New East Bay reading series

October 26, 7:34 AMSF Literary Culture ExaminerEvan Karp

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If San Francisco weren't a mecca for the literary world I wouldn't live in the Bay Area, and although I am peculiar in a lot of ways, this isn't one of them. Every year a steady stream of literary immigrants (limigrants? lemigres? No! ... lemmings?) pack up their belongings and follow their dreams and find themselves, shortly thereafter, taking pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge, bar-hopping in the Mission, and digging through their pockets for a BART card.

Those of us who repeat the last of those with the compulsion of a chain-smoker know that not only does it get expensive but sometimes seems unnecessary and even foolish. "Do I have to go to The City? Do I have to even call it The City? What's wrong with Oakland? Berkeley? Albany? Are these not cities?" The fact is the Bay Area is a beautiful rich panorama of abundance. From San Jose to Wine Country and from Point Reyes to Stockton the whole region sings with the color and verve of Vivaldi during climax and a complexity that would make Kandinsky blush. This tapestry speaks to us no matter which side of the Bay we're on, whether strolling down the Wharf past sea lions and tourists or biking around Lake Merritt, hiking through Muir Woods, or searching for the peak of the Transamerica Pyramid from the terrace of a Sonoma County winery. Thus, it feels strange and sometimes foolish to head to The City for something we can get where we already are.

Photo courtesy of J-P R. De Oliveira

There are literary gatherings everywhere, but are there enough? Lauren Becker says no, and yesterday a selection of talented readers and friends gathered at Beckett's Pub in Berkeley to agree with her. Lauren is calling the as-yet defined group East Bay on the Brain. "As-yet define" because essentially Lauren talked to some friends and suddenly here we are, adding extra seats to a spacious dining room on a Sunday afternoon; the event began, I think, as a sort of experiment, to test the waters, to listen to market demand. Verdict: the waters are deep and full of fish, the fish are biting, the metaphors are not wearing thin. The market, the market is profitable!

Host and reader Lauren Becker

The first reader was Stefanie Freele, whose story "Breathing Oysters" I instantly recognized. It was a finalist in the 2008 Fiction Chapbook Contests of both Keyhole Magazine and Rose Metal Press. She is published in many places, including Wigleaf, where her story "Tinfoilers" was voted Top 50 Best of 2009, in Glimmer Train, Vestal Review, Night Train, and SmokeLong Quarterly, who in 2008 granted her the 2008 Kathy Fish Fellowship Writer in Residence and where she is now part of the editorial staff. This is the tip of the iceberg, people - pre-global warming! Stefanie has a new book out entitled Feeding Strays, which you can purchase, signed, here. She also read the pieces "Every Girl Has An Ex Named Steve" and "Because Condoms Seem So Desperate She Also Bought a Fern."

Greg Gerke, who lives in Buffalo, NY and is visiting the Bay Area for a series of readings to promote his new book, There's Something Wrong with Sven, was the second reader. I found Greg's writing to be smart, revealing much about his creative process. While I do think it's a sign of premier craft for an artist to disappear from his/her work, I do think creation that contains its own footprints is the most ideal form. That's what I most liked about Greg's readings. Whether the room agreed with this assessment or not, I think everyone found him funny. He's been published in Gargoyle, Rosebud, Fourteen Hills, Night Train, the Flash Forward Press 2009 Anthology, and still others. Enjoy:

Ethel Rohan has appeared in or is shortly to appear in over 80 online and print journals, including elimae, Wigleaf, Monkeybicycle, Word Riot, and PANK, where her collection of stories If Only We Were Seahorses was a finalist for their 2009 chapbook contest. She has an impressive and long list of awards at her site, too long to list, and an even better collection of published works you can read there. Here she reads a story called "The Big Freeze:"

We took a break somewhere around here and refilled our beers. Some even ordered food and Beckett's was good enough to bring it up to us. Andrew O. Dugas, who tweets a daily haiku under the moniker Haiku Andy and whose short story "Permanent Record" is now available to read in full on Scribd.com, read one of his favorite poems and a wonderful story entitled "Pretzel" that has just been published @ Flatmancrooked. Andrew has also been published in SoMa Literary Review, Edifice Wrecked, Unlikely Stories, and Boundoff Books ... just to name a few. You can sample his novel, Sleepwalking in Paradise, here.

Roland Goity, editor of the award-winning art and literature journal LitnImage, is a two-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize and also for the storySouth Million Writers Award. He won storySouth's notable story selection for 2008. Roland seems to have his hands in everything. In addition to having stories published in dozens of print and online magazines, he has written creative nonfiction for anthologies and business magazines, has reviewed books for the San Francisco Chronicle, and wrote the screenplay for Ariss Productions' One More Shot. Here he reads "World's a Stage," published in Eclectica.

Timothy Crandle just took over the microphone and turned the room into part of a performance; reading does not have to be an A to B affair, and Mr. Crandle is no stranger to the podium. He is the founder of Babylon Salon, "San Francisco's Rollicking Reading and Performance Series" (I only put the quotations as a formality; I thought he proved the name true yesterday). He was a finalist for the 2009 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest @ Carve Magazine and for the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for fiction @ Nimrod International Literary Journal. Babylon Salon will be holding a reading December 5 at Cantina, a great place in Nob Hill that I recently reviewed - hope to see you there!

Next up was the appropriately dressed and mustachioed Reynard Seifert, a very likable and talented young writer who publishes @ HAHA Clever "every other humpday." The site also includes comics and even mixtapes. Reynard is also author of the site's first ebook ZZZombiezzz, which includes illustrations by sixteen different artists and which I cannot wait to read in its entirety. He officially thanks whoever told him the ebook was a bad idea, but I'm kind of making fun of them right now. Watch him read "A Business Man &," which was recently published in HOBART, and "Earth Quakes."

After running the show, our hostess Lauren Becker graced us with two of her own flash pieces: "The Hamburger Story" and "Where is San Diego?" Lauren's writing is as charismatic as she is - something I would consider professional if it weren't better: down to earth. I know I speak for everyone when I thank her for putting together East Bay on the Brain and look forward to its next installment. Be sure to check the group's new page (and here) for updates.

Wish my articles were organized by topic in a handy table with feature pictures? They are!

Anyone looking for something to do this evening should make their over to Hemlock Tavern @ 1131 Polk, where Porchlight Storytelling will be hosting thier monthly open mic. There's a sign-up sheet and readers get a few minutes to froth on about the month's theme (currently "Creepy"). Get in the spirit of Halloween - winner takes home $50! There are rules, however: no notes! This is storytelling, not dictation or person reads from paper!

Cost is $5 at the door. 21+ | 6:30 - 9:30