Valentine's Hangover at Tortuga

We had an amazing time at Tortuga Gallery last night, commemorating Valentine's Day and its wake of accompanying heartaches, heartswells, and good old-fashioned doe-eyed love feelings. Readings by Marie Landau, Jennifer Krohn, Sarah Sheesley, and Brian Hendrickson were interspersed with some delightfully weird (and sometimes blushingly graphic) excerpts of fan fiction erotica, courtesy of Ty Bannerman, Nora Hickey, and Mark Gregory Lopez. If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing what Optimus Prime's first time was like, you're sorely missing out.

Tortuga is a fantastic venue, made cozily intimate with warm track lighting and local art mounted around the performance area. Its proprietor, Pax, was a welcoming host and set up the reading space beautifully. We highly recommend tuning in to this local events hub, whether it's to book your own reading or to take advantage of the literary, musical, and visual art offerings of this great community space.  

Rebecca Aronson: "I Was the Girl Who Set the Field on Fire"

Rebecca Aronson has a gorgeous new poem up at The Paris-American! We had the pleasure of hearing Rebecca read this poem at Dirt City's inaugural event at the Tannex in December, where she assured us she's no longer in the business of setting fields on fire.

Before You Become Improbable: Nick DePascal's Debut Poetry Collection

The winner of the inaugural West End Poetry Prize, Dirt City member Nick DePascal's Before You Become Improbable has garnered plenty of well-deserved praise from local media and lit journals since it hit shelves last summer. Blue Mesa Review calls Nick's book a "vivid, surreal collection" that weaves together scenes of "disaffected bank transactions, corporate life, road trips, sex, whales, seasons, and animals both wild and domestic." The Weekly Alibi ranked it among its top three picks for locally themed holiday gifts for readerly loved ones, noting Nick's "precise, forthright language" and "sharp humor laced with trenchant sadness."

If you want to hear Nick be sad and funny in person, he has two readings coming up: 

Collected Works Bookstore in Santa Fe, March 1 at 4 p.m.
University of New Mexico (exaction time and location TBD) with   Natalie Scenters-Zapico, April 24

And keep an eye out for an upcoming blog post from Nick. He may even reveal what's under that beard of his.