This Saturday marks the first Literary Death Match: Baltimore, at which our own Mike Young will be reading and representing Publishing Genius, i.e. our own Adam Robinson. Michael Kimball will be judging. Go Mike! It will surely be a night of Mikes. I kind of want to move to Baltimore.

What do we think, team–is this shit for real? And if it is, can we solve the riddle of this person’s identity? And if anyone happens to know for sure, feel free to say so in the comments, or for improved anonymity, email me via the address on my website. Actually come to think of it that would result in me knowing who you are, but I promise I won’t tell anyone. Okay, go!

This reminded me of Keyhole‘s handwritten issue: Stephen Lloyd Webber is looking for images of writers’ journal pages to launch his new literary magazine, Di Mezzo Il Mare. Send some snapshots if you’re interested.

Don’t forget this Thursday at 9 PM Eastern time marks the kickoff of our monthly online live reading series, Live Giants!, featuring Heather Christle, author of The Difficult Farm, live from her home in Atlanta. More info at RSVP at Facebook.

Shya Scanlon’s much anticipated In This Alone Impulse is now available for preorder from Noemi Press. “If Gertrude Stein ran track for Mineola Prep, she’d text these alert, convival poems from the team bus.” — Joyelle McSweeney

Interesting post by Chris Heavener over at Annalemma on Thursday’s Rumpus/HTMLGiant (what did we do there?) event. Of principal interest is the dialogue in the comments section between Chris and Gigantic/Rumpus New York Editor Rozalia Jovanovick. I liked this event a lot. Especially the readings given by Justin (goddamn, that story he read is so good), Tao Lin, Stephen Elliott, and Deb Olin Unferth (which will apparently appear in this year’s NOON). Yep. Thanks to my mom for the tip–seriously, my mom told me about this on the way to dinner.

Five Dials DFW tribute issue available online here. Subscribe here. Includes eulogies by George Saunders, Zadie Smith, and Don DeLillo, all of which are invaluable in one’s life. Watch Conan’s last night with The Tonight Show here. Listen to new Frightened Rabbit single here. Have a good weekend, wherever you are. I am in Alabama for a few days and it is a pretty sad place to be.

Justin is on Electric Literature and the story’s kinda badass. E.g.: “I don’t know dick about Latin but some things are just obvious and sometimes I think that’s what God is: the obvious, resplendent and intractable and dumb.” (Sorry I didn’t notice this sooner.)

DB 101: When a literary magazine rejects your work, there is rarely, rarely any reason to reply.

Just heard from Victoria at Underland: Brian Evenson’s Last Days won the American Library Association Horror Novel of the Year Award.