San Francisco vs. Los Angeles Lit Scene

I've now gone to my first San Francisco literary event. I saw Stanford faculty member Adam Johnson read from his new novel the Orphan Master's Son, set in North Korea. He killed it. I am definitely interested in checking out the book now. I met with two former fiction workshop classmates beforehand, and two former/current faculty members read, so the feeling was very homey. Makes me want to hop on Caltrain and check out some readings/move into the English Department. Sometimes I want to live inside of the Wonder Boys forever.

Things are definitely different here! In L.A. I mainly go to single author readings or launch parties for issues of lit mags. Here it seems like the scene mainly consists of revue shows, which has its pros and cons. Pros are that there seems to be a devoted following for various events and the energy is high (readings are interspersed with short sets from bands or comics). My only gripe is that everything here costs money so I will check out fewer events - typically for a reading the author is doing it for free in the hopes you will buy a book or issue. Sad.

In the meantime, my friend Anne-Marie's book Radio Iris is excerpted here on the Two Dollar Radio website. Check it out - she's brilliant.