The Philadelphia Fantastic Authors and Editors Series invite you to
join us and meet author James Morrow reading from his latest
release, Shambling Towards Hiroshima.
 
 
The place is Moonstone Art Center, 110 S. 13th Street, Phila.,
Pa, conveniently located in Center City Philadelphia at the corner of
13th and Sansom Sts.The date and time is Friday, April 24, 2009 at 7:30
PM.
Signing of the work will immediately follow the event.


Set in 1945, Shambling Towards Hiroshima tells the story of Syms Thorley,
a renowned Hollywood horror actor, who gets hired by the U.S. Navy to
participate in a
"demonstration shot" of a fearsome new biological weapon: giant mutant
fire-breathing amphibious bipedal iguanas. Syms's assignment finds him
donning a rubber lizard suit and destroying a model Japanese city
before the eyes of an enemy delegation. If our hero acquits himself
well, giving the performance of a lifetime, the Japanese might be
persuaded to surrender, and the Pacific War will end without further
bloodshed.

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

James Morrow has been writing fiction ever since, as a seven-year-old
living in the Philadelphia suburbs, he dictated “The Story of the Dog
Family” to his mother, who dutifully typed it up and bound the pages
with yarn. This three-page, six-chapter fantasy is still in the
author’s private archives.

Upon reaching adulthood, Morrow proceeded to write nine novels and
enough short stories to fill two collections. He has won the World
Fantasy Award twice, the Nebula Award twice, and the Grand Prix de
l’Imaginaire once.

To date Morrow’s most conspicuous literary effort is a postmodern
historical epic called The Last Witchfinder, praised by the New York
Times for fusing “storytelling, showmanship and provocative book-club
bait ... into one inventive feat.” It tells of Jennet Stearne, who
makes it her life’s mission to bring down the 1604 Parliamentary
Witchcraft Act. The author followed this novel with a thematic sequel,
The Philosopher’s Apprentice, which NPR called “an ingenious riff on
Frankenstein.” Tachyon Books has just published Jim’s stand-alone
novella, Shambling Towards Hiroshima, set in 1945 and dramatizing the
U.S. Navy’s attempts to leverage a Japanese surrender via a biological
weapon that strikingly anticipates Godzilla.

Please join us Friday, April 24, 2009 to meet
the greatest satirist in the field.



PHILADELPHIA FANTASTIC



Philadelphia Fantastic presents a series of readings and informal
discussions by and with local and regional writers of speculative
fiction on the fourth Friday of the month. The events are free and
dinner with the guest afterwards is at a local restaurant on a pay as
you go basis.



UPCOMING READINGS
 
May 22, 2009- Jeffrey Ford
June 26, 2009- Lawrence Schoen
July 24, 2009- Catherine Asaro
 
For further information about the Philadelphia Fantastic reading
series, contact Oz Fontecchio at [log in to unmask]
(mailto:[log in to unmask])




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