updates and upshots

Posted by Erzsebet , Wednesday, January 18, 2012 3:06 PM


As I am so often wont to do, I’ve let time sidle and slip by whilst I’ve entirely forgotten about blogging (let alone about that whole obligation as Official Diplomat to the Ocelots); this is in part because D and I have been traveling towards author readings and warm jazz, and in part because I am lackadaisical (etymology: coined from Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, “lackadaisy”,meaning “alas! lack-a-day!”), and in part because I have been very cold in these Colorado snowdrifts, and it hurts to type.  But I can affirm it’s been an exciting few weeks, both in literary and adventuresome terms.  A summation:
I give here many thanks to Between The Covers bookstore in Telluride (and its skillful and kind managers, Daiva and Bobbie, and Hilary and Jon), where we held an absolutely lovely Logodædaly  reading upon December 29th—such excellent company with all the guests who braved the frosts to attend and listen to, yes, a recitation of the dictionary.  Including—most thrillingly, and utterly unexpectedly, musician Peter Yarrow (quoting myself: “wow! You mean Peter Yarrow Peter Yarrow is coming???”) , whom I was honored and delighted to meet.   
A treasure of an evening!
Thenceforth, following a venturesome New Years’ (I gambled for the first time!  Blackjack, like they play in the movies!), David and I hit the road once again, through the forlorn plains and dusky oaks of Texas (I saw 3 eagles, a cat, 2 hawks, and a coyote named Frank who is a race car driver), and into the incomparable streets of New Orleans.  I will say with utter confidence that apart from the luculent and translucent mirrors of alternate dimensions, there’s no place in the world like this city.  I can’t cook gumbo or play the clarinet, but this is a place to which I always want to return.   That said, I’ll make a few enthused recommendations:
For a perfect place to stay in the Bywater district, please see the BywaterB&B, a gorgous house sprinkled with unbelievable folk art, and managed by the skilled Pamela Davis-Noland, herself the author of Coffee-Colored Dreams
For music to make you feel that you’ve always had the happy blues, check out Thursday nights at Vaughan’s Lounge with the illustrious Kermit Ruffins
For songs that surpass whimsy and make you believe in the sheer power of objects in human hands, the work and play of Washboard Chaz
And for a band that takes you from Dixieland to Paraguay and to the Balkans, the exuberant sound of the Panorama Jazz Band
And now here we are—two days before David and I depart for Hungary once more (apparently, it’s raining and thirty-two degrees in Pécs, a fact which makes me bitter), and then, following two weeks of brief wine-racking and nestling desperately in our little home, it’s off to Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam for two months…!  I shall endeavor to blog more often, which is an utterly shaky but well-intended promise, and may I be plagued by evil kittens should I neglect it. 
  
This really happened.         

Sweetness upon the solstice

Posted by Erzsebet , Thursday, December 22, 2011 3:13 PM


In the snow-glazed lull between book readings (I haven’t maintained a normal human body temperature for three weeks), whilst I’ve been attempting to bake pitas and wrap gifts (I’m getting my brother a zeppelin), Logodædaly has received some pleasurable compliments, which I thought I’d share here so that the book has a present too…
For one, ForeWord Reviews has given us a bit of praise, as may be viewed here
And we’ve made the list of Denver’s bestselling books!   #9 in the nonfiction roster!   And though Logodædaly is far more fiction than fact, we’re honored, and as a friend of mine pointed out ,”number nine” is pretty significant in the Beatles’ White Album, which has to be a good thing. 

If anybody can figure out how to make homemade pitas have the nice balloon-ey pocket, please let me know…

Things happen all the time!

Posted by Erzsebet , Tuesday, December 20, 2011 3:31 PM


Now, partially out of sheer busyness (the long, long days wherein David and I drove to Seattle, Portland, and back again, through the cowpoke loneliness of Wyoming to those Oregon mists which cause one to disbelieve in solid matter) (and additional readings here in Fort Collins and in Denver, whew!) and partially out of immense laziness, I haven’t updated for a time, but things have been pleasant indeed. 
For one, I’ve got to thank Reading Frenzy and all those who attended last Tuesday’s event, as well as writers Evan P. Schneider and Melissa Reeser, for sharing their unique talents that evening; it was a warm and glowing night amidst the zany zines and rustling literature, and I’m so grateful to have read there. 
And upon another note, much gratitude to New Belgium Brewery and the guests of Friday’s Matter Journal release party at which I read, and to the other writers who offered up their own skilled words that night.  For those fans of literary magazines and all their multifarious gems within, check out Matter and Wolverine Farm
And then, upon Saturday—LEON Gallery in Denver, a new space of luminous walls and even brighter artwork and even brighter hosts, provided a marvelous venue for another reading from myself and the gifted contributors to Wolverine Farm—it was a splendiferous evening with much merriment and sincere intellect, and I can’t forget that photograph of the man with the violin. 
For now, though, I’ve got an interlude of a break until a Telluride reading on the 29th (more information to come!), which leaves me some good time to fumble with wrapping paper, peruse some new philosophical papers I’m most interested in right now, and attempt to bake pitas with the real pocket and everything.        

the Northwest Passage

Posted by Erzsebet , Tuesday, December 13, 2011 3:35 PM

As for the past three days David and I have been in Seattle, carousing irresponsibly with my best childhood friend, the inimitable museologist and comedienne Emily Bailey, and her sweet fiance John (with a side trip ducking up to Canada, a misty land to which we'd never been), I haven't posted in a while - but I shall today, since tonight I'll be at a literary event at Reading Frenzy Bookstore in Portland, Oregon, alongside authors Melissa Reeser and Evan P Schneider (both of them talented as calligraphy and an honor to read with).  So I'd like to invite anybody in the northwest area to attend, should it fit schedules and whims, and in the meantime, wish all my blessings upon you and the mossy woods and the perpetual, perpetual rain!  

readings & roads, gratitude and gumballs, alliteration and anvils

Posted by Erzsebet , Friday, December 9, 2011 12:20 AM


When I was a kid (image: tie-dyed shirt and leaves tangled in ridiculous bowl haircut), and my family would pile into the car to the tunes of songs about heroic or menacing cats, taking a trip to Denver, the glorious site of pilgrimage was always the Tattered Cover Bookstore, paradise in labyrinthine form—those volumes stacked in allure upon the stairs and the shelves all weighty with so many, many, many things which needed to be read….  Thusly, I was honored by their hosting of Sherise and I at last night’s Logodædaly reading, a lovely evening amidst the pages—and I send them all my gratitude, and moreover thanks to all those who attended our literary escapade!
And in approximately 11 hours—that being 3am, a most luculent and spooky time—David and I shall be crawling out of the bed, desperately clinging to our coffees and cigarettes, before hitting the northwest road towards the next Logodædaly event at Reading Frenzy in Portland, Oregon, 7pm upon Tuesday, December 13th... one hopes we shall encounter many other mysterious travelers, coyotes, candy shops and disguised deposed royalty along the way.

an upcoming reading, and thanks for the last one!

Posted by Erzsebet , Tuesday, December 6, 2011 5:24 PM


Though I should have written this two days ago (my excuse: yes, I was a weeeee bit hungover), a report on the Logodædaly release party: splendid!  I had a wonderful time, in spite of my prior weeks of sheer terror at the thought of the reading.  Naw, it went just fine, and I’ve got to thank Cranknstein’s Bar for lending us their (lovely) space, and moreover express my gratitude to everybody who attended—fabulous to see you all, new friends and old.  I'll post photographs, as soon as they're available and I am not too lazy.  
(note: I do apologize for the entire incident with the meringue pies and the lemurs.  They will not be invited to any of our parties again.)
But I do invite all those who’d care to join us to tomorrow’s reading at Denver’sLoDo Tattered Cover Bookstore, at 7:30 pm!  As I’ve always worshipped their labyrinthine shelves and the ease of becoming lost amidst the stacks, I’m quite honored and excited.  Explore the link to their site and details upon the reading, and for those of you who are interested, I hope to see you there! 
(no lemurs, I promise.)    

today?!?!

Posted by Erzsebet , Friday, December 2, 2011 2:43 PM


Given that today(!) marks the release of Logodædaly, its own little papery birthday party—7 pm at Cranknstein Bar, 215A N. College in Fort Collins—and my first reading (I’m actually utterly terrified), I feel I ought create some Ultimate Blog Post, like the last statements of deep-sea divers before submersion (“cold!”) or departing astronauts (“how do I go to the bathroom in space??”).  
And the only thing I can really express now is gratitude—to Todd Simmons of Wolverine Farm Publishing, a wizard of the artistry which makes the spine of all real books; to Sherise Talbott, whose character and whose art are bright faerie-bright, to David for all the support, the rationality and heart and adventures of everyday life, to my family for the storytelling of love, and to all the friends who’ve helped me more than I can type.  And to chance, which felt whimsical and rearranged some particles to make today. 
Apart from my sincere sentimentality, though, I again want to invite anybody and everybody to Logodædaly’s release party, and I’m grateful for this too!  

A cordial invitation

Posted by Erzsebet , Saturday, November 26, 2011 8:57 PM


Most excellent news (like every time something batty is discovered in quantum physics): the new Logodædaly release party and opening reading date has been named!  A formal invitation:
But, for those whose computers crankily refuse to load images, the shindig shall be at 7 pm on Friday, December 2nd at Cranknstein’s Bar, 215A North College Avenue in Fort Collins.  I’m quite excited, myself, and I’m very much hoping to see many people, felines, and professional swordfighters there. 
There will be books, drinks, reading, and whoopee cushions! 

Items of Newness!

Posted by Erzsebet , Tuesday, November 22, 2011 9:45 PM

Whilst the release party following Logodædaly’s almost-here publication has been delayed, some interesting tidbits have occurred: I have purchased new socks, discovered a lost continent (I shall name it “Spoon”), and, perhaps more importantly, my book has received this review from the San Francisco/Sacramento City Book Review, for which I feel immensely grateful and honored.
Because I have no photographs of my socks I’ve posted it here.  News on the party to come!