Lux Lotus

Tonight in NY: An Essential Evening

The newest book I'm publicizing is out this week and the author is making just one appearance, this evening. Details pour vous:

Screenwriter and novelist Rudy Wurlitzer, who cut a legendary swathe across the Hollywood mainstream of the '70s and '80s with outsider classics like Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop, Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Alex Cox's Walker, and later, Bertolucci's Little Buddha, among others, will be doing ONE EVENT ONLY to celebrate the publication of his new novel, THE DROP EDGE OF YONDER (Two Dollar Radio, April 1). He'll be making an appearance with his friend, two-time National Book Award finalist  Scott Spencer, whose new novel, Willing, is described as "a tour de force that explores the limits of male restraint, the intoxications of privilege, the maddening dangers of freedom, and the knockdown, drag-out fight between our instincts and our better natures," at 192 Books tonight, Thursday, April 3, at 7PM (free, but reservations required; 192books.com).

The Drop Edge of Yonder is reviewed in the new issue of Bookforum by noted critic Erik Davis, who describes it is "a genre farce with oracular power—a Queen of Hearts sutra, a court jester's Blood Meridian." 

"Rudolph Wurlitzer's dreamy and brutal new Western might read as a meditation on death, but the novelist himself is in the midst of a rebirth. Two films for which he wrote the screenplays— Two-Lane Blacktop and Walker— were recently reissued as DVDs that feature nimble commentary from the author. And The Drop Edge of Yonder, Wurlitzer's first novel in 24 years, is his best to date." -- Michael Miller, Time Out New York

"...[A] psychedelic adventure . . . Ruminative and rip-roaring at once, it's earned early raves from critics." -- Entertainment Weekly

"an Epic Western that merges the unique narrative invention of his early novels with the cinematic drift of his best scripts." -- Dazed & Confused (not online, but see this month's print issue for a full-page interview)

More recent praise for THE DROP EDGE OF YONDER:

"A mystic western possessed of anarchic charms and incantatory beauty" -- Publisher's Weekly (starred review, 2/24)

"Wurlitzer opens up his cold-blooded prose veins with the blade of the western genre, and something sinister and mystically unsettling gushes out." -- Baltimore City Paper (2/6)

"One of the most purely, deeply thrilling, inspired, and inspiring American novels I've read in many years." -- Dennis Cooper

**ONLY AUTHOR APPEARANCE** April 3 at 192 Books in New York

La Nouvelle Smart Set + Further Afield

This week's edition of The Smart Set is up at MaudNewton.com, and while my concentration is miles ahead of last week, I totally wrote it while looking at the calendar on my Blackberry. Also, if you care, if you dare, there's an interview with me at the Pilcrow Lit Fest blog.

The Smart Set

...is up at Atelier M. Newton, and guess what? I totally phoned it in.

Special thx to B. for the snapshot.

8:30AM Dance Party

Above: Santogold, L.E.S. Artistes.

La Nouvelle Smart Set

...est arrivée (hot tip: see above). And with that, baby needs a breather. I have four cultural events to look after in the next few days (do come, New Yawkahs! we can be besties in RL, too) and I am in desperate need of a MASS-ohj, as my darling pal Stephen might say. Cue "Polka Dots and Moonbeams"... I'll be back before you even have a chance to miss me. XO.

Thursday in NY: "Upstairs at the Square"

Tomorrow evening, "Upstairs at the Square" (one of my signature professional projects at the moment) welcomes literary icon Tom Wolfe, along with rising musical star Fernando Otero, in conversation with host Katherine Lanpher. In her words,

"To many of you, Tom Wolfe is the man in the white suit, the elegantly pugnacious man of letters who dueled with Norman Mailer over their places in literature, invoked Zola before he wrote his best-selling novels and will forever have a place in the journalistic firmament for his era-defining essay on New Journalism.

But the man who gave us 'Bonfire of the Vanities' and 'The Right Stuff' has a soft side, a semi-secret passion he doesn’t talk about very often – but he will this Thursday at the next Upstairs at the Square at the flagship Barnes and Noble at Union Square.

Tom Wolfe loves tango. So, to entice him on to our stage at Upstairs at the Square, we have paired him with the hot new Argentinean composer Fernando Otero, who is making his major label debut with an album described as tango meets jazz meets contemporary classical.(To give you an idea of his stature, Otero’s most recent commission was for the edgy Kronos Quartet.) This is the only appearance Mr. Wolfe is making in conjunction with the reissues of both 'Bonfire' and 'The Right Stuff.'

So come hear Tom Wolfe talk about his life, his long career and his unlikely passion for tango. And hear Fernando Otero’s newest works, inspired by the streets of Buenos Aires.

Think of it as New Journalism meets New Tango."

Barnes and Noble Union Square
4th floor
Start time: 7 p.m. sharp
This Thursday, March 13 FREE

“Upstairs at the Square,” which will celebrate its two-year anniversary this June, has paired authors such as Anne Enright, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, David Lynch, Anna Gavalda, and Armistead Maupin with musicians including The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, Duncan Sheik and members of the cast of Spring Awakening, Sondre Lerche, Au Revoir Simone, Camphor and more. A full archive of recordings of all previous events is available on Barnes & Noble.com (bn.com/upstairs), where “Upstairs at the Square” is enjoyed by listeners around the world in addition to its live audiences.

La Nouvelle Smart Set

...est arrivée.

La Nouvelle Smart Set

...est arrivée.

What To Do This Weekend

Janice Erlbaum's Have You Found Her, the book I'm currently getting the word out about, has been out two weeks and it's blowing up. Reviewers IM me to ask for books! Today alone, Janice is mentioned in USA Today in an intriguing piece on memoirs as a publishing trend, and she has a guest essay at Leslie Pietrzyk's fantastic craft and creativity-focused blog, Work in Progress. Definitely check it out, and if you have a blog and would like to receive a review copy, hit me up. I have a feeling that soon the question will be less Have You Found Her and more Have You Read It.

Another project I'm publicizing, Ludlow 38, continues its exhibition of international art fanzines, publish and be damned. Here's a pretty picture.

Superstars

Jen is in The New York Times today, for her charming apartment that I always stop by for a cup of tea when I'm in the neighborhood although that seems rare and I also just realized we live all of ten blocks apart. But we chat everyday! My pal Katherine's place has also been featured. I enjoy seeing how real people live, even when I've seen it; the whole thing reminds me of Tokyo: A Certain Style. Last night at Bookcourt was brilliant. If you're looking for a novel set in the contemporary art world, or in Williamsburg, pick up Jami's The Kept Man today. Do it anyway. I was thrilled to learn that her next novel, a work-in-progress, is set in Nebraska! We have a little crush on the place (blame Timothy). I told her how I had this gorgeous piece she gave me by an artist in her residency out there framed lavishly at L&O and hung so it's the first thing I see when open my door, and she sent me a link to the artist's blog! Janice's reading was marvelous, and I loved the fascinated follow-up questions she got, about Have You Found Her and her process and what it's like to be a detective solving the mystery of your own life. And, surely you knew this post was going to come full circle-- Janice and Jen met on the very first day of high school here in their native New York, and have been singing each other's praises ever since! I am happy to continue the trend.