SNUFF Tour: Reading In St. Louis, MO!

Submit them here? Will do.

The Mad Art Gallery:

Inside:

The man:

Hey! It's that one guy!

Signing:

Stamping Rant:

Me accidentally molesting a blowup doll:

My bookmark:

Blurry Donald Ray Pollock:

Interview:

Don't know what you do and don't want, but that's what I've got....and sorry about some of the blurriness

Killer. Good stuff, Nick.

Chuck was the bomb in STL . . . what a great sport.  He treated everyone in that line like they were his long lost relative, all smiles and poses and that excellent penmanship.  He also was awesome at fielding poop questions, like "What do you think of Robot Sex?" and giving a thoughtful, five minute answer that related to literature, somehow.

The readings were great.  His story "Loser" had some killer material.  What a treat to finally meet the man himself.  His interviewer looked like Delia from Beetlejuice, and some other dude that was his "handler" from the gallery looked like Dr. Drew.  Surreal. 

Yeah, I kept thinking that the round glasses guy kept looking at me like I was going to suddenly go crazy or something.....but he might have been watching the lady putting the names in books

That looks amazing nick.  I really wish he was coming anywhere near me.  Ha, I love the anal bead bookmark.

What a great time. I didn't get any pics, but I'll try to summarize.

It was in an old police station, cool space. I'm from St. Louis, but live in Chicago and took my younger brother to this reading. His first. He laughed a lot, and I got him a copy of Snuff and Knockemstiff.

Chuck was the best. He signed all KINDS of books, not just Snuff, so I don't know who said we couldn't bring extra stuff but BOO on you.

I told him I was Richard from Chicago, and that I had the only UK of Rant last year, and he seemed to remember. Then I mentioned that my friends from the Cult interviewed him in Germany and my friend Derek got a book signed to Richard in Chicago "sorry we missed you in Munich" and he went, "Oh right..." and gave more details.

I asked him about the writer's retreat. He said they are working on the zoning around his land, and it will be a couple of years still.

I asked him about teaching at the Cult, doing an intensive, that I'd just studied with Clevenger, Drake and Barry here, and it was a blast, got me to write my novel TRANSUBSTANTIATE, and he said cool. Thought is might be a cold process, onine, but I told it was a blast. So, who knows.

I got DRP to sign. He said "Thanks for the support. Keep writing." He's doing an MFA at Iowa? and said it's going well, and he has a new novel, about a serial killer coming out next.

DRP read first, his story BACTINE, which was very good. Nice mellow guy.

CHUCK told the story LOSER, which was about a frat guy on LSD who goes on the Price is Right. It was very funny.

The chick interviewing him was TERRIBLE. Superhot, but UGH, the questions. Dildoes as metaphors, blah blah...Chuck kept tilting his head, and squinting his eyes as if WTF? but gave great answers. If I remember them I'll post them up.

I forget the Q&A from the audience but they weren't very good either.

He gave out tons of blowup sex dolls, and maybe 50 signed "autograph hounds" little white pups. Very cool.

Great time.

Peace,
Richard

I agree the girl interviewer sucked. Was she high, or drunk? I too noticed that Chuck was kinda getting pissed off,and I am sure thinking , "Who is this bimbo?" When she announced she would interview him for 30 to 40 mins, I about shit.

I think the reason the Q & A from the audience was lame, was because she took too long,and kinda dampered things quite a bit. Even Chuck was like , "Are we taking questions from the audience?" God Bless you, Chuck. She finally laid it to rest!

I think the time would have been better spent taking questions from the audience from the very beginning,and skipping the chick in the black dress interview. So........ I have been to numerous book signings, and except for "the girl" it was the most fun I've had at a signing yet! Great location,and great atmosphere. Chuck was damn awesome!!

As far as signing only the new book,and what books they had there? Blame Left Bank books. Considering all the money they make anyway, it should be open to all ,and all the books people want to bring. Of course , Chuck signed them all. He's there for the audience. Maybe Left Bank should be too!! Maybe we should follow Chuck's example in FIGHT CLUB,and revolt against the establishment,and the idea of Left Bank books posting ,"Only books signed bought from us". Time to complain, people!! Personally, if they welcomed all books,and people felt more comfortable, I know they would in the end sell more books due to their friendliness,and not their stuffiness. Get the picture, Left Bank?

So, is Chuck coming back to St. Louis for his next book??? I wanna know, because I am there as fast as a chicken on a June bug, as they say in them thar hills!!

Great time with Chuck.

Peace out!

Earp

Richard! I didn't know you were going to be there!

Also, I didn't have a problem with bringing in books.......I brought my own copy of Rant, and no one said anything

last minute thing, didn't have time to reach out to people - i was standing up front by the bar

So before we go knocking the bookstore, can we consider a thing or two? Chuck was on a book tour, and publishers want to see book sales on a book tour - AT THE AUTHOR'S EVENTS. In order for any bookstore - independent or otherwise - to be able to bring authors to cities like St. Louis (a city which is often thought of as an afterthought on big-name book tours), they need to be able to report good book sales to the publishers. Hence the policy that in order to get the NEW TITLE signed, it needed to be purchased with Left Bank Books. As far as I was aware, we were able to bring older titles. I had no problem getting my older titles signed. It was the new title that they asked us to purchase from them. And why would that be unfriendly? Why wouldn't you want to support the store that brought the author here? After all, it takes money and time and people to pull these events off, and I for one am happy to put my money where my favorite authors are.

As far as "considering all the money they make anyway" I'd like to point out that they are a lone independent bookstore in the Midwest. Independent bookstores do not make very much money. Period. Any of them. The notion that they make loads of money at author events is a bit ludicrous.

I had a great time. I hope Left Bank is able to bring him to St. Louis again.

i don't think anybody was saying that LB shouldn't sell snuff, or even make it mandatory - i didn't have  a problem with that, and i understand why it is that way - the only complaint i had was that the site said NO OTHER BOOKS, so i didn't bring any, and would have loved to have gotten a couple other things signed - no biggie

stl was lucky to get cp to come there, and i hope they will do more big name authors in the future - great time, and i think LB did a fine job

i don't think we're knocking the bookstore at ALL, or at least I'M NOT, but we should be allowed to bring older books and stuff for him to sign - i saw a table of his books for sale, but i'm sure most were not 1st editions, and as a collector, that's what i bring

glad you had a good time girl

peace,richard