Vermin on the Mount

SUNDAY JULY 20 AT 8PM

JIM KRUSOE: His fiction workshops at Santa Monica College are legendary. Here's your chance to listen to him read from his weird and wonderful new novel Girl Factory from Tin House Books.

SEAN CARSWELL: Novelist, short story writer, and publisher extraordinaire reads from his latest, Train Wreck Girl from Manic D. Sean always puts on a good show -- don't miss it!

TOSH BERMAN: The publisher of Tam Tam books will regale us with the demented genius of Boris Vian whose "masterpiece of noir-gone berserk" The Dead All Have the Same Skin was recently reprinted by Tam Tam.

DICKY MURPHY: Writes for television and will read from his hilarious collection World Cup Eagle. Dickie is hard at work on his next collection, The Civil War is Funny, based on his experiences in the Civil War.

CELEBRATING THREE YEARS OF VERMIN

Three years ago when we offered to set up a reading for Joe Meno's visit to Los Angeles, we had no idea that Vermin on the Mount would turn into a Chinatown mainstay. Three years, seventeen readings, and over fifty writers later we're still going strong. The arrangements are made from Vermin headquarters in San Diego now and your humble host is no longer single, but the rest is the same. Except for the readers of course, which change with every event. Presenting...

The good...

Katherine Taylor is the Pushcart Prize-winning author of Rules for Saying Goodbye, a novel of a young woman dissembling and reassembling -- the classic arc of the bounty hunter narrative. Katherine received her MFA from Columbia University and lives in Los Angeles.

The bad...

Michael A. FitzGerald's novel Radiant Days seems innocent enough: a happy-go-lucky dot.comster heads for Budapest with a beautiful Hungarian woman, but what follows is as harrowing as it is gripping. Michael earned an MFA from the University of Montana and comes all the way from Idaho.

The ugly...

Ron Currie, Jr.'s novel-in-stories imagines a world where God comes to earth as a Dinka woman. After she is killed and consumed by a pack of feral dogs, things get ugly on spaceship earth. Ron lives in Maine. God Is Dead is Ron's first book.

COUNTDOWN TO 2007 STARTS SUNDAY

This Sunday marks the last Vermin on the Mount event for 2006 and it’s a corker. We’ve got an amazingly diverse crop of writers who will dice you, slice you, entertain and entice you. To wit:

Stephan Clark recently returned from the Ukraine where he was on Fullbright to study the marriage brokering phenomenon in the former Soviet Republic. He was also recently married. Coincidence? You be the judge.

Theresa Duncan is several times more fabulous than the rest of us by a factor of forty-seven. Possibly forty-eight. She’s a writer, filmmaker and pioneer in video game design. Bow before her big brain.

Daniel Hernandez is a writer for the L.A. Weekly who has penned many memorable dispatches from Los Angeles, Tijuana and Mexico City. Young, energetic and brimming with talent, he’s a perfect example of why Los Angeles rules.

Speaking of ruling and writing about far-flung lands, Rolf Potts dares you to find a spot on the globe that he hasn’t traveled through, written about, or plans to visit in the near future. You won’t find his book Vagabonding in the S&M section of Barnes & Nobel, but he just might make you blush.

So come on down to the Mountain Bar in Chinatown on Sunday December 3 at 8 PM!

BOOK RELEASE PARTY FOR 'SHIRLEY WINS'

We're just weeks away from the next Vermin on the Mount, featuring: TODD TAYLOR, JOE MENO, TODD DILLS & LIZ O! This event will be held on Sunday October 8 at 8 PM at the world-famous Mountain Bar.

TODD TAYLOR is the author of Born to Rock and the editor of Razorcake, America’s only non-profit punk rock fanzine, which is operated out of Highland Park. Todd has a new book about a woman who invents a bicycle powered pumpkin launcher. It’s called SHIRLEY WINS and Vermin on the Mount is thrilled to be hosting Todd’s book release party! So come on down and celebrate the latest from Gorsky Press.

Vermin stalwart JOE MENO also has a new book out called THE BOY DETECTIVE FAILS, released earlier this month by Punk Planet Books, an imprint of Akashic. Do you remember the very first Vermin? Well Todd and Joe were both featured on the bill so we’re stoked to feature them together again for the first time since, well, earlier that afternoon when they read at Vroman’s, but you get the idea.

We’ll also be welcoming another writer from the Midwest: TODD DILLS. Todd, who is the editor of THE2NDHAND, will be reading from his brand spanking new novel from Featherproof Press, SONS OF THE RAPTURE.

Rounding out the evening of indie writers will be Razorcake columnist and DJ extraordinaire Liz O. She does her part by hating on reggaeton. God bless her.

It's a night you won't want to miss. Mark it on your calendars now and stay tuned for more details about the party. Hint: Cheap drinks and free cake.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY

Vermin returns to Sunday evenings at the Mountain Bar with a toothy vengeance. On Sunday June 25th, celebrate with this fearsome foursome of the dark literary arts:

New Yorker Jami Attenberg joins Vermin on the Mount to promote her brand new book INSTANT LOVE. This is her only Southern California appearance and she'll be signing her excellent book after the reading. Love ain't free - in the flesh or in hardback -- so be sure to bring a little extra cabbage.

Ben Weissman is the author of HEADLESS and DEAR DEAD PERSON. He is also the organizer and host of New American Writing at the Hammer Museum, the best reading series in town bar none.

Trinie Dalton is the author of WIDE EYED, the latest from Dennis Cooper's Little House on the Bowery series at Akashic Books. She also writes about art and co-compiled DEAR NEW GIRL OR WHATEVER YOUR NAME IS with Eli Horowitz and Lisa Wagner.

Chad Tsuyuki is in the creative writing program at Long Beach State University and the editor of Like Water Burning. He also has a very fine hairstyle.

The poster for this weekend's reading was created by the artist Adam Janes, who aside from being an all around swell person, helped build the Mountain bar! Fun sarts at 8, readings at 9, mayhem til midnight.

VERMIN INFERNO

It's Tueday. Three days into the New Year and we've blown most of our resolutions already. But it's not our fault. It's the calendar's. Chinese New Year is a month away. That means it's time to pull out all the stops and party our asses off for the next four weeks. Saturday January 14, 2006, make sure you muster at the Mountain and burn, vermin, burn!

VERMIN #7 RECAP

The agonized/orgasmic look on Scott O'Connor's face can mean only one of two things: he still hasn't recovered from the Red Sox debacle or it's time for another Vermin on the Mount recap!

Poet Teka Lark Lo started the evening with a passel of hard-hitting poems about life as we know it in Los Angeles. Be sure to check out her column LA Real and if you're staying in the city this weekend she'll be reading at 9 AM on Sunday November 27, 2005, at the LA River. No, really.

Here's Justine Musk reading from her dark and fabulous new novel Bloodangel, which poses the question: What if demons arrived in the guise of an irresistable underground rock band? This certainly explains Keith Richards longevity. Sympathy for the devil indeed...

I know what you're thinking. What is this John Stockton crotch shot doing on the Vermin blog?

Not quite. It's Dave Fromm who brought the house down with excerpts from his unpublished memoir, Away Games, which is about his stint as a semi-pro basketball player in Prague. This is the uniform. Judging from the laugh fest that broke out (during the reading, not the disrobing) we think this one is a slam dunk (sorry) to get published.

Rounding out the evening was Jolene Siana, author of Go Ask Ogre: Letters from a Deathrock Cutter. In the mid-80s Jolene wrote scores of letters to her favorite musician, Ogre of Skinny Puppy. This morbidly beautiful book is published by Process Media, the new imprint from Feral House.

This is Don, one of the unsung heroes of Vermin on the Mount. Don the Mountain Bar's sound guru. He sets up the microphones, arranges the PA, and generally makes sure everything is copasetic. Once the show gets rolling he takes a seat and listens to all the readers, which makes Don one of Vermin's most fervent fans. Thanks, Don!

MEAT PARADE

On Tuesday September 27, 2005, I'll be reading with Bryan Price, Daryl “Duke” Henry and Vermin supervillian Scott O'Connor. Plus, music by Black Powder. The fun starts at 8 o'clock sharp at the Tribal Cafe, Echo Park's hottest new venue for literary shenanigans. I'm going to read a disgusting/erotic story about a man and his meat slicer.

HOBART TRAVEL TOUR

Ann Arbor literary magazine Hobart unveils its new Travel Issue in Echo Park on Friday, September 16 at 8 PM. Editor Aaron Burch welcomes Pasha Malla (McSweeney’s), Mike McGowan (Hobart), Salvador Plascencia (The People of Paper) and Jim Ruland (Big Lonesome).

I'll be reading from my travel essay, The Mysteries of Manchester, which is about my search for the meaning behind the naming of the street where I live. You can also check out this photo essay from the trip.

The reading will be held at the Tribal Cafe is at 1651 W. Temple St in the Echo Park Arts District. Call 213 483 4458 for details.

THE OPIUM DEN

On Saturday September 17 at 8 pm celebrate the release of OpiumMagazine.print #1 with a night of irreverent readings in the heart of Chinatown!