[Autonogram] Saints and Sheroes on the half-dime; NYC fiction reading

[Ben at Autonomedia]

hello, friends --

This quick note has two functions: to let you know about our 
end-of-the-calendar-season half-price sale, and to recruit anyone 
near New York City to come hear our newest fiction author read from 
his work this weekend. To wit:

* * *

There comes a time every winter, just after Groundhog Day and before 
the warehouse begins to thaw, when we look at the few boxes of 
still-new, still-crisp Sheroes and Jubilee Saints calendars lining 
the shelves and think "Oh, if they only had homes...." This is 
quickly followed by a renewed vigor to sell them all, cheap, however 
we can do it.

Blah blah blah, you know the story, they're only $5 each, and if you 
buy 2 or more we'll pay the shipping cost (if it's domestic -- and 
bear in mind, this won't appear in the web-generated invoice, but 
only on the actual credit card payment). It's only the middle of 
February, so these things are still full of life, and with some 
scissors and glue you can stretch last month into next year.

http://www.autonomedia.org/calendars will be as good a starting place 
as any for these, so go nuts!

* * *

As everyone knows, Autonomedia doesn't publish much fiction, but as 
it happens we've got two pieces in the works right now. The second, a 
novella by Bart Plantenga about the diminishing adventures of a 
professional psychogeographer, should be out by the break of spring, 
and Bart will likely be touring parts of the U.S. soon, explaining 
what it's all about.

The first, "Negativeland" by Doug Nufer, is due out in a few weeks, 
and is the first Oulipian novel to come from our hallowed halls. The 
OuLiPo is a society of writers applying extreme constraints to their 
practice -- omitting letters, writing according to mathematical 
formulae, structuring books around chess patterns, etc. -- and in 
"Negativeland", Doug Nufer dives right in to this world, though I 
won't blow his cover by outing his device-of-constraint. Though the 
trick with any Oulipo novel is to minimize the presence of its 
device, making it transparent or at least secondary to the literary 
needs of the writing, the title of Nufer's work gives a strong 
indication of where he's going with it.

In any case, Harry Mathews, the primary Oulipo writer in the US, 
called Doug Nufer a "genius", whose "experiments are consistently 
successful." He'll be reading in New York City this Friday night (Feb 
20th) at 8pm at Fusion Arts, 57 Stanton Street just west of Allen 
(2nd Ave F-train), along with fellow Unbearables Ron Kolm and Sharon 
Mesmer.

* * * * *

That's all I have for now, so order some calendars, come to Doug's 
reading, read the Info Exchange daily (http://slash.autonomedia.org) 
, and I'll be in touch again soon.

bests,
Ben at Autonomedia

(reminding you also the the links at the top of this email control 
your subscription options)