Videos of past recent readings

Finally got to videoing (is that a word?) again and here are readings that both Mark and I gave in the recent years. Spoken Word if you’re fancy and we know you’re fancy.

We are also reading again at First Floor Walk Up Reading Series on Monday, April 21st at 7pm at One and One LES (76 E 1st Street, New York, NY 10009). It’s free.

FB event link

Videos of us speaking in public below

First Floor Walk Up Reading Series - Monday, April 21st

Mark and I will be reading fiction at the First Floor Walk Up Reading Series on Monday, April 21st at 7pm at One and One LES (76 E 1st Street, New York, NY 10009)

All the deets below:

First Floor Walk Up Presents Bi-Weekly Readings of
Poetry and Prose at

One and One
76 E. 1st St. @ 1st Ave

F Train to 2nd Ave Station

FREE 

Monday, April 21st, 7 PM
FB
event link

Featured writers/poets/creatives’ bios below: 

MEGHAN GRUPPOSO

Originally from the gorgeous woods of southern New Hampshire, Meghan Grupposo holds a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School. She is a co-founder, former COO and co-editor of NeuroNautic Institute Presents and Press. Meghan’s work can be found in her handbound chapbook, Bouquet (NeuroNautic Press), & in various anthologies, including NYC From the Inside (Blue Light Press), arriving at a shoreline and Escape Wheel (great weather for MEDIA), the Dada Journal Maintenant, Issues 14-17 (Three Rooms Press), Love Love Magazine, Polarity, & Rucksack a Global Poetry Patchwork’s multimedia project, Hair in the Wind. She’s a 2020 Pushcart Prize nominee. Meghan happily resides in New York City with her two cats.

ANDREA DeANGELIS

Andrea DeAngelis is at times a poet, writer, shutterbug and musician living in New York City. Her writing has recently appeared in Carmina Magazine, Corvus Review, HauntedMTL and Bowery Gothic. Andrea also sings and plays guitar in the indie rock band MAKAR (www.makarmusic.com)  who are currently recording their fourth album, Exit Earth. She tries not to disturb her neighbors by putting her guitar amp in the closet.

MARK PURNELL

Mark Purnell is a writer, investor and musician living in New York City. His writing has recently appeared in The Molotov Cocktail and he is currently working on his debut novel. Mark sings, writes and plays piano in the indie rock band MAKAR (www.makarmusic.com).


JEFFERY BERG

Jeffery Berg is a writer who lives in Jersey City. He received an MFA from NYU. His poetry has appeared in various journals, including most recently in Pine Hills Review. His film criticism can be found at Film-Forward. His debut poetry collection, RE-ANIMATOR, is forthcoming in 2026 from Indolent Books.


VIRGINIA RANDALL

Virginia Randall grew up on the Lower East Side and her work has appeared in Narratively, Italian-Americana, Straus Newspapers and various blogs. She is a freelance culture writer and former UPI reporter.  This reading takes place where she bought her comics as a kid.

Please note that we’re not necessarily reading in the above order and that the event starts promptly at 7pm and ends around 8pm.

I’m also going to be uploading the past reading we did to YouTube here in the next week or so.

Hope to see you there!

Circling the Void published in Carmina Magazine on 9/16/23

My short story Circling the Void was published in Carmina Magazine on 9/16/23.

I am very excited about this. It’s an example of finding a way back to a story and revising and expanding.

I really started to work on this story, which I only had a kernel for one of Molotov Cocktail’s awesome contests. And then significantly expanded it after getting a close but no cigar from them. So it’s all about revision and persistence and finding the right home and Carmina Magazine’s mission inspired and encouraged me.

This story is also an example of songwriting and fiction coming together since the character Fancy first appeared in MAKAR’s song Fancy Hercules.

I delve into the inspiration and creation of this story in fuller detail in my author note at the end of my story.

http://carminamagazine.com/sept-2023.html

Good Dirt I published in Corvus Review July 2, 2023

Good Dirt I was published in Corvus Review Issue 20 Spring/Summer 2023 on July 2nd. My story starts on page 63.

July 2nd was also my mom’s birthday and this story is dedicated to her and hopefully has a little of her magic.

Good Dirt II appeared in Molotov Cocktail’s Flash Feast Contest, coming in fifth. II is a weird horror companion piece.

Good Dirt was inspired by my paternal grandmother declaring that my parents needed good dirt trucked in.

me and my mom looking alike, velour, baby

My flash fiction piece, Good Dirt II, was published in Molotov Cocktail

My story Good Dirt II was published in Molotov Cocktail’s Flash Feast Contest. I got #5 out of 10!

A little taste

“I don’t know what I was before I was born into slow flesh, flawed and corrupting, but I know I will find the answers grubbing in the dirt”

My other submission Good Dirt I got a close-but-no-cigar shortlist shout-outs! Pretty cool and it eggs me on because sometimes writing is a lonely pursuit and you get covered in dirt.

Very excited that Good Dirt II will be included in a future Molotov Cocktail’s Prize Winners Anthology print issue.

Please sink your teeth into the entire Flash Feast issue!

And congrats to all the winners!

PS: a friend of mine said that this story “treads the fertile uncertain line between horror and sci-fi”. So I feel cool now

Source: https://themolotovcocktail.com/vol-13/flas...

My flash fiction piece, The Eyes, was published in Molotov Cocktail’s Flash Legend Mega Issue

My flash fiction piece, The Eyes, was published in Molotov Cocktail’s Flash Legend Mega Issue.

The craziest thing about this is Mark’s (my husband) piece La Puerta placed in the top ten of their Flash Legend contest as well. The editors commented that --

“We also saw a Molotov first, with two people who apparently live at the same address each scoring a slot in the Top 10 (must be something in the water)."

Once we saw that scrolling down on the contest winners’ announcement page, we hoped they were talking about us.

And they were!

flashlegendcover3.jpg

My story
The Eyes – No. 4
https://themolotovcocktail.com/vol-10/flash-legend/the-eyes/

Archived Copy

Note about this story’s inspiration - I wrote it about The Deogen legend in the Sonian Forest .

evileyes.png

Mark’s story and first published piece below
La Puerta – No. 9 (a suitable musical placement)
https://themolotovcocktail.com/vol-10/flash-legend/la-puerta/

Archived Copy

morrison3.png

Also, super exciting, both of our stories will be included in Molotov Cocktail’s Fifth Annual Prize Winners Anthology (details on that in late summer).

We’re looking forward to reading the entire issue.

The Molotov Cocktail is a Portland-based electronic literary journal serving as a projectile for incendiary flash fiction of the dark and offbeat variety. We believe flash fiction should ignite on contact and engulf the page.

Check them out on Twitter too.

Umbrella Factory Magazine - Editors and Contributors issue #21

I’m incredibly honored to have been selected by the Editor in Chief of Umbrella Factory Magazine to be part of their Editors and Contributors issue #21. I was one of six contributors from issues 1-20 to be a part of this issue!

Five of my poems - I should have done something, Fern, Pipe Dream, Daughter Decay & rummy - were published in this issue on September 15, 2015.

You can read the issue at following link
ttp://issuu.com/blog-site/docs/issue_21?e=0/30086363

A little about Umbrella Factory Magazine:
“We are a small press determined to connect well-developed readers to intelligent writers and poets through virtual means, printed journals, and books. We believe in making an honest living providing the best writers and poets a forum for their work.”

Be sure to follow Umbrella Factory on twitter and like them on FB

My poem, Red Shift, was published in Dark Matter Journal

My poem, Red Shift, was published in Dark Matter Journal (Issue 6 - February 2015) 

http://darkmatterjournal.org/2015/02/issue-6-is-now-online.html

My poem is on p.8  

“The reason the siren slides is because it doesn't hit you.”

The above quote in my poem should be attributed to Astronomer John Dobson. The footnote was erroneously omitted. 

About Dark Matter Journal:

Dark Matter is a blog for speculative literature. Dark Matter refers to the unknown particles suggested by the Standard Model to explain observations of gravity which cannot be accounted for by observable matter and energy. It could also be considered a reference to the thoughts and ideas that ferment inside a human brain before they emerge through spoken or written words. The title was chosen to reflect the emphasis of the unknown in both scientific inquiry and creative writing. Modern science provides new opportunities for natural metaphor to search for and create meaning in all areas of human thought and endeavor. Dark Matter will use cosmological, evolutionary, quantum mechanical and traditional natural metaphor to elicit literary thought and infuse modern ideas into poetry and prose.

Source: http://darkmatterjournal.org/2015/02/issue...