I had already made two appearances in the virtual reality world Second Life. I figured my third time would be old hat. Alas, the metaverse had it in for me. My scheduled appearance on Meet the Author with host Adele Ward (aka Jilly Kidd) went nowhere near as planned.

To start, Second Life was having rolling server shut downs. So when I attempted to login five minutes before the start of the show, I was blocked out and couldn’t get back in. Luckily I could still dial my voice into the conference line for the audio feed. However, a nice bloke named “Secondo” (a very apt first name) had to take my place on the stage. For the entire first half of the show, the crowd was convinced I had shown up in the guise of an ostentatious vampire complete with top hat, frilly coat, and fangs. I’m a horror fan, but more George Romero than Anne Rice.

Ah well, the show must go on. So I plodded on, reading the first half of “On Time,” the fourth story in The Love Book. I was a little nervous about reading the story in two parts as it slowly winds its way into the plot (unlike the other stories in the collection which attack from word one) and requires a bit more listener patience. It’s a great story, but you have to go with it to get to the payoff. Thankfully everyone seemed to enjoy Part 1. Then I was finally able to log in and my avatar appeared on stage. My luck seemed to be changing for the better. Or so I thought… I was booted out a few more times by Second Life’s server blackouts. Bloody ‘ell.

Luckily, I was finally able to get my tail back in-world, my zombie avatar revived once again, and just in time to read part 2 of “On Time,” giving the crowd a bit more of Daniel’s misadventures and strange obsessions. The fan response afterwards told me it was worth the gamble. Everyone liked the two installments of the story and were itching to read the ending.

If you missed it, you can watch the full video via SLCN’s site. Just click on the photo to the left.

And here are some snapshots from the event. Enjoy.

It was a hell of a time on March 22nd. A nice crowd of people and the rest of the Blacksmiths For Literary Progress joined me at Freebird Books in Brooklyn to officially celebrate the release of my new short story collection, The Love Book. We drank beers, huddled around with friends old and new, and made with the prose like circus performers. We even had a nice sunset coming through the front windows as we read (check the photo). It felt fantabulous to be back at Freebird Books, where we always feel at home and the readings have never failed turn out great. Many thanks to Rachel and Peter for making it all happen. And of course it made me proud to do the gig with my fellow Blacksmiths — Brian Cogan, Tim Hall, and Mike Faloon — as it was the first time we could all be in the same room in over a year-and-a-half. If you were there, I thank you for making the trek out and supporting The Love Book.

And for those of you who missed it, here is a video of me reading an excerpt from “Taking the Happy Bus on Home,” the last story in the collection (and apparently the hands down favorite amongst fans). Also below, are a few pics from the evening. Enjoy.

I’ll be making two appearances at the end of March to celebrate the release of THE LOVE BOOK.

The Love Book Reading/Release Party
When: Saturday Mar 22, 2008 @ 7:00 PM
Where: Freebird Books
123 Columbia Street
Brooklyn, New York 11231

What more could you ask for: booze, used books, and four bastardos a-readin’. Joining me will be fellow Blacksmiths for Literary Progress, Brian Cogan, Mike Faloon, and (flying all the way in from Chicago) Tim Hall. C’mon down to scenic Red Hook and join us at the finest little book shop in all of Brooklyn. More info at www.freebirdbooks.com.

“Meet the Author” in Second Life
When: Sunday, March 30, 2008 @ 5pm EST (or 2pm SLT or 10pm GMT)
Where: Red Sky Club in the Written Word Area
Second Life

This will be my third appearance on “Meet the Author” with host Jilly Kidd at the Red Sky Club in the Written Word Area. The show kicks off at 2pm SLT (or 5pm EST, 10pm GMT) and will be broadcast on SLCN TV.

If you’re a Second Lifer, or want to be, you can use this link to teleport.

To attend the event in Second Life, you’ll need to have the software. Grab it here.

If you just want to watch the show, you can view it live on SLCN’s site:
Live Stream | SLCN Site | Meet the Author page

What more could you ask for: booze, used books, and four bastardos a-readin’. I’ll be celebrating the release of my new short story collection, The Love Book, by hosting a reading at Freebird Books. Joining me will be fellow Blacksmiths for Literary Progress, Brian Cogan, Mike Faloon, and (flying all the way in from Chicago) Tim Hall.

This will be the first all-original member Blacksmiths for Literary Progress reunion since the infamous McLintlock Affair at the Grassroots Tavern that disbanded the group back in ’78.

C’mon down to scenic Red Hook and join us at the finest little book shop in all of Brooklyn. More info at www.freebirdbooks.com.

When: Saturday Mar 22, 2008 @ 7:00 PM
Where: Freebird Books
123 Columbia Street
Brooklyn, New York 11231

I had a great time particpating in the first Meet the Authors event in Second Life with my fellow Podiobook authors Tim Hall and Seth Harwood. Our host Adele Ward (Jilly Kidd) did a fantastic job and the discussion covered everything from short story writing to podcasting to “don’t quit your day job kid.” It was great to see a good crowd show up for the event. I read a (somewhat) short excerpt from “The Fabulous Omar” which is part of my new collection of stories, The Love Book. Tim read a great piece called “Club It Up” from his Triumph of the Won’t collection and Seth read “Rebuilding Men” from his podiobook of stories A Long Way From Disney

Here are some photos from the event:

Staying on the whiskey train to promote my new podiobook collection of short stories — The Love Book — I’ll be making an appearance in Second Life as my alter ego Beelzebubba Rasmuson along with fellow Podiobook authors Tim Hall and Seth Harwood.

The Full Details are:

Lineup: Ken Wohlrob, Tim Hall and Seth Harwood
Host: Jilly Kidd, produced by Joysco
Location: Joysco Convention Center with a simulcast at sLiterary Events Center
When: Saturday, June 23, 3:00pm SLT (6:00pm EST)

Come visit us in-world for the event. We’ll be participating in a panel discussion on short story writing, podcasting, and also reading excerpts from our new audiobooks being released by Podiobooks.

Another grand time at Freebird Books out in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Myself, Mike Faloon, Brian Cogan, and Steve Reynolds all took part in the celebratory reading for the release of Go Metric Issue #21.

As expected a great crowd of friends and supporters came down to hear us read. My piece, “Let the Altar Boys Loose,” seemed to go over really well with good hearty laughs from the crowd. You can read a different edit of the piece in Go Metric #21. Of course, extra special thanks goes out to Rachel and the nice folks at Freebird Books for having us down once again and treating us so well. Go visit them in Red Hook and support the shop.

Here are some shots from the reading (audio to come soon):

You can get Go Metric at any magazine shop worth its salt, or you can order online at any of these places:

www.razorcake.com
www.quimbys.com
www.atomicbooks.com

Much thanks indeed to all the friends, loved ones, and other drunks who came down to Junno’s this past Tuesday (May 31st) to see myself and Tim Hall sell the sizzle as well as the steak. We had a blast reading some of our more humor-based pieces — even doing the odd voices and characters to the best of our abilities — and it was a great thing to see the reactions to the absurd tales and cock jokes that we were throwing down.

A Special Reading in New York City

Tim Hall and Ken Wohlrob
Reading material from new books and short stories.
Where: Junno’s
When: Tuesday, May 31st at 7:30 pm
64 Downing Street
New York, NY 10014

Brand new material, plenty of humor, and of course drinking! Come down and support underground lit. Bring friends and enemies!

Click for directions.

Directions to Junno’s:

By Subway: 1 or 9 train to Houston Street station or A,B,C,D,E or F train to West 4th Street station.

By Car from West Side Highway: Take Clarkson Street Exit. Drive straight then make right on Varick Street.

By Car from the east side: Drive west on Houston Street then veer right onto Bedford Street at 6th Avenue. Then make first left onto Downing Street.