Tonight was the Texas Book Festival's TBF Hearts Indies shindig at Cheer Up Charlies brand new location on Red River in Austin, TX and it couldn't have gone any sweller.
What a night.
I am one of the founders of Slagdrop and we represented the only way we knew how: haphazardly, cheap, and drunkenly. We gave away a ton of free stuff. One of the things we gave away was our magazine, Slagdrop Presents America... You're Welcome. The connect the dots bit was pretty popular with the folks there. It's good to know that great writers like Ryan Sayles, Cheryl Couture, Cortin A. Zelaznog, Clint Margrave, Gerald Locklin, Zachary Locklin, Scott Montgomery, and a whole lot more are in the hands of a bunch of Austinites right now. We must have given away fifty copies. No one was keeping count, though.
We were also giving away Jack Arambula's and my Rick Perry Scary sticker and handmade, locally sourced, 100% organic 'drink insulators.' If you stare at the drink insulators long enough, they turn into scoby for kombucha. Hippies love that shit.
The next time you drink kombucha, think about the bacteria mound called scoby that was exploited to make it.
I sold a whole lot of Toilet Stories From Outer Space chapbooks which was really exciting. The major selling point was telling folks that each story is about a bowel movement long and was clinically proven to help ease constipation by Mr. Hara-san.
But more than the personal victories, it was great connecting with other indie publishers and authors doing great things in Austin. The Austin Review, A Strange Object, American Short Fiction, Foxing Quarterly, Fields, Unstuck... all of these people are doing great things.
Austin is the live music capitol of the world, yes, but it's also home to a budding scene of indie literature that rivals the best of them.
But I'm always representing Long Beach, CA.
Here's to Austin. Here's to indie. Here's to Lone Star. Cheers.
that looks like a delicious hamburger of sorts
ReplyDeleteIt's almost like eating a burger made fully of human toe cheese.
DeleteI wish I was there, wringing beer drizzle from your beard and letting you read to me from your book while we both poop side by side. I plan on eating you one day.
ReplyDelete