue. You can read the article here. So far, about half the money has already been pledged, as well as offers for carpentry help and binding equipment. In addition, I've already been stopped on the street by someone who recognized me from the video.

There's still room for donations, if you haven't already done so.

Eric Nelson reading imminent

Saturday, March 27
7:00pm
Eric Nelson flies in from NYC to read from the Silk City Series
When: Sat, March 27, 7pm – 8pm
Where: the cyberpunk house. 5431 Carnegie Street Pittsburgh PA 15201

Help Artnoose start a print house sister project

Free Ham Status

Artnoose and I have decided to combine forces towards our free half ham by using the same Shop 'n Save Perks card account. Her status was a few dollars shorter than mine, but she had multiple copies of her card and I didn't, so we're using hers. Two hundred seven dollars and some change to go.

Free Ham Status

Two hundred thirteen dollars and ninety-eight cents more for the half.

The cashier scoffed at my pathetic progress towards a free half ham. "Oh, you're really far away," he said. He had nice jewelry.

Free Ham Status

Just two hundred twenty-five dollars and six cents' worth of Shop 'n Save products away from a FREE HALF Sugardale Semi-boneless Ham

OR

for an additional two hundred dollars' worth of Shop 'n Save products: a FREE WHOLE Sugardale Semi-boneless Ham.

I think I'm going to shoot for the half.

1 Year Anniversary March 30th

They grow up so damn fast.

Broken Nerves

I was surfing the internet instead of working and I came across Broken Nerves.net.
It's a nice little site with updates by cyberpunk enthusiast futurist d.i.y. writer that is so pleased to have you over for tea in her own little nook of cyber space. Check it out.