Ha ha, awesome. I might go to this:

EVENT: Zombie Experts Panel @ McNally Jackson Bookstore

Where: McNally Jackson Bookstore, on Prince & Lafayette in New York, NY

When: October 6, 7pm

What: The Living Dead 2 editor John Joseph Adams will present a panel of zombie experts featuring Living Dead 2 contributors Bob Fingerman, David Barr Kirtley, and others! (Full panel participant list forthcoming.) The panel will cover a range of topics, from the appeal of zombies, to debating the best weapons for fighting off the undead–something no zombie fan will want to miss!

(This is the same bookstore where I did the Halloween reading last year. Photos.)

Here’s a photo from last night’s KGB reading, of Mary Robinette Kowal performing part of the shadow puppet show from her novel Shades of Milk and Honey.

I’ll be appearing as a panelist at this:

Last night I went to this fun Post-Apocalyptic Teen Fiction Panel, featuring Scott Westerfeld, Carrie Ryan, James Dashner, and Michael Grant. The venue, Barnes & Noble at 86th & Lexington, was perfectly appropriate, as it’s laid out like a bomb shelter — seriously, you walk through the front door and immediately descend an escalator into a multi-level underground complex. They showed two really good book trailers (especially compared to most book trailers, which are usually pretty lame). The one for James Dashner’s The Maze Runner doesn’t seem to be online, but here’s the one for Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth, about a girl born generations after a zombie apocalypse:

Last night I headed out to The Diamond bar in Brooklyn for an evening of penis-themed entertainment featuring David Farley, author of An Irreverent Curiosity, and Tony Perrottet, author of Napoleon’s Privates.

In An Irreverent Curiosity, journalist David Farley spends a year living in the bizarre Italian castle-town of Calcata trying to discover whatever became of the town’s claim to fame, a reliquary containing Jesus’ foreskin, which went missing in 1986. Saints were the rock stars of the medieval world, and for a time every church was required to possess a relic, which created a massive opportunity for scam artists. The transparent fraudulence of so many relics undermined the Church’s credibility and helped lead to the Reformation. (John Calvin quipped that there were enough pieces of the True Cross floating around Europe to build a ship.) Since doctrine held that Jesus had ascended bodily, the only part of him that might conceivably be hanging around on earth was his foreskin, which eventually turned up — supposedly given to Charlemagne in Jerusalem by an angel — and was recognized by the Pope as authentic. The Church even granted a plenary indulgence (remission of sins) to any pilgrims who would come and worship the Holy Foreskin. During the sacking of Rome the foreskin was carried off by a French knight, who was later captured in Calcata and who stashed the reliquary under some manure in his cave-cell. Centuries later the relic was rediscovered, and the people of Calcata began holding an annual procession with the foreskin as the main attraction. Later the Church became intensely embarrassed about the whole business. The people of Calcata were very attached to their yearly parade, so the Church allowed the practice to continue, but only under the condition that nobody displayed the foreskin at any other time and that nobody talked about the foreskin at all, under threat of excommunication.

I haven’t read the other book, Napoleon’s Privates, but the author talked about it a bit. Apparently Napoleon was extremely obnoxious to his surgeon, so when Napoleon died the surgeon got back at him by cutting off his private parts during the autopsy. Napoleon’s penis bounced around to different countries before finally ending up with a collector in New Jersey, where Tony Perrottet found it and surreptitiously made a replica, which he displayed last night. Another interesting fact he mentioned was that Napoleon was not in fact short. Napoleon’s height (5’6”) was pretty much average for his day. The idea that Napoleon was a shrimp seems to have been an invention of British propagandists.

So I’ll probably go to this:

I ended up not being able to make it to last month’s burlesque show, so this one was my first, and it was a perfect introduction for me because the show was science fiction-themed and was really sort of awesome. Also, I guess because of the topic, it seemed like half the young NYC fantasy/science fiction publishing crowd was in attendance.

In the show, a humorously vague disaster has befallen earth, and the remnants of humanity live in a sealed-up city where everyone is required by a prudish dictator to remain clothed at all times, lest they become “infected.” But there are some who resist. Rebels who are captured are forced to undergo a procedure that turns them into mindless cyborgs with no desire to undress, though needless to say the treatment doesn’t take. There are many, many references to science fiction literature and film, from Brave New World to Mad Max. The story features a gadget known as the Personal Laser of Teleportation device (i.e the PLOT device), and the climactic confrontation comes down not to rollerball, nor deathrace 2000, nor even thunderdome, but to a slow-motion, red-lit, histrionic game of “death scrabble.” The whole thing was an absolute riot.

Event: Star Trek Smackdown

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
25 West 52 Street, New York

Featuring:

John Joseph Adams, Editor of the anthologies Federations, Wastelands, Seeds of Change, and The Living Dead
Matt Mitovich, Senior Editor, TVGuide.com
Bones Rodriguez, Author, Captain Kirk’s Guide to Women
Moderated by David Bushman, Curator, Television

O Captain! My Captain! Who’s the greatest leader in the history of science fiction on television? We’re pitting Captain James T. Kirk of Star Trek against your choices, based on the results of our Star Trek Smackdown poll. We’re beaming aboard a panel of sci-fi experts to debate the pros and cons of all the leading contenders, but we also want to hear what you think, so set your coordinates for the Paley Center and come join the debate. Bring your tricorders to help you answer some trivia questions to win some DVDs and other special prizes! Costumes welcome! Tickets include admission to the Paley Center (free to Members, $10 for non-members).

Tentative plans to go to this:

Society of Illustrators Student Exhibit
Friday May 08, 2009
6:00pm-9:00pm
Free
128 East 63rd Street
New York, NY

S. C. Butler will read from his new novel The Magicians’ Daughter this Wednesday, May 6th, at Book Court in Cobble Hill (163 Court Street, Brooklyn).

The New York Review of Science Fiction Readings
and the
South Street Seaport Museum present

Writers from Tabula Rasa, Episode 2
Saladin Ahmed
Andrea Kail
Robert J. Howe

Guest Curator
Rick Bowes

Tuesday, May 5th — Doors open 6:30 PM
South Street Seaport Museum
12 Fulton Street — 4th Floor
New York City
$5 suggested donation

Just heard about this, and am contemplating going: