Matt Wood is a reader, writer, baseball fan, and father of two living in the West Loop. His current day job is playing on Twitter and Facebook all day for a local university, but in a past life he took a four-year break to be a stay-at-home dad, where he learned the value of patience, quiet time, and a good stain remover.

You can read more of his writing on his website, Wood-Tang.com.

 Join Tuesday Funk on November 1^st at 7:30 p.m. to hear Matt along with the rest of talented readers at Hopleaf's upstairs bar!

Back in August, Julie Rosenthal gave our rabidly attentive audience not one but two provocative short stories to chew on...

And if you're panting for more great readings like this one, be sure to join us on Tuesday, November 1st, when we present the stellar lineup of J.D. Adamski, Suzanne Clores, Laura Stark, Cesar Torres, and Matt Wood!

Laura Stark is a sometimes writer and performer and an all-the-time music and travel geek. Her twisty path has taken her from video production assistant to financial consultant to improviser to occupational therapist. Most recently, she completed a Master's in health science and is now adjusting to being a normal person again and rediscovering the creative side that was beaten out by school.

In 2002, she produced "Holiday Hangover," a monologue show inspired by her own Thanksgiving breakup, of which you'll get a taste at this Tuesday Funk.

 Join Tuesday Funk on November 1^st at 7:30 p.m. to hear Laura along with the rest of talented readers at Hopleaf's upstairs bar!

Today is Game 1 of the 2011 World Series, which makes it the perfect day to share co-host William Shunn's predictions for the 2012 World Series. It's gonna be the Cubbies facing off against the Tigers, it's gonna go to seven games, and ... oh, hell, we'll just let him tell you about it himself, as we captured it two weeks ago at October's edition of Tuesday Funk...

And we hope you'll join us in two more weeks, on Tuesday, November 1st, when we present the stellar lineup of J.D. Adamski, Suzanne Clores, Laura Stark, Cesar Torres, and Matt Wood! Be there or you're outta here, slugger.

At our September reading, the charismatic Edison A. Blake regaled us with an opening chapter from his novel The Original Artificial Stud...

And if you're hungry for more great readings like this one, be sure to join us on Tuesday, November 1st, when we present the stellar lineup of J.D. Adamski, Suzanne Clores, Laura Stark, Cesar Torres, and Matt Wood!

Back in August, we were delighted to host Eden M. Robins at our microphone, who presented us with this exciting excerpt from her novel-in-progress The Grand Adventure of Aught-Nine...

And if you're in the mood for more great readings like this one, be sure to join us on Tuesday, November 1st, when we present the stellar lineup of J.D. Adamski, Suzanne Clores, Laura Stark, Cesar Torres, and Matt Wood!

Hungry to gorge yourself on a literary feast of epic proportions? You'll be giving thanks for the veritable cornucopia of goodness we bring you in November, as Tuesday Funk serves up mouth-watering offerings from the likes of Suzanne Clores, J.D. Adamski, Matt Wood, Cesar Torres, and Laura Stark. And we'll have dozens of varieties of cold beer on hand to wash it all down.

Tuesday Funk convenes again Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 7:30 pm, in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St., Chicago. Arrive early, carve yourself out some space in the upper room, and grab a beer from John at the cash-only bar. We start seating at 7:00 pm and no earlier. Admission is always free, but you must be 21 or older. And come early or stay afterward for some great Belgian-style food downstairs.

Please bring plenty of friends, and become a fan of Tuesday Funk on Facebook so you never miss an invitation to our readings, which later this fall will feature the likes of Jody Lynn Nye, John Klima, Hanna Martine, Patricia Ann McNair, Debbie Sue Goodman, and many more. You won't want to miss a single delicious dish.

If you missed Tuesday Funk this week at Hopleaf, we're sad to say you missed a train that won't be stopping here again. Erin J. Shea set a terrifying tone with her tales of new motherhood. Liz Baudler let us listen in on some very animalistic girl talk. And in an excerpt from his novel-in-progress, C.P. Chang showed us some of the very different faces of racism.

After a break for beer and a zombie haiku, Matt Darst took on a tour through the mind of dog whose masters have started acting rather strangely, in an excerpt from his new novel Dead Things. And to round things out, co-host William Shunn took us to a highly improbable 2012 World Series where the fate of the whole city rests in the hands (and tentacles!) of Chicago's own Cubbies.

But don't worry if you weren't there. Tuesday Funk will be rolling into the station again on November 1st with great work from Suzanne Clores, J.D. Adamski, Matt Wood, Cesar Torres, and Laura Stark, and yet another Poem By Bill. It's a Thanksgiving feast of epic proportions, and you won't want to miss it. Mark your calendar now!

It's nearly upon us, rising from the east and lurching crookedly west, closing inexorably upon Clark Street. No, it's not the sun, it's Tuesday Funk, the monthly Chicago reading series where good writing and good beer mix, and the five shambling readers we've summoned together to populate 38th big episode. And the fact that you can be there for it all for no more than the price of an ice-cold beer or two makes being there a no-brrraaaains-er.

Our improbably animated lineup tonight includes William Shunn, C.P. Chang, Erin J. Shea, Matt Darst, and Liz Baudler, and we'll throw in one of our patented Poems By Bill for no extra charge. So "like" us today on Facebook, arrive early, stake out a table in Hopleaf's upstairs lounge, grab a beer from the bar, and let's all huddle together like it's the zombie apocalypse.

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.

William Shunn is a co-producer and co-host of Tuesday Funk. He has worked as a cabinet maker, a custard slinger, a door-to-door missionary, a technical writer, a telephone surveyor, and as a computer programmer, most notably for WordPerfect Corporation and Sesame Street. In the early days of the web, he also helped produce live online concert broadcasts for artists like The Cure, The Allman Brothers Band, and Mötley Crüe.

Bill has published over two dozen works of short fiction, and served for three years as a national judge for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. He is the author of the Hugo, Nebula and Sturgeon Award-nominated novella Inclination, available as an audiobook from either Audible.com or iTunes. He is also co-author, with Derryl Murphy, of the short horror novel Cast a Cold Eye, available from PS Publishing. (It makes a terrific Halloween gift!) His most recent story is "Care and Feeding of Your Piano," which appears in the current issue of Electric Velocipede. He has recently completed a memoir, The Accidental Terrorist, and is hard at work on Endgame, a young-adult science fiction novel set mostly in Chicago.

For our October 4th event, Bill will reprise his popular sci-fi baseball monster story from last year, "The VIsitors at Wriggly Field." Please join us to hear him and all our other monstrously talented readers at 7:30 pm in Hopleaf's upstairs lounge.