----/ The Squid List /-------------------------------------------------- Atomik Aztex: Reading and Book Signing with Sesshu Foster
Thursday, January 19th, 2006 7 -9PM donations welcome ----/ Event Description /----------------------------------------------- Join Kearny Street Workshop and City Lights for a reading and book signing with Sesshu Foster, author of Atomik Aztex, a fantastical gonzo Aztlán mythology, where modern Aztecs and immigrant ghosts uncover blood sacrifice in Los Angeles In the alternate universe of Atomik Aztex, the Aztecs rule, having conquered the European invaders long ago. Aztek warriors with totemic powers are busy colonizing Europe, and human sacrifice is basic to economic growth. Reading will be followed two days later by a two-hour workshop with Sesshu Foster. Sesshu Foster has taught composition and literature in East L.A. for 20 years. He's also taught writing at the University of Iowa and the University of California, Santa Cruz. His work has been published in THE OXFORD ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN AMERICAN POETRY (seehttp:// www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/foster/foster.htm) and, recently, XCP: STREETNOTES (www.xcp.bfn.org/foster.html). One of his last readings at St. Mark's Poetry Project NYC is Mp3 archived at Salon.com (www.salon.com/audio/2000/10/05/foster/). He is currently collaborating with artist Arturo Romo and other writers on the website, www.ELAguide.org. His most recent books are the novel ATOMIK AZTEX (City Lights, 2005), and AMERICAN LONELINESS: SELECTED POEMS (Beyond Baroque, 2006). About Atomik Aztex A fantastical gonzo Aztlán mythology, where modern Aztecs and immigrant ghosts uncover blood sacrifice in Los Angeles In the alternate universe of Atomik Aztex, the Aztecs rule, having conquered the European invaders long ago. Aztek warriors with totemic powers are busy colonizing Europe, and human sacrifice is basic to economic growth. Zenzontli, Keeper of the House of Darkness, is plagued by nightmares of a parallel reality where American consumerism reigns supreme. Ghosts of banished Aztek warriors emerge to haunt contemporary Los Angeles, and Zenzontli's visions of Hell become real as he's trapped in a job in an East L.A. meatpacking plant. "If the Aztecs had defeated the conquistadores and had eventually become the mainstream, what would our world be like? Where is Teknotitlán located? In Robo-Los Angeles, Mexico D.F., or in the imagination of Sesshu Foster? If Ancient America had triumphed over savage capitalism, chicanismo would be the (poetical, political, and spiritual) center of it all. Atomik Aztex is a graphic, hilarious and violent chronicle of multiple realities that could emerge out of this proposition. It's an amazing exercise of radical imagination." - Guillermo Gómez-Peña "Punk sci-fi and kitchen-sink realism create a startling, morally fraught vision in Foster's genre-straddling tour de force. . . . readers will be blown away by Foster's control over the material . . . brilliantly inventive . . . " -Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "This is one mad neighborhood carnival roller coaster ride through Aztlán, the underground, the QT-a smoky universe hall of mirrors cosmik barrio existential comic strip. Oddball, hilarious-deep. Sesshu Foster delivers." -Marisela Norte, author of East L.A. Days/ Fellini Nights "Burroughs meets Gómez-Peña . . . nah, Roque Dalton meets Kurt Vonnegut . . . or how about Cesaire meets Nezahualcoyotl? Dare we say original? Yes! Hilarious, poignant, and at times devastating, Foster has crafted a fine post-global poetic, a cocktail of sublime anarchy to toss into the machine." -Rubén Martínez, author of The New Americans: Seven Families Journey to Another Country "Anyone who reads Atomic Aztex is doomed. Those who don't have lost their opportunity to go out with a salubrious whimper, never to know why they were condemned. The prose is an electrifying, eclectic phantasmagoria of Groucho's marxism, dadada, surreal and natural (ism and ain'tm) combined with double-edged intellectual/historical hysteria." -Rick Harsh, author of the Driftless Trilogy ----/ Venue Info /------------------------------------------------------ space180 180 Capp Street, 3rd Floor San Francisco 415.503.0520 http://www.kearnystreet.org By Public Transit BART From 16th Street BART Station, walk down Mission Street to 17th Street. Take a left onto 17th Street. Take your next left at Capp Street. Find Space180 on the left side, 180 Capp Street. KSW is located on the 3rd Floor. Bus KSW is located on Capp Street at 17th Street. We are near all Mission Street bus lines. To plan your trip, we suggest visiting transit.511.org. By Car From East Bay I-80 W/BAY BRIDGE. I-80 W/BAY BRIDGE becomes I-80 W. Take the exit towards 9TH STREET/CIVIC CENTER. Go straight onto Harrison Street. Turn right on 17th Street. Turn right on Capp Street. Space180 is on the left at 180 Capp Street. KSW is located on the 3rd floor. From the North 101 South to GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE Take Lombard Street Exit.. Go straight on Lombard Street. Take a right on Van Ness Avenue. Take a right onto Market Street. Take a left onto Valencia Street. Take a left onto 17th Street. Take a left onto Capp Street. Space180 is on the left at 180 Capp Street. KSW is located on the 3rd floor. From the South Bay/ Peninsula US-101 N. Take the Vermont Street Exit. Turn left onto 16th street. Turn left onto Capp Street. Space180 is on the right at 180 Capp Street, right before you hit 17th street. KSW is located on the 3rd floor ----/ Additional Info /------------------------------------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] 415.503.0520 http://www.kearnystreet.org ----/ The Squid List Admin /--------------------------------------------- The Squid List, a tentacle of Laughing Squid http://laughingsquid.org/squidlist/ subscribe, unsubscribe, change your email address or change your subscription options: http://lists.laughingsquid.org/mailman/listinfo/squidlist/ Frequently Asked Questions & Submission Guidelines Squid List FAQ: http://laughingsquid.org/squidlist/faq.html The Squid List Online Calendar: http://laughingsquid.org/squidlist/calendar/ The Squid List RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/squidlist ----/ Laughing Squid /-------------------------------------------------- Laughing Squid http://laughingsquid.com underground art and culture from San Francisco and beyond Laughing Squid Web Hosting http://laughingsquid.net friendly, dependable and secure web hosting services for artists, individuals, bloggers, non-profits and small businesses The Squid List is licensed under a Creative Commons License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/
