Shades & Shadows

It’s almost Thanksgiving, but before we enter the holiday season in earnest, we have one more treat for you in 2015. The fare we serve will not be fowl, but a much more disturbing meal. Come with us and see what dark imaginings our authors dish out.

Hosted by Lauren Candia!

$10 online (link coming soon) or at the door.

Book sales by Skylight Books.

Doors at 7:30 p.m.
Show at 8:00 p.m.

Mimoda Studio
5774 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90010

RSVP on Facebook HERE. Buy your tickets online HERE.

Shades & Shadows is thrilled to invite you to our second appearance at San Fransisco’s famous Lit Crawl! And this year, we’re proud to announce Shades & Shadows: The Girls Gone Sci-Fi Edition.

We’re partnering with Girls Gone Sci-Fi (https://www.facebook.com/GirlsGoneSciFi_) to bring you readings that explore new worlds and technologies as imagined by some of the nation’s top YA Science Fiction authors.

Jessica Brody is the author of more than eight novels for teens and adults. Unremembered and 52 Reasons to Hate My Father are currently in development as a major motion pictures.

Karen Sandler is the author of YA science fiction trilogy TANKBORN, AWAKENING, and REBELLION. She is also a founding member of We Need Diverse Books.

Sherri L. Smith writes books that rock—including the award-winning YA novels Flygirl, Orleans and her newest adventure, The Toymaker’s Apprentice. Learn more at www.sherrilsmith.com

Lauren Miller is the author of Parallel and Free to Fall. You can find out more about her current projects at www.laurenmillerwrites.com.

Hosted by Lauren Candia!

Exact location TBA, but we’ll announce it soon! It will begin promptly at 7:15 p.m. however. That much we already know.

And the best part? It’s FREE!!! Go to www.litcrawl.org/sf for all the details on this year’s event. We can’t wait to see you there!

RSVP on Facebook HERE.

It began in September of 2013. It grew in 2014. And in 2015, it will hit The Terrible Twos.

Shades & Shadows is insanely proud to invite and welcome you to our two-year anniversary show! We’ve grown so much and come so far since that first show, and none of it would have been possible without the love, support, and help from our audience. The only way we could think of to say thank you was to arrange for a lineup worthy of you all. And what a lineup it is!

Plus, just like last year, we’ll have cake! You can’t have a celebration without cake!

Featuring readings by:

AIMEE BENDER is the author of five books, including the bestseller The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, and Ny Times notable book The Color Master. Her fiction has been published in Granta, The Paris Review, Harper’s and more, as well as heard on This American Life. www.flammableskirt.com

MALLORY REAVES is an Eisner-nominated writer from Southern California. She has been writing professionally since 2005, her most recent novel being Eternity’s Wheel (published in May 2015.) She currently lives in Corona with a theater major, another writer, a snake, and several cats. Her hobbies include coffee.

TANANARIVE DUE (pronounced tah-nah-nah-REEVE doo) is the recipient of the American Book Award, NAACP Image Award, and the Carl Brandon Kindred Award. The author of twelve novels and a civil rights memoir, she has been inducted into the Medill School of Journalism’s Hall of Achievement at Northwestern University. A leading voice black speculative fiction, in 2004—alongside such luminaries as Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison—Due received the “New Voice in Literature Award” at the Yari Yari Pamberi conference co-sponsored by New York University’s Institute of African-American Affairs and African Studies Program and the Organization of Women Writers of Africa. A former Cosby Chair in the Humanities at Spelman College, where she taught screenwriting, creative writing, and journalism, she also teaches in the creative writing MFA program at Antioch University Los Angeles. Due has a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University and an M.A. in English literature from the University of Leeds, England, where she specialized in Nigerian literature as a Rotary Foundation Scholar. While working as a columnist in 1992 for the Miami Herald, she he wrote an article that was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning series on Hurricane Andrew. Due and her husband, author Steven Barnes, live in Southern California with their son, Jason.

GLENN BENEST is an award-winning writer/producer with seven produced film credits, including two high profile films by acclaimed filmmaker Wes Craven: “Deadly Blessing” and “A Stranger In Our House.” In addition to novel writing and screenwriting, Glenn hosts popular writing workshops, webinars and does private consultations with writers locally and all over the world. Six films have been launched from these groups, including “Scream” and “Event Horizon.” INK is his first novel, which he co-wrote with Dale Pitman.

MARYTZA RUBIO is a writer from Santa Ana, CA. Her work has appeared in Los Angeles Times, Slice Magazine, and The Rattling Wall. She was a 2008 PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellow, the 2010 Bread Loaf/Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholar in fiction, and a 2012 VONA alum. Her most recent story “Brujeria for Beginners” can be found in the neo-noir anthology Exigencies (Dark House Press). Find out more about her at www.marytzakrubio.com.

WALLY RUDOLPH was born in Canada to Jamaican immigrant parents and raised in Texas, Wally Rudolph smoked marijuana for the first time at the age of fourteen. The joint, rolled from the Book of Revelations of a pocket-sized bible, was the start of a fifteen year affair with illicit drugs that took him back and forth across the American Midwest. His fiction can be found in the literary journals: Lines+Stars, Palooka,The Brooklyner, and Prospect Park Books 2013 fiction anthology, Literary:Pasadena, among others. As an actor, he has appeared in numerous films and TV shows, including Street Kings, Bang Bang, and most recently, Sons of Anarchy and Hawaii 5-0. His debut novel, Four Corners (Counterpoint/Soft Skull), was published in 2014. His second novel, Mighty, Mighty (Counterpoint/Soft Skull) will be hitting shelves in October 2015. He currently resides with his family in Los Angeles. You can find out more about him at www.wallyrudolph.com, or follow him on Twitter @wallyrudolph

Hosted by Lauren Candia & Xach Fromson

$10 online HERE or at the door (hint: buy online, there may not be tickets left at the door!).

Book sales by Skylight Books!

Doors at 7:30 p.m.
Show at 8:00 p.m.

Mimoda Studio
5774 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90010

RSVP on Facebook HERE.

Shades & Shadows is back! We are thrilled to announce that we have been invited to participate in the L.A. North Hollywood Lit Crawl for the second year in a row!

This year, we’re bringing some of our all-star readers from the past year’s shows for an incredible reading event that is sure to thrill you.

Come see readings by:

Tiffany Tang is related to neither an ancient Chinese nor a powdered orange drink dynasty. She believes in writing true things and is most proud of the work she has done with the San Diego-based storytelling pioneers of So Say We All. Tiffany is an arts contributor to the San Diego Union-Tribune and a writer for Intrepid Theatre Company. Since the publication of creepy little death poems, she has also become an honorary member of the horror genre, which is surprising considering she spends most of her time avoiding anything attached to the words “scary,” “haunted” or “zombie.” This is Tiffany’s first book. tiffanyanntang.com.

Robert Payne Cabeen is a screenwriter, artist, and purveyor of narrative horror poetry. His screenwriting credits include Heavy Metal 2000, for Columbia TriStar, Sony Pictures, A Monkey’s Tale, and Walking with Buddha. Cabeen’s latest book, FEARWORMS: Selected Poems, was a 2015 Bram Stoker Award nominee. For more about FEARWORMS, visit fearworms.com.

Nicole D. Sconiers is an author and screenwriter living in the sunny jungle of L.A. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University, where she began experimenting with speculative fiction from a womanist perspective. Her debut short story collection Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair and Rage was born there and took on a life of its own after she graduated. Her work has appeared in Neon V Magazine, The Absent Willow Review, Clutch Magazine, DrPhil.com and Possibilities: A State of Black Science Fiction Anthology.

Thomas Voorhies received a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. He writes and paints out of a loft in downtown Los Angeles, and together with Lex Hrabe he has written the Quarantine novel trilogy, published by Egmont USA, under the pen name Lex Thomas.

Derek Kirk Kim is an award-winning writer, artist and filmmaker. He is the writer of the “Tune” series, the writer and director of the spin-off webseries, “Mythomania,” and the lead character designer of “Adventure Time”. He won all three major comics industry awards, the Eisner, the Harvey, and the Ignatz Award for his debut graphic novel, “Same Difference and Other Stories.” He won a second Eisner Award for his work on “The Eternal Smile,” a collaboration with National Book Award nominee, Gene Luen Yang. He eats chips with chopsticks.

Hosted by Xach Fromson & Lauren Candia

Exact time and location TBA, but it will be one of the three Lit Crawl rounds beginning at either 7:00, 8:00, or 9:00 p.m. And the best part? IT’S FREE! RSVP on Facebook here.

Lit Crawl is sponsored in part by Metro. Take the Red Line and save yourself the parking headache.

We’re ba-ack! But we’re not coming at you through your TV, we’re gonna do it live! We have a great big exciting new lineup to share with you, featuring more of the best storytellers you’ve ever heard of.

Come out and beat the summer heat by putting a little chill up your spine.

Featuring readings by:

Kate Maruyama‘s first novel HARROWGATE was published by 47North in 2013. Her work has appeared in Arcadia, Stoneboat and Controlled Burn as well as on The Rumpus, Salon and numerous other journals. She holds an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles, where she works as affiliate faculty and runs the inspiration2publication book coaching program. She writes, teaches, cooks and eats in Los Angeles where she lives with her family.

The Winner Twins, Brittany and Brianna, are national bestselling, multiple award-winning science fiction novelists, screenplay writers and producers. Their novels include THE STRAND PROPHECY, EXTINCTIONS EMBRACE, RED MOON RISING and THE PERFECT COMPATIBILITY TEST. They’ve also published an educational book on how they craft their stories called SECRET WRITING METHOD and several comic books. The twins have won numerous awards for their novels including Best Young Adult Fiction and Best First Book Fiction, and they have been featured prominently in national newspapers, online and on television. The twins founded and run a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization called Motivate 2 Learn and they have taught their unique creative writing method to hundreds of thousands of convention attendees, teachers, and students across the country. The twins were recently honored to contribute to Penguin’s acclaimed educational publication, NOW WRITE! SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY AND HORROR, along with such notable authors as Harlan Ellison, Ramsey Campbell, and Piers Anthony. Their official website is www.winnertwins.com.

John Palisano has written for Fangoria and Dark Discoveries magazines, has over thirty short stories published, and several novels, including NERVES, DUST OF THE DEAD and the forthcoming GHOST HEART. You can find more at: www.johnpalisano.com or look him up on Facebook.com/johnpalisano

Gallagher Lawson is the author of the debut novel The Paper Man. He is a graduate of UC Riverside’s Palm Desert MFA program. He has worked as a travel and technical writer and is a classical pianist. He lives in Los Angeles. You can Find him on Twitter (@ga11agher) and Instagram (also @ga11agher).

Gary Phillips – Born under a bad sign, with family roots in Texas and the Mississippi Delta, South Central native Gary Phillips must keep writing to postpone his inevitable appointment at the crossroads.  One reviewer of his Astonishing Heroes collection wrote, “It’s a book for anyone who remains nostalgic for the golden age of Toei films, blaxploitation movies, and lusty grindhouse cinema.”  His is co-editor of the upcoming Occupied Earth sci-fi anthology, and has short stories in Asian Pulp and Jewish Noir.  His website is at www.gdphillips.com.

Nicole Sconiers is an author and screenwriter living in the sunny jungle of L.A. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University, where she began experimenting with speculative fiction from a womanist perspective. Her debut short story collection Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair and Rage was born there and took on a life of its own after she graduated.

And hosted by:
Xach Fromson
and Jeff Eyers!

Book sales by Skylight Books!

July 18th, 2015 at
Mimoda Studio
5774 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90010

Doors at 7:30 p.m.
Show at 8:00 p.m.

$10 online HERE, or at the door.

RSVP on Facebook HERE.

Spring is springing, and you know what that means! Dead bodies will decompose faster! It also means that we’re bringing another lineup of amazing authors to read from their works. This lineup has a wonderful mix of genres that are sure to delight you no matter what you like. We are also changing our location to the Cafe MiMoDa, located just off Pico & Fairfax, near Little Ethiopia. The entrance to the venue is through the Paper or Plastik Cafe. For more information on the venue and location, please look at our “Location” page.

Featuring readings by:

KIT REED – Born into a Navy family, Kit Reed moved so often as a kid that she never settled down in one place, and she doesn’t know whether that’s a good thing or not. It’s a very good thing in its relationship to her new novel, WHERE, in which the entire population of a small island vanishes overnight. Even they don’t know WHERE. Her fiction covers territory variously labeled speculative fiction/science fiction/literary fiction, with stops at stations in between that include horror, dystopian SF, psychothrillers and black comedy, making her “transgenred.” In case you were wondering what kind of WHERE really is.

IAN WELKE’s short stories have appeared in KZine, Big Pulp, Zombie Jesus and Other True Stories, and the American Nightmare anthology amongst others. His first novel, The Whisperer in Dissonance, was published by Omnium Gatherum Media in 2014. His second novel, End Times at Ridgemont High was published this April.

Before writing full time, Ian was lucky enough to work at Blizzard Entertainment and at Runic Games. These days, when he’s not at his desk writing, Ian enjoys a variety of games. His favorites tend to be elaborate board games with many pieces and rules to confuse, though he’s  happiest going mad with his characters in the Call of Cthulhu RPG.

LAUREN CANDIA is the co-founder and co-host of Shades & Shadows. You can read her full bio on the “About Us” page.

AMBER BENSON is a writer, director, actor, and maker of things.  She wrote the five book CALLIOPE REAPER-JONES urban fantasy series and the middle grade book, AMONG THE GHOSTS. She co-directed the Slamdance feature, DRONES and (co-wrote) and directed the BBC animated series, THE GHOSTS OF ALBION.  She also spent three years as Tara Maclay on the television series BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. Her latest book is THE WITCHES OF ECHO PARK.

LESLIE PARRY is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her stories have appeared in The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Missouri Review, The Cincinnati Review and The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, among other publications. She was recently a resident at Yaddo and The Kerouac House. Her writing has also received a National Magazine Award nomination and an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2013. She lives in Chicago.

S.P. MISKOWSKI’s four-book series, the Skillute Cycle, is published by Omnium Gatherum. Two of the books were finalists for Shirley Jackson Awards. Her stories have appeared in Black Static, Supernatural Tales, Other Voices, and Identity Theory, and in the anthologies October Dreams II and Little Visible Delight. She has stories forthcoming in the anthologies Cassilda’s Song, The Hyde Hotel, and The Leaves of a Necronomicon. She’s the recipient of a Swarthout Award and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships.

Hosted by Xach Fromson and Lauren Candia.

Tickets are $10 HERE or at the door.

Doors at 7:30 p.m.
Show at 8:00 p.m.

RSVP on Facebook here.