Really good to be back in the Charm City. Seems the same in a lot of ways – but better. It’s always had an active arts scene, but things are blowing up down there, especially in the words-on-paper world.

Here’s how it went (click pictures for details):

Went down Friday, and hit this place I used to call home. We talked to some of the current MFA students, who were very cool.

Then this guy seared us some amazing scallops for dinner.

These two friends dating back to my JHU days made it down from New England.

Our other dear friend from our writing group made the trip too.

Finally, met this guy who I’ve known over email for a long while.

He “paints” these images on his iPhone. With his fingers! (My phone died at the end of the weekend, and, inspired, I replaced it with an iPhone. I don’t think downloading a simple app will help me create things of such beauty.)

Met this excellent poet who uncovered the secret of free beer and food, and who also creates beautiful art.

Read with an old friend at the Baltimore Book Festival.

It rained the whole time, but our friends stuck out the whole reading (all eight readers).

The reading was hosted by these two generous human beings (and writers).

This is their series.

Also read with this guy, whose book (and presumably forthcoming book) can only be described as ‘important.’ This stuff has the power to change thinking (more on this later).

This guy published the other guy’s book, and a bunch of other amazing literature.

He invited us to see his band play. Awesome. He was good enough to take off his shirt (and join us for karaoke). This kid is tireless. Keep track of the things he touches.

Most of us finished the weekend at a Mexican buffet in the north of the city. Not as good as we remembered, but good enough. Hope all my readings are this much fun.

I’m looking forward to Veteran’s Day this year – going to do three readings in five days down in Georgia – two in Athens and one in Atlanta. The first reading will be with Sabrina in Athens at Cine (the theater beside The National) on October 6 – celebrating the launch of Tsim Tsum and a kind of southern homecoming for me. AND Blake Butler will be reading with us from his life-threatening Scorch Atlas. I’ll actually be doing a comics reading for that one (we’ll see how that goes), and I might even have my mini-comic available for that. Then Blake is hosting Sabrina and me in his hood down 316 for an Atlanta reading the next night, November 7th, at Kavarna, along with Laura Carter and Sandra Simonds. Then I’m going back to Athens the following Tuesday, the 10th, as a guest of my alma mater, to read at UGA’s VOX Reading Series. That reading will be another Complete Collection reading. Can’t wait.

Jamie Tanner’s book The Aviary is one of those comics I look at again and again. His weird narratives and bold, simple drawings are unsettling but comfortable; they invite rereading, in the same way folk tales do. Thankfully, Jamie would like to create a follow-up, and he’d like it to take fewer than 6 years. So, he’s using Kickstarter to raise some capital, to create some drawing time in his life. I love projects like Kickstarter because they facilitate a kind of intimacy between creator and audience. Jamie is offering all kinds of gifts for your support, from oversized prints to signed books to original pages to a cameo in the new book (!) Go here to help him reach his goal.

Molly Gaudry hypnotizes with her reading up at Apostrophe Cast right now. This is one of those readings that reminds me why we do Apostrophe Cast. Her voice come from the dark end of the tunnel and believes the words it speaks so intimately that it’s a reading which could never be done in a crowded room, in a room with anyone but the words alone. Molly claims technical difficulties caused that eerie interference at the end, but I think it’s the air responding to her words. It’s pretty damn dramatic. Go ahead and listen for yourself.

Then check out her Apostrophe Cast interview to learn why Molly claims the exclusive value of So You Think You Can Dance among all television shows.

Nate Pritts asked me to write something for his H_NGM_N blog, so I wrote my take on Seiichi Hayashi’s amazing graphic novel Red Colored Elegy. It’s a book I think more people should read. Read here, if you’re interested.

Ravi Mangla just interviewed me on his blog Recommended Reading. This site is a really interesting one because it reveals how writers are actually spending their reading hours (as opposed to the books they talk about a lot).

I have a list of New York Mets Literary classics on there – kind of a tough one to scrap together.

Read the interview here.

Uber-talented artist and writer Josh Korenblat and his fellow editors have just dropped a bomb of auspiciousness on the internet with the first issue of  /One/, a “journal of literature, art, and ideas.” Here’s the description from the announcement: “We’re pleased to announce the debut of a new online literary and arts journal. The September issue of /One/ features works by Adrienne Rich, Rigoberto González and David Sacks, among others.”

What I really like about one is that the content is a just few well-developed pieces, which is pretty rare for an internet product. (I have no problem with a big mess of stuff either, see Action, Yes.) There seems to be a harmony and a plan to the issue. I just finished reading Josh’s essay about Marc Trujillo’s photos and the theatrically empty urban landscapes they portray – excellent. Go read it. And check back on the FIRST of every month for new stuff.

First reading for The Complete Collection of people, places & things will be in my hometown – in my brand new neighborhood (just bought a house yesterday – that was insane – I had no idea that I’d be able to sign my signature for two hours straight), at Soda Bar in Prospect Heights on September 22. Pretty excited, because it’ll be with two old friends. Shanthi Sekaran will be reading from her book, The Prayer Room, following up a beautiful reading to the early morning crowd at the Brooklyn Book Fair this weekend. And Sabrina Orah Mark will be reading from her brand new poetry collection Tsim Tsum (just got a mention in The New York Times and apparently the book is selling like hotcakes). Here’s the info:

This was a good weekend all together – saw good people at the Brooklyn Book Festival, bought a house, Blake Butler was in town and gave a no bullshit reading from his relentless Scorch Atlas, saw old friends for the first time in five years, and the Jets won their first game with the rookie throwing the ball (and my fantasy team won its first game).

I wish this book existed when I was a kid. Nina gave it to me for Christmas last year, and, somehow, I just got to reading it on the train this morning. I’m definitely going to give it back to her in a couple of years. It’s a beautiful, wordless graphic novel that captures the true to fear and confusion, and even hope of the immigrant experience. It’s a world similar to ours that is just slightly off: the fashions are slightly different, the text of the world’s words suggest those in ours, the pets are endearing and scary like ours, but don’t look like ours. Tan’s drawings are rendered in layers and layers of precise pencils creating the look of a well-preserved artifact. If I had this thing as a kid, I would have spent hours with it lying on the floor of my bedroom. The pages would have been well creased. I’m giving it to Nina as soon as I’m pretty sure that she won’t tear it to shreds…

Just got back from three peaceful days in and on Long and Rhode Islands without internet, only to find … nothing to be afraid of in my inbox. Lots of good things happening, including some more upcoming comics and little books and things (that demand many hours at my drawing table in the upcoming weeks), a helluva reading that Blake Butler is putting together down in the ATL, that I’ll be sandwiching between a couple of Athens readings, and this amazing review that Weston Cutter wrote on his excellent books and music site, Corduroy Books. I couldn’t ask for a more ideal reader than this (except for my old friend Rob Hassett, but that’s a different story). When you write a book there are certain things you refuse to dictate but there are also certain specific things that you really hope people will react to in your book – and there are certain fears you have about people “not getting it” (a fear I had when I made the choice to name my characters after the marketed mythologies of my youth – Rainbow Brite, Voltron, Papa Smurf, and so forth). If I sat on someone’s shoulder while they read The Complete Collection of people, places & things and said “Look at that” and “look at that,” I couldn’t ask for more than the reading offered here.

And last week Ben Tanzer was kind of enough to say some kind words about the book on This Blog Will Change Your Life (mentions of Darger and Von Trier certainly made made me smile).