Brock Clarke: The Recap

Monday night was the big Brock Clarke reading (An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England) that we proudly co-hosted along with Wordsmiths and The Wren’s Nest.  You might have read something about that here over the past few weeks. If you weren’t there, you missed a great evening. Here’s a quick recap:

DJ Hacks from Resonator mag set the mood with lots of arson-themed music. Check out the caution tape decorating the reading/tune mixing stage.  It’s all about the details.  This was destined to be the finest arson-themed book reading in the southeast from the get-go.

Just before DJ Hacks started doing his thing, Amelia from The Wren’s Nest rolled in with falafels, humus, and other assorted treats.  If you could find fellow Nest-er Lain’s bottle opener key chain, there was also tasty cold beer.

Brock Clarke read from his book for a good 20-30 minutes (a big chunk of the Robert Frost home scene if you’ve read the book). Following the reading he did some Q&A.  Mr. Clarke revealed that he found the voice of Sam, the protagonist of Arsonist’s Guide, in Saul Bellow’s Henderson the Rain King (which I Bookmooch-ed upon arriving home). He also said that he has been well received at the Emily Dickinson house and Amherst, MA, both of which featured prominently in the novel.  After taking questions, Mr. Clarke signed books for the assembled.

After signing books, Brock (we’re all on a first name basis now) mingled with the crowd, posed for pictures with the beautiful people, and took in the Wordsmiths vibe.  But wait!  There’s more!

Sealions brought the rock to finish up the evening. J Trav, the guitarist there on the left, is also the artist for the outstanding and very cool poster that we used to promote the evening.  I hadn’t seen Sealions live before, so that was a nice way to close out a Monday night.

If you missed it, be sure to catch us next time.