Gaaaaa!

It's tonight!

Paint It Bleak

Wes has been experimenting with digital painting lately. Below you'll find his painted take on the illustration he did for the story "An Interlude" in The Book of Horrible Stories.

Like it? Come tell him so when we do our reading at Open Books at 6 p.m. this Thursday. He's debating selling prints of the image, so don't be afraid to let him know if you'd be interested in one. Feedback keeps us from going adrift in this turbulent sea known as the Internet! Or something like that!

Oh. Wow. So that's what I sound like?

As I've mentioned, The Book of Horrible Stories features illustrations done by my partner-in-crime, Wesley Wong. There is, however, one mini-story inside of it that I didn't ask him to illustrate, and that's the book's preface, "Five Stories, Ten Dollars." I had already gotten five drawings from him; I figured I'd bugged him enough.

But I thought it might be fun to get another artist friend in on the act and put together something like bonus material. So please find below a short clip of me reading the preface to The Book of Horrible Stories, "Five Stories, Ten Dollars," featuring some fabulous illustrations by my friend Dan Dougherty.

And if you like what you hear, consider purchasing The Book of Horrible Stories via those links on the right-hand side, or better yet, joining me at Open Books (213 W. Institute Place, Chicago, IL) on Thursday, September 6, at 6 p.m. for a reading. Information about that event can be found here. It should be decidedly less awkward than me sitting in front of my computer, talking loudly into a gaming headset, which is how I recorded my audio part for the video below.

Just to make sure I'm giving everyone proper credit, here's a citation for the music used in the clip: 

Club de Jazz presents… A Full Moon Party (The Emer Mulholland Group) / CC BY-SA 3.0

A smattering of stuff I'm happy about.

We have not only a flyer...

...but also a store display!

Thanks to the fabulous Kevin and Lizzy for this. And if you'd like to check it out in person, head over to the Open Books bookstore at 213 W. Institute Place in Chicago. Open Books and I are going halfsies on any money made from sales there, because I love them so, so even if you don't like me, half of your money will support literacy-boosting projects.

And finally, just so I'm not babbling about books all the time... we also have berries.

This has nothing to do with anything. I'm simply amazed that the plant grew.

Events at Open Books

Open Books in Chicago has some nifty events coming up, including the release party for their latest ReadThenWrite anthology...

...and another shindig celebrating the debut of J.K Rowling's post-Potter novel, The Casual Vacancy.

And I'm also thrilled to announce that I'll be doing a reading at Open Books to promote The Book of Horrible Stories on Thursday, September 6, starting at 6 p.m. Woo! Book fun!

I call this one "Stress Makes My Jeans Too Tight."

Sometimes I think
That this world takes too much from me.
Then I step on the scale.

*beat*

Reading Other People's Stories, Shamelessly Advertising My Own

I recently finished reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente. Very whimsical fairy tale, lots of fun for readers both young-ish (age 10-12?) and old, with one touch at the end that especially made me smile. What made me bury my hands in my head was that, at one point, the main character turns into a tree. I have a story in my book called "The Tree in the Field," and guess what happens in it? But... but I... ah, @#$! And she wrote it better, too!

Anyway, wouldn't you like a book? 'The Book of Horrible Stories' is available for $12 shipped in tangible form, $0.99 on Amazon Kindle, both via some links on the right-hand side here. /self-promotion off