reading from their new work

The Show that Smells
by Derek McCormack
edited by Dennis Cooper

published by Akashic Books

Derek McCormack begins his quirky Tod Browning-inspired tale with a disclaimer: "This book is a work of fiction. It is a parody. It is a phantasmagoria . . . Elsa Schiaparelli was never a vampire. Shocking! by Schiaparelli never contained blood." The work of Schiaparelli, a 1930s Italian fashion designer, was influenced by Surrealist Salvador Dali, and the same spirit permeates The Show that Smells, which is set in a maze of mirrors. Schiaparelli dresses introduced playfulness to the fashion industry and a sense of "anything goes." She branched into perfume and became designer to a number of film stars. In addition to Schiaparelli, this tale is about Jimmie Rodgers, a country music singer dying of tuberculosis, and his wife, Carrie, who tries to save him by selling her soul to a devil who designs haute couture clothing.

Derek McCormack is the author of Grab Bag (Akashic) and The Haunted Hillbilly (Soft Skull), which was named a "Best Book of the Year" by both the Village Voice and the Globe and Mail, and was a Lambda Literary Award finalist. He writes fashion and arts articles for the National Post, and lives in Toronto.

Kevin Killian reads from recent selected works.

Kevin Killian is a poet, novelist, critic and playwright. He has written a book of poetry, Argento Series (2001), two novels, Shy(1989) and Arctic Summer (1997), a book of memoirs, Bedrooms Have Windows(1989), and two books of stories, Little Men (1996) and I Cry Like a Baby(2001). He has also edited a collection of short stories by the late Sam D'Allesandro, The Wild Creatures. For the San Francisco Poets Theater Killian has written thirty plays, including Stone Marmalade (1996, with Leslie Scalapino) and Often (2001, with Barbara Guest). He has also written a book about Kylie Minogue. With Lew Ellingham, Killian has writen a biography of the American poet Jack Spicer titled: Poet Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Rennaisance. Together with Peter Gizzi, Kevin recently edited My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer (Wesleyan Poetry). Kevin is also the recipient of the 1996 PEN Oakland /Josephine Miles Award.