VERMIN #20

No, that's not a mind-sucking space alien probe preparing to rob you of your wits inside the chamber of blood. It's a new light fixture at The Mountain. If it was a mind-sucker at least I'd have an excuse for the lateness of this recap.

Here's Doug Cordell, recent Los Angeles transplant and all around nice guy reading a story about not-so-nice roommates. He suffered so that we could be amused.

Sam Quinones knows a great deal about the rise and fall of the velvet painting boom. How much does he know? He didn't even have to refer to his book, Antonio's Gun and Delfino's Dream to tell the story.

Jami Attenberg came all the way from New York to read from her novel, The Kept Man. She's not the first New Yorker (or the last) to grace the stage at Vermin on the Mount, but she's the only one to do it twice. You can hear an excerpt in this short film inspired by the book here.

Veronica Gonzalez's Twin Time: Or, How Death Befell Me is the kind of haunting debut that made me want to start Vermin nearly four years ago. Listen to an excerpt at The Writers' Block.

Pretty.