Noir at the New Hope Bar
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| From left: Wallace Stroby, William Hastings, Dennis Tafoya, Scott Adlerberg |
Noir at the Bar made a convivial, entertaining, informative return on Thursday evening to the state where it was born. The place was John and Peter's in New Hope, Pa., the literary midwife was Farley's Bookshop, and the author/readers were Wallace Stroby, William Hastings, Dennis Tafoya, Scott Adlerberg, and Don Lafferty.
Highlights included Stroby on why he called his upcoming novel Shoot the Woman First, Tafoya with a stunningly good bit of post-violence emotional confrontation from a novel that should see the light of day next year, and three guys who were either new to me or who I had not known were writers in addition to their accomplishments in other fields.
I may post more after a good night's sleep, but for now, I was pleased with the happy medium we achieved between my original one- or two-author Noirs at the Bar (I started the concept in 2008), with a question-and-answer session with each writer; and the high-spirited literary mosh pits that Jedidiah Ayres and Scott Phillips made of their events in St. Louis. (Noir at the Bar has since spread to New York, Los Angeles, Austin, I believe San Diego, and, in an unprecedented harmonic Noir at the Bar convergence, Denver, where a Noir at the Bar also took place last night.)
Each of the five authors here in New Hope read from his work, I threw out a question, and the questions turned into discussions, with all the writers eventually gathering on stage to take matters largely into their own hands. I'd like to do this again, and I think we will. The original Noir at the Bar lives.
© Peter Rozovsky 2013
Labels: bookstores, Dennis Tafoya, Don Lafferty, Farley's Bookshop, Jedidiah Ayres, Noir at the Bar, Scott Adlerberg, Scott Phillips, Wallace Stroby, William Hastings
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 2:02 AM
7 Comments:
Pete-Porches was the house of my husband's grandfather and uncle. His mother's childhood home. You would never recognize it from all of the great renovations they have done.
I grew up in Philly and worked in New Hope in the summers. I lived in a house off Mechanic Street on New Street. And then over a garage down Main Street from Porches.
Did you have fun?
This is Bed & Breakfast Beyond Borders.I stayed in the old family house last night and am about to have breakfast there now. My room overlooks the canal; very nice site for a house. I'll stay here again if I come back.
Farley's is a wonderful place to buy books. Even if they stock in a given set is small, its selection will inevitably be interesting. I bought four books last night, two crime, and two history.
And yes, it was great fun, and everyone involved seemed eager to repeat it. We've got lists of writers lined up for possible future appearances, so yep, the original Noir at the Bar just may be back.
Looks great. What a crew! You folks really should start recording these various N@B events. Do we need to start a Kickstarter for a flip cam?
Nah, just an old-fashioned kick in the ass.
Everyone from last night seems disposed toward making this a regular thing, and we have lists of writers we can ask. One job would be getting good enough sound quality to make recordings worthwhile.
We toasted you in Denver at N@B last night, Peter
And I gave you guys a big-up in New Hope, mentioning both the Denver event and what you and Scott have done in St. Louis. Too bad nobody aped Phil Collins from LiveAid and hopped a plane so he could appear at both readings.
I bet your toast was more foul-mouthed than mine, though.
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