Jeff Nicholson

Reading is about more than following a narrative or absorbing information; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, which celebrates the books that inspire Denver artists.

Deacon Gray, an Oklahoman transplant who honed his comedic expertise through years of working thankless road-dog gigs, is the new-talent coordinator in Denver's most celebrated comedy club. As such, he slaloms between developing his own act and mentoring insecure young comics who seek to benefit from his 25 years in the game.

See also:
- Westword Book Club: Comedian Adrian Mesa on searching for spirituality in literature
- Deacon Gray thinks Denver could use a more monthly alternative comedy shows
- A guide to DIY comedy tours with the Fine Gentleman's Club

More »

Kerry Kara

Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature that celebrates the books that inspire Denver artists.

Lynda Hilburn, an author and psychotherapist based in the Boulder area, specializes in paranormal tales of romance with titles like Diary of Narcissistic Bloodsucker. Blending genre elements before such literary mash-ups were in vogue, Hilburn believes that escaping into literature is a vital coping mechanism. Westword recently met up with Hilburn to discuss her love of disappearing into paranormal narratives, vampires and the erotic fiction business.

See also:
-Vampire 5K at Denver Botanic Gardens
-Westword Book Club: donnie betts on reading from the bottom shelf of the library
-Westword Book Club: J.A. Kazimer on peeing in a bottle and writing what you know

More »

Catherine J. Cerulli

Though they seem polar opposites, vegans and hunters have more in common than you might think, according to Tovar Cerulli. He would know; he's been both. In his new book, The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian's Hunt for Sustenance, Cerulli traces his relationship with mindful eating through years of being vegan to his ultimate decision to hunt his own food.

Cerulli will read from and sign his book at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Tattered Cover LoDo as part of the Rocky Mountain Land Series. We spoke with Cerulli in advance of his talk about his dietary journey and the complicated ethics of eating.

See also:
- Five great fashion documentaries from the last half-decade
- Tips for gardening in small spaces from Gayla Trail
- RedLine artist Dylan Scholinski turns the tables on therapists in 72-Hour Hold

More »

Ryan Brackin

Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature that celebrates the books that inspire Denver artists.

Evan Nix is a local filmmaker with roots in Denver's comedy scene. With the help of his younger brother, Adam, a fellow filmmaker with whom he shared a Westword MasterMind award this year, Evan Nix has developed a fruitful creative relationship with the Grawlix comedy trio, producing several sketch videos along with the annual Laugh Track Comedy Festival. This week, Nix met with us to discuss the books that helped shape his sense of humor, as well as the importance of insulating yourself in naivete in order to follow your bliss.

See also:
- Meet the 2013 MasterMinds: Evan and Adam Nix
- Westword Book Club: J.A. Kazimer on peeing in a bottle and writing what you know
- Evan Nix's top picks for the Laugh Track Comedy Festival

More »

Noah Eli Gordon's newest book is hard to pin down. And why would you want to? The Year of the Rooster, out now on Ahsahta Press, is best understood through experience rather than painstaking analysis. It's wild and flowing, playing with gender pronouns, musical imagery, and poetic forms to create a thoughtful, vibrant work full of multiple interpretations. At the center is the the rooster of the title, who flits in and out of the work as both a grounding, repetitive image and enigmatic character.

Gordon will read this Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Innisfree Poetry Bookstore and Cafe in Boulder, along with Graham Foust, Eleni Sikelianos and Anne Waldman. We caught up with Gordon, a CU Boulder assistant professor and Letter Machine Editions co-publisher, about Rooster, how failure as a musician led him to poetry, and his decision to dedicate his release to the memory of fellow Colorado poet Jake Adam York.

See also:
- Poet Serena Chopra on contemporary loneliness and her first full-length book
- Jake Adam York, Colorado poet and teacher, dead at forty
- Westword Book Club: J.A. Kazimer on peeing in a bottle and writing what you know

More »

Cindy Miller

Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature that celebrates the books that inspire Denver artists.

J.A. Kazimer is a Denver-based writer with a fascinating, wide-ranging set of skills and interests. The author of books with such disparate titles as SHANK, Holy Socks and Dirtier Demons and Froggy Style: A Fucked-Up Fairy Tale,, Kazimer has been uniquely influenced by the books she's read -- when she was finally able to read. This week, Westword sat down with Kazimer to discuss those books, dyslexia and her interesting work history.

See also:
- Westword Book Club: donnie betts on reading from the bottom shelf of the library
- Westword Book Club: Comedian Adrian Mesa on searching for spirituality
- Noir @ the Bar celebrates red-meat fiction and remembers writer Cort McMeel

More »

Last year, a cadre of Denver's finest noir fiction writers skulked their way over to Juanita's for Denver's inaugural Noir @ the Bar fiction event. The success of that first edition was measured in viscera: "The uninitiated left Juanita's bleeding from the ears, and unsuspecting diners were found vomiting in the gutters of Broadway for hours afterwards," they reported.

In the year and change that followed, the noir genre has continued its literary renaissance, and anticipation grew for a a second set of live authorial readings of red-meat crime stories. Sadly, the past year also witnessed the death of organizer Cortright McMeel, a promising writer whose career was cut tragically short.

See also:
- Noir at the Bar comes to Denver Thursday
- One chapter book reviews: Cort McMeel Short, chapter 18
- Westword Book Club: Ryan Demers on filmmaking, furries and Gone Girl

More »

Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature that celebrates the books that inspire Denver artists.

This week we checked in with standup mainstay Jodee Champion, who performs all over Denver and does the weekly Comic Cents Radio on tradiov.com/Denver, which airs at 1 p.m. every Friday; she also cheekily documents the humorous disarray of her love life on her website Onlinedatinggems.com. Keep reading to learn her childhood literary favorites as well as the influence that satirists have had on her comedy.

See also:
- Westword Book Club: Brandi Shigley focuses on the essential and eliminates the rest
-Westword Book Club: donnie betts on reading from the bottom shelf of the library
- Westword Book Club: Comedian Adrian Mesa on spirituality in literature

More »

A young woman with a supernatural talent for finding things goes looking for trouble and gets it in the form of a monstrous man who uses children for his own dark ends in Joe Hill's new novel NOS4A2. The book delves into a world where certain special people can make dreams real, then explores what happens when some of those people are dedicated to their nightmares. His first novel, Heart Shaped Box, made the New York Times bestseller list and he's collected a variety of awards for his fiction, including a Bram Stoker award for his short story collection 20th Century Ghosts. Oh, and he's also the son of Stephen King.

Given all that, and the fact that he's referred to NOS4A2 as his senior thesis on the horror genre, it's no surprise that the book is an irresistible dive into the dark side of fiction, full of compelling heroes and villains and unforgettable images. Before Hill's appearance Thursday, May 9 at the Tattered Cover LoDo, where he'll read from and sign NOS4A2, we caught up with him to talk about the book, his unified theory of fiction, and why he loves Joss Whedon and The X-Files.

See also:
- Event: Joe Hill NOS4A2 signing
- Benjamin Percy's Red Moon elevates werewolves to literature
- Killing Firefly was Fox's biggest fail ever

More »

Rory Freedman

Most fans will know author Rory Freedman as co-author of the best-selling Skinny Bitch, a lifestyle book disguised as a diet book. Now she's back to expand on her philosophy about animals in Beg: A Radical New Way of Regarding Animals. And to some people, it will seem radical.

We talked to Freedman -- who'll be at the Tattered Cover, 2526 East Colfax Avenue, to read from Beg at 7:30 p.m. tonight -- about the different tone of Beg (she's given up swear words!), the Beg for Change challenge and how she's shaped her lifestyle to match her feelings about animals.

See also:
- Win two tickets to Michael Pollan's sold-out lecture at DU
- Animal abuse registry fails over concerns people listed would be hounded forever
- Can Triple M Bar's flock create a Colorado lamb comeback?

More »