Finally got to videoing (is that a word?) again and here are readings that both Mark and I gave in the recent years. Spoken Word if you’re fancy and we know you’re fancy.
We are also reading again at First Floor Walk Up Reading Series on Monday, April 21st at 7pm at One and One LES (76 E 1st Street, New York, NY 10009). It’s free. FB event link
Videos of us speaking in public below
Mark and I will be reading fiction at the First Floor Walk Up Reading Series on Monday, April 21st at 7pm at One and One LES (76 E 1st Street, New York, NY 10009)
All the deets below:
First Floor Walk Up Presents Bi-Weekly Readings of
Poetry and Prose at
One and One
76 E. 1st St. @ 1st Ave
F Train to 2nd Ave Station
FREE
Monday, April 21st, 7 PM
FB event link
Featured writers/poets/creatives’ bios below:
MEGHAN GRUPPOSO
Originally from the gorgeous woods of southern New Hampshire, Meghan Grupposo holds a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School. She is a co-founder, former COO and co-editor of NeuroNautic Institute Presents and Press. Meghan’s work can be found in her handbound chapbook, Bouquet (NeuroNautic Press), & in various anthologies, including NYC From the Inside (Blue Light Press), arriving at a shoreline and Escape Wheel (great weather for MEDIA), the Dada Journal Maintenant, Issues 14-17 (Three Rooms Press), Love Love Magazine, Polarity, & Rucksack a Global Poetry Patchwork’s multimedia project, Hair in the Wind. She’s a 2020 Pushcart Prize nominee. Meghan happily resides in New York City with her two cats.
ANDREA DeANGELIS
Andrea DeAngelis is at times a poet, writer, shutterbug and musician living in New York City. Her writing has recently appeared in Carmina Magazine, Corvus Review, HauntedMTL and Bowery Gothic. Andrea also sings and plays guitar in the indie rock band MAKAR (www.makarmusic.com) who are currently recording their fourth album, Exit Earth. She tries not to disturb her neighbors by putting her guitar amp in the closet.
MARK PURNELL
Mark Purnell is a writer, investor and musician living in New York City. His writing has recently appeared in The Molotov Cocktail and he is currently working on his debut novel. Mark sings, writes and plays piano in the indie rock band MAKAR (www.makarmusic.com).
JEFFERY BERG
Jeffery Berg is a writer who lives in Jersey City. He received an MFA from NYU. His poetry has appeared in various journals, including most recently in Pine Hills Review. His film criticism can be found at Film-Forward. His debut poetry collection, RE-ANIMATOR, is forthcoming in 2026 from Indolent Books.
VIRGINIA RANDALL
Virginia Randall grew up on the Lower East Side and her work has appeared in Narratively, Italian-Americana, Straus Newspapers and various blogs. She is a freelance culture writer and former UPI reporter. This reading takes place where she bought her comics as a kid.
Please note that we’re not necessarily reading in the above order and that the event starts promptly at 7pm and ends around 8pm.
I’m also going to be uploading the past reading we did to YouTube here in the next week or so.
Hope to see you there!
Andrea’s story Good Dirt II was published in Molotov Cocktail’s Flash Feast Contest. She got No. 5 out of 10!
A little taste
“I don’t know what I was before I was born into slow flesh, flawed and corrupting, but I know I will find the answers grubbing in the dirt”
She is very excited that Good Dirt II will be included in a future Molotov Cocktail’s Prize Winners Anthology print issue.
Please sink your teeth into the entire Flash Feast issue!
And congrats to all the winners!
Andrea’s flash fiction piece, Morforwyn, was published in The Wild Hunt - Is it safe? Issue # 2 on July 28, 2020.
Look at the fantastic art below. Have to ask the editor who the visual artist is.
The Wild Hunt posted on twitter the following sentiment which sums up Andrea’s reason for writing this story.
Background on this story
Andrea: Mermaids are not usually thought of as dangerous. Nor is it in the universal folklore that humankind did terrible things to them but of course we did. (That’s if they existed).
I was especially inspired by this cryptozoology I came across about Welsh mermaids. (I am a quarter Welsh and would love someday to visit Wales but who knows now. Some mermaids started out as giants, they diminished as everything seems to do when encountering certain elements of humanity.
Andrea’s piece Detached was published in Molotov Cocktail on January 31, 2020 in Volume 10, Issue 12. What a way to start the new year!
Cover of Molotov’s Cocktail’s Issue 10.12
Andrea’s writing process on Detached:
I actually wrote this story and submitted it to Molotov’s Flash Monster 2019 contest but did not make it into their Top 10. But I did receive a "Close But No Cigar" shout-out on the site.
I never would have written this story without that contest. I always wanted to write about the penanggalan but Molotov gave me the push.
I discovered the penanggalan through D&D. Its illustration was always one of more grotesque ones. But it also haunted me. And then I found the Fiend Folio at my childhood home.
None of the origin stories I read completely satisfied me. I fixated on the fact that a penanggalan will remain unnaturally beautiful throughout her life.
I’ve always wondered what made a woman choose to become a penanggalan (and if it was a choice). I examined the physical price of beauty and the extremes some go to attain that irreproachable veneer.
Hope you enjoy!
Check out Molotov Cocktail on their twitter and Facebook profiles as well.
Both Mark’s and Andrea’s flash fiction pieces got into Molotov Cocktail’s Flash Legend Mega Issue beating out stories from the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, and New Zealand. The editors also commented that --
“We also saw a Molotov first, with two people who apparently live at the same address each scoring a slot in the Top 10 (must be something in the water)."
Once we saw that scrolling down on the contest winners announcement page, we hoped they were talking about us.
And they were!
Mark’s story and first published piece below
La Puerta – No. 9 in the top ten (a suitable musical placement)
https://themolotovcocktail.com/vol-10/flash-legend/la-puerta/
Andrea’s story
The Eyes – No. 4 in the top ten
https://themolotovcocktail.com/vol-10/flash-legend/the-eyes/
Also, super exciting, both of our stories will be included in Molotov Cocktail’s Fifth Annual Prize Winners Anthology (details on that in late summer).
We’re looking forward to reading the entire issue.
About
The Molotov Cocktail is a Portland-based electronic literary journal serving as a projectile for incendiary flash fiction of the dark and offbeat variety. We believe flash fiction should ignite on contact and engulf the page.
Check them out on Twitter too.
Andrea’s short story Nocnitsa was published in The Molotov Cocktail in their Issue 10.1 on April 9, 2019!
They called it a “vivid and compelling piece”!
Andrea on her inspiration - I don’t remember how I happened across this creature. It may have been while researching nightmares during a relentless insomnia bout. But I was struck by its physiology – an ethereal being composed of smoke and a screeching voice. It caused me to imagine a lower physical body of vapor and sounds, the opposite of a physical self. According to folklore, she could shape shift into a raven, but that sounded too generic to me. I had recently become fascinated with the Vampire Finch, a blood sucker, which seemed more fitting for the Nocnitsa. Then I began wondering what specific kind of rage would make one into such a creature. When your body and everyone else fails you. And out of all that came my story of Nocnitsa.
About
The Molotov Cocktail is an Portland-based electronic literary journal serving as a projectile for incendiary flash fiction of the dark and offbeat variety. We believe flash fiction should ignite on contact and engulf the page.
Check them out on Twitter too.
