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!
Both Mark and Andrea are very excited to be reading at First Floor Walk Up Presents Bi-Weekly Readings of Poetry and Prose at One and One, 76 E. 1st St. at 1st Ave on Monday, February 26th.
The event starts at 7:00 pm and goes to 8pm – See the line-up below – more info on our fellow writers and poets closer to the event as well as the Facebook event link
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, February 26th, 7 PM
WAH MOHN
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 recently released their third album, Fancy Hercules. 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).
ALLAN GRAUBARD
Allan Graubard -- poet, writer and critic -- (just published!): SUN STEP BLACK LAKE (Broken Sleep Books, Wales, UK). In 2022, he appeared as editor and contributor to the international anthology Nigredo. 2020/2019 saw the publication of three books: Western Terrace (Exstasis Editions, Victoria, BC), Language of Birds (Anon Editions, NY/LA), and Into the Mylar Chamber: Ira Cohen (Fulgur, UK).
Andrea still has to make a decision on what to read…muahahaha. She will make it weird because she’s a weirdo lol (Andrea wrote this btw)
Calling all Creepy Literati!
A Hallow’s Eve reading!
Andrea will be reading her short story Mara along with the other Bowery Gothic contributors on Sunday, October 30th at Von Bar located at 3 Bleecker in NYC. The event starts at 6pm.
Andrea’s piece Mara was published in Bowery Gothic on September 1st in their Summer Ghosts Edition VII.
Andrea: This story was inspired by the original nightmare known as Mara and other names in Time Life’s The Enchanted World’s Night Creatures fable. These were books I inherited from my Welsh grandfather. He had such a wonderful odd library, inspiration galore.
Here is a recent article from Atlas Obscura:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/original-nightmare-demon-suffocation-night-terror
I enjoy telling stories from the perspective of the monsters and having the monsters win.
The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli, 1781. JOHN HENRY FUSELI
Please check out the entire issue!
A little about Bowery Gothic
Inspired by a reading series at a haunted bar on the Bowery, Bowery Gothic is a literary journal seeking to publish the highest quality literature and art. We look for stories—both real and imagined—that exist in that liminal space: between the seen and unseen; between entertainment and fear. We are excited by work that stands at the threshold and looks into the unknown. We are excited by the sublimity of terror.
We are not interested in gore, violence, or perversion. Instead, send us literary work that transcends genre, that scares us and makes us think: Damn, that was fresh. We are drawn to literature that conjures up tales told by our favorite writers—from Henry James to Kelly Link; Shirley Jackson to Octavia E. Butler—stories that entice, amaze, terrify.
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.