Reading at Visible Voice Books, 1023 Kenilworth

Reading at the AWP Conference, with Philip Graham and John Warner, Hilton Chicago Rm 235

“It’s important to realize that this sometimes surreal novel is not the trippy sci-fi tale that its cover and promotional material makes it out to be . . . but what it turns out to be is pretty great too, a clever and meandering examination of the human condition in post-9/11 America, seen through some of the filters that so defined the mid-2000s (virtual worlds, cut-throat startups, Homeland Security, New Age philosophy, the Disney town of Celebration, Florida). . . . A book that will make your jaw drop at points from its pure sense of inventiveness. . . .”

“Shakar brings a host of profound concerns to this inventive, metaphysical, funny and caring novel set in post-9/11 New York City, ground zero for moral and spiritual paradoxes, in which one twin brother is in a coma and the other is desperately seeking healing and direction as the virtual world they worked so hard to create is commandeered by the ‘military-entertainment complex.’”

The Interview Show is a Web-based talk show, replete with host (the effervescent Mark Bazer), desk, a couch, theme music, and studio audience (above).  Best of all, it’s held in the bar/club, The Hideout, with bands playing after, and waitresses walking through the audience keep the liquor flowing.  Many thanks to Mark, my fellow guests, and Jon from Book Cellar for hawking books.

Luminarium has been named one of the best novels of 2011 by NPR Books Editor Parul Sehgal.