Better Read Than Dead

I'm reading from an erotica story by Zonna called "Games" that I published in Up All Night. I had met her and done a reading with her, and then suddenly, she was gone. I think she was 42 or 43. I felt very strange, sad but also unnerved, so have the words of someone no longer alive in one of my books. I was disappointed that we wouldn't get to read any more of her stories, because they were funny and hot at the same time and had this unique quirkyness about them. "Games" is about two women who agree to be "friends" but then play a game where they take turns being blindfolded while the other one masturbates, so one can hear but not see the other, and goes mad with imagining what she's doing and what it might be like if they were together. I was honored to be asked to read on such a lineup, and grateful I get to go first. When I read at In The Flesh, which is almost always, I make myself go first to get it out of the way. I may skip reading this month, or ask someone to do it for me. I'm excited for this one but even more excited for April 18th's True Sex Confessions night. The lineup is just so fantastic and it feels like a real milestone to be doing a "2nd annual" type reading. But one thing at a time, I am so overloaded right now I can barely remember what I'm doing from one moment to the next this week.

Tuesday, March 20th
BETTER READ THAN DEAD, at the LGBT Center (208 13th Street).

Reception starts at 6 pm, reading at 7 pm.

Rachel Kramer Bussel on Zonna
Samuel Delany on ?
Wayne Hoffman on David Feinberg
Blair Mastbaum on Paul Bowles
Joan Nestle on May Swenson
Minnie Bruce Pratt on Audre Lorde
Naomi Replansky on Wilfred Owen
Lauren Sanders on Djuna Barnes