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Big Other Reading Series #7

  • John Madera

    • Mel Bosworth reads an excerpt from Ben Brooks’s An Island of Fifty.

    An Island of Fifty (an excerpt)

    By Ben Brooks

    Autumn came with rains & the sea crept into the room beneath the mill.
    It washed sobriety into the eyes of the Saints & Michael woke them all
    with his plan:

    WE ARE BLEEDING INTO THE BRICKS OF THIS TOWN. Concrete is a vice but we
    are Saints (Catherine coughed). Let us lead these few from here. Promised
    land, a holy town. There must be something. A guide will manifest, God
    wills it. We will lead these men from the clutches of the tide of evil, OF
    INDUSTRIAL CIVILISATON! We shall save them, salvation. They shall be Gods
    people, free & joyful. Let us promise them grass & trees, for these they
    shall have. They will be happy beyond the dreams that hands can claw. They
    will see clear glass as far as their eyes will care to look.

    An Island of Fifty is forthcoming from Mud Luscious Press (June, 2010). Pre-order HERE.Visit Ben Brooks HERE.

    • John Madera is the author of Nervosities (Anti-Oedipus Press, 2024) and Nomad Science (Spuyten Duyvil Press, forthcoming in 2026).  His  fiction is also published in Conjunctions, Salt Hill, Hobart, The &Now Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing, and many other journals. His poetry is also published in elimae, Sixth Finch, Contrapuntos, and elsewhere. His criticism is published in American Book Review, Bookforum, The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Rain Taxi: Review of Books, The Believer, The Brooklyn Rail, and many other venues. Recipient of an M.F.A. in Literary Arts from Brown University, two-time New York State Council on the Arts awardee John Madera lives in New York City, where he runs Rhizomatic and manages and edits Big Other.

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