Good news, everyone! After taking some time to balance life and work, I am happy to announce I am getting settled in the new flat! We moved in one week ago Friday, and things are starting to take shape. My partner and I worked really hard to slim down our collections - including the books - and fit our lives into a two-bedroom one-bath. The flow of this place actually works better than the last place, and after a “Cheers moment” we shut the door on the last chapter of our lives. It was less bitter than we had feared, and definitely sweetened by hosting our S+M Salon in the space for the last time. We had friends from near and far come together to celebrate weird lit and creative energy. (New York Times best-selling author John Skipp crashed on my futon. I live a strange life!) Moving while hosting and running the Bizarro Authors Association table at Printers Row Lit Fest was a challenge, a stressor, but ultimately a welcome plate to keep spinning. It anchored us in a time of big changes. We accomplished a great deal that weekend, and I got to launch the brand new BizarroCentral.com website.
In the very small slice of private time I squirreled away, I was invited to the board preview night for Strawdog Theater Company’s musical Take Me. It may not have been appreciated by some of the city’s critics, but it was exactly the right mix of surreal, funny, and heartbreaking for my taste. It was a work of experimental bizarro performance. The short of it is a woman’s husband dies in a plane crash, her child goes missing, and she is so distraught she invents a reality for herself wherein they were abducted by aliens. The only way to reunite with them is to be abducted as well. It was brilliant in its self-awareness. It made the hardest to swallow drama lighter, in turn making you empathize with her desperate attempts to cope with her despair.
Somewhat less conceptual, this month’s set is Neapolitan. You get exactly as is labeled on the tin. Relax with me over a bowl of sweet creamy goodness in bed. Everyone be sure to grab the desktop background attached to this post. VIPs are getting the full 40 image photoset, and Backstage Patrons also get 18 beyond-the-set images this month! Be sure you're logged in on my site to view the images. Feel free to give the set some love by leaving a comment or clicking the heart below. As always, thank you to all my Patrons. You make art happen.