Deep down, you've always known that there are goblins hiding under your bed. Maybe you've suspected that there are trolls at the recycling plant, and a mermaid living in the reservoir. You were right, and on March 25, their stories will be told at The Bindery.
"Magical Creatures in Mundane Places" brings some of the Bay Area's top writing talent together to reveal the intersections between the world we know and the creatures we only think we're imagining. Hosted by Benjamin Wachs, author of The Deeds of Pounce and A Guide to Bars and Nightlife in the Sacred City, with readings by Alyc Helms, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, and Kwan Booth.
Join us!
Benjamin Wachs is frequently mistaken for a fictional character. He has lived in a Buddhist Monastery in India, covered international nightlife for Playboy.com, was the bar columnist for the SF Weekly, and is a member of Burning Man's Philosophical Center. He is the author of the humorous fantasy novel The Deeds of Pounce, about two Goblins trying to avoid learning anything about culture and love as they save the world; and the short story collection A Guide to Bars and Nightlife in the Sacred City.
Alyc Helms fled her doctoral program in anthropology and folklore when she realized she preferred fiction to academic writing. She dabbles in corsetry and costuming, dances Scottish Highland and Irish Ceili at Renaissance and Dickens fairs, gets her dander up about social justice issues, and games in all forms of media. She sometimes refers to her work as “critical theory fanfic,” which is a fancy way to say that she is obsessed with liminality, gender identity, and foxes. She’s a freelance RPG writer for Green Ronin, a graduate of Clarion West 2012, and her short fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Daily Science Fiction, Crossed Genres, and Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. Her novels, The Dragons of Heaven and The Conclave of Shadow, are a mash-up of pulp adventure and xianxia fantasy set in San Francisco and Shanghai. She can be found on Twitter @alychelms or at www.alychelms.com.
Maggie Tokuda-Hall has an MFA in writing from University of San Francisco, and a tendency to spill things. She splits her time writing for kids and for adults and her debut children’s book, Also an Octopus, has been called “wickedly absurd” and “a perceptive how-to” that will “inspire kids to imagine a story of their own.” Her debut Young Adult novel is due out in 2019.
Kwan Booth is an award winning writer and strategist focused on the intersection of media, technology and social justice. He spends his days at a big tech company teaching people how to make money on the internet. At night he writes fiction, articles and essays that often detail the dangers of big tech companies and the ridiculous ways that people try to make money on the internet. It’s strangely satisfying. He’s the editor of the anthology Black Futurists Speak: New Black Writing and his journalism and creative writing have been published in anthologies, journals and news sites including The Guardian, Fusion, CHORUS: a literary mixtape, Beyond the Frontier: African American Poets for the 21st Century, the Journal for Pan African Studies and the East Bay Review. His awards include a Sigma Delta Chi Award from The Society of Professional Journalists and two Pushcart Prize nominations for fiction. He’s developed media projects for organizations including the Knight Center for Digital Media, The Kapor Center for Social Impact, The National Conference on Media Reform and The International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy. More info at Boothism.org
Please note: This event will be at the Bindery, 1727 Haight. RSVP appreciated but not required.
Bar opens at 3:30, event begins at 4pm.
If you cannot attend the event but would like to request a signed copy of any of the authors' books, order below and be sure to put your request in the special field.