Tony O’Neill, one of the rising stars of the Offbeat Generation (who also happens to be a Brutalist), organised the recent Userlands reading in New York. Here he presents the readers from left to right:
Zac German: turned up late, read, and then vanished into the ether. His stuff is completely original, crazy. He sounded like a crazy person rambling to himself, or a hyperactive teenage kid stoned on thorazine. Except it was great, darkly funny and one of the most original things I’ve heard in a while. I don’t know anything about this guy except that his story is in Userlands and he’s about 6 feet tall.
Marc Andreottola: read an excerpt from his novel in progress. His writing was full of incredibly bizarre imagery, and he got a really warm reaction from the audience.
Justin Taylor: read a wry story about anarchists and is also the editor of an upcoming anthology on Thunder’s Mouth Press which features stories by Tao Lin and HP Lovecraft.
Jeff Jackson: read from his Userlands story “3 Untitled Stories About Smoking”. Jeff is also the curator of an amazing Free Jazz website.
Tony O’Neill: I introduced the readers, and read a statement from Dennis Cooper who regretted the fact he couldn’t be there. My job was easy: I got to hear some great up and coming authors and basically get drunk and hang out a little. It was a lot of fun.
