Don't freak out on us, but we're turning 40! That's right. Tuesday Funk, the monthly Chicago reading series where good writing and good beer mix, is about to put on its 40th episode, and we'd like to invite you to celebrate with us. (We considered holding at episode 39 indefinitely, but in the end we decided that just wasn't dignified.)

In honor of the occasion, we'll have five terrific readers for you tonight, though we promised not to reveal which side of the over/under 40 divide they inhabit. And there's beer too—more varieties than we can count (owing to our advanced age). Please join us!

Our esteemed lineup tonight includes Jody Lynn Nye, Patricia Ann McNair, Hanna Martine, John Klima, and Emile Ferris. Plus, we'll throw in one of our patented Poems By Bill just for shits and giggles. So "like" us today on Facebook, arrive early, grab a beer from the bar, and get set for a evening of entertainment that will make you feel young again. Um, unless you're already young, in which case it will just make you feel tipsy.

Hopleaf is at 5148 N. Clark St. in Chicago. The reading begins at 7:30 pm in the upstairs lounge. The lounge opens at 7:00 pm. Arrive early for a seat!

As always, the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf is cash-only and 21 and over. Remember also that no food can be brought in from the restaurant.

Tuesday Funk is pleased to announce the announcement by co-host Sara Ross Witt that she and Andrew Witt have welcomed Seamus Arthur Witt into this world. Seamus was born on November 17, and weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz. All involved are doing well, though Seamus has sent us a note requesting that his mom be excused from hosting duties at Tuesday Funk for the month of December. We think that's fair, and look forward to seeing Sara at the mic again in 2012.

Congratulations to Sara, Andy, and Seamus!

A brand-new short story by your Tuesday Funk co-host William Shunn, "Stand Up," is available now at the group blog This May Get Awkward:

"Stand Up"

TMGA is curated by the estimable JD Adamski, an MVP of Tuesday Funk, and you should check it out on a regular basis. As for Bill's story, it's short.

"Yeah—mothers," said the comedian, running a hand through his sparse hair. "Don't you just hate 'em?"

Uncertain charges of laughter detonated here and there around the club. It was all in the delivery, and in the modest credit he'd accrued up to now with the audience.  [read more]

And for more bittersweet laughs, be sure to join us tomorrow night, on Tuesday, December 6th, when we present Jody Lynn Nye, John Klima, Hanna Martine, Patricia Ann McNair, Emile Ferris, and a new Poem by Bill!

Chicago, if you want to kick off your weekend in an appropriately heady way, might we suggest getting yourself down to The Hideout for December's edition of The Interview Show? Every month, host Mark Bazer welcomes a cross-section of fascinating guests, which tonight includes Alex Shakar, a Writers Workspace member and author of the acclaimed novels Luminarium and The Savage Girl.

Publishers Weekly calls Luminarium a "penetrating look at the uneasy intersection of technology and spirituality... Shakar's blend of the business of cyberspace and the science of enlightenment distinguishes the novel as original and intrepid... Shakar's prose is sharp and hilarious, engendering the reader's faith in the novel's philosophical ambitions. Part Philip K. Dick, part Jonathan Franzen, this radiant work leads you from the unreal to the real so convincingly that you begin to let go of the distinction." You won't want to miss hearing Shakar interviewed live on stage tonight.

With only four more days until our December 6th reading, we want to remind you how Tuesday Funk can transport you out of a cold and dreary Chicago winter to magical places like a summer in Paris. In this segment from our November 1st program, Suzanne Clores reminds us that the best-laid plan is sometimes no plan at all...

And if you want to tag along on more great adventures like this one, be sure to join us on Tuesday, December 6th, when we present Jody Lynn Nye, John Klima, Hanna Martine, Patricia Ann McNair, and Emile Ferris!

Emile Ferris grew up in Chicago and New Mexico. She received a BFA in visual art and an MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute, where she also received the Toby Devan Lewis Emerging Artist Fellowship in 2010. 

Join us Tuesday, December 6th at 7:30 p.m. to hear Emile read an excerpt from her graphic novel "Dark Brothel" at Hopleaf's upstairs bar!

Patricia Ann McNair has lived 98 percent of her life in the Midwest. She's managed a gas station, sold pots and pans door to door, tended bar and breaded mushrooms, worked on the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and taught aerobics. Today she is an Associate Professor in the Fiction Writing Department of Columbia College Chicago, where she received the Excellence in Teaching Award as well as a nomination for the Carnegie Foundation's US Professor of the Year.

McNair's fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in various anthologies, magazines, and journals including American Fiction: Best Unpublished Short Stories by Emerging Writers, Other Voices, F Magazine, Superstition Review, Dunes Review, River Teeth, Fourth Genre, Brevity, Creative Nonfiction, and others. She is also published in The Truth of the Matter: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction edited by Dinty W. Moore. She's received numerous Illinois Arts Council Awards and Pushcart Prize nominations in fiction and nonfiction.

He debut collection, The Temple of Air, was named a "stunning debut" by The Nervous Breakdown. Reviewer Donna Seaman of Booklist writes "McNair's plainspoken yet imaginative, complexly unnerving, and haunting stories raise essential questions of fate and will, appearances and truth, guilt and compassion." 

McNair divides her time between city and small town with her husband, the visual artist Philip Hartigan. Check out her website at: www.patriciaannmcnair.com

Hanna Martine's debut paranormal romance novel, LIQUID LIES, will be released from Berkley Sensation/Penguin Publishing in August 2012. Her erotic romance has appeared in Clean Sheets magazine.

Join us Tuesday, December 6th, 7:30 p.m., at Hopleaf's upstairs bar to enjoy Hanna's stories!

            Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as 'spoiling cats.' When not engaged upon this worthy occupation, she writes fantasy and science fiction books and short stories.

            Before breaking away from gainful employment to write full time, Jody worked as a file clerk, book-keeper at a small publishing house, freelance journalist and photographer, accounting assistant and costume maker.

            Since 1987 she has published 43 books and more than 100 short stories. Among the novels Jody has written are her epic fantasy series, The Dreamland, beginning with Waking In Dreamland, five contemporary humorous fantasies, and three medical science fiction novels.  Strong Arm Tactics, a humorous military science fiction novel, is the first of Jody's new series, The Wolfe Pack.

            She has also collaborated with Anne McCaffrey on four science fiction novels and co-authored the Visual Guide to Xanth with best-selling fantasy author Piers Anthony.

        

Her newest books are Dragons Deal (Ace Books), third in the Dragons series begun by Robert Asprin, and View From the Imperium (Baen Books), a humorous military SF novel. Coming soon is Myth-Quoted, the next Myth-Adventures novel.

            Over the last twenty or so years, Jody has taught in numerous writing workshops and participated on hundreds of panels covering the subjects of writing and publishing at science-fiction conventions. She has also spoken in schools and libraries around the north and northwest suburbs. In 2007 she taught fantasy writing at Columbia College Chicago.

            Jody lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, with her husband Bill Fawcett, a writer, game designer and book packager, and a black cat, Jeremy.

Join Tuesday Funk on December 6th at 7:30 p.m. at Hopleaf's upstairs bar to hear Jody read!

Thanksgiving is a short six days away, and Tuesday Funk reader Laura Stark is here to give you one more thing to feel thankful for. In this segment from our November 1st program, she gives us reason to look forward to family gatherings that can't possibly be as awkward as this one...

And if you want to feast on more great readings like this one, be sure to join us on Tuesday, December 6th, when we present the stellar lineup of Jody Lynn Nye, John Klima, Hanna Martine, Patricia Ann McNair, and Emile Ferris!