In the grand tradition of underemployed artists, Eden M. Robins has been: a singing waitress, a dildo salesman, a dental assistant, an abortion clinic receptionist, a blowjob instructor, a travel writer, a pelvic model, and a Swahili teacher. She wrote a novel that is currently in the "death rattle" stage of edits and is co-founder and co-editor of the semiprozine Brain Harvest.

Eden has published some things in some places, but not enough things or enough places for you to have noticed... however, you may remember her from the blizzard edition of Tuesday Funk, which none of you showed up to.

Join Tuesday Funk on August 2nd, 7:30 p.m., to hear Eden and all of our talented readers at Hopleaf's upstairs bar!

And we'll bring our July videofest to a stirring close with this short story from acclaimed writer Brenda Cooper, who joined us at our mike in June...

Be sure to join us on Tuesday, August 2, 7:30 pm upstairs at Hopleaf, for six more great readers, including Tegan Jones, Sondra Morin, Eden M. Robins, Julie Rosenthal, Jerry Schwartz and Karen Skalitzky!

Our August reading is coming up fast, and there's no better way to get in the right frame of mind than with videos from past event. This story from June, Sarah K. Castle's chilling encounter with "The Mutant Stag at Horn Creek," should help set the mood very nicely...

And be sure to join us on Tuesday, August 2, 7:30 pm upstairs at Hopleaf, for six more great readers, including Tegan Jones, Sondra Morin, Eden M. Robins, Julie Rosenthal, Jerry Schwartz and Karen Skalitzky!

Next up in our July videofest is this short poem from Funk co-host William Shunn, "The Lunar Night, Chicago"...

And be sure to join us on Tuesday, August 2, 7:30 pm upstairs at Hopleaf, for six more great readers, including Tegan Jones, Sondra Morin, Eden M. Robins, Julie Rosenthal, Jerry Schwartz and Karen Skalitzky—plus another of our patented Poems by Bill!

Were we cracking wise a few days ago about dogs? Well, we take it all back. Feast your eyes and ears on this June reading from Vincent Jorgensen, with the opening from novel-in-progress Pood!e. Dog days indeed!

And be sure to join us on Tuesday, August 2, 7:30 pm upstairs at Hopleaf, for six more great readers, including Tegan Jones, Sondra Morin, Eden M. Robins, Julie Rosenthal, Jerry Schwartz and Karen Skalitzky!

We're devoting July to remembrances of Funks past, so please enjoy this clip from June of Kelly Swails reading her short story "A Portrait in Time"!

And be sure to join us on Tuesday, August 2, 7:30 pm upstairs at Hopleaf, for six more great readers, including Tegan Jones, Sondra Morin, Eden M. Robins, Julie Rosenthal, Jerry Schwartz and Karen Skalitzky!

They call them the dog days of summer. But we hope it won't insult any of the dogs of your acquaintance if we tell you our August readers are no pack of dogs. Au contraire! In the spirit of the season, Tuesday Funk will bring the hottest writers in town together at Hopleaf, including Tegan Jones, Sondra Morin, Eden M. Robins, Julie Rosenthal, Jerry Schwartz and Karen Skalitzky. Good thing there's so much great beer available—dozens of varieties of it—because you'll need it to cool down before, during, and after.

Tuesday Funk convenes Tuesday, August 2, 2011, 7:30 pm, in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St., Chicago. Arrive early, stake out a table 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 this fall will feature an amazing array of writers you won't want to miss. Ruff!

And as you await our August event, please enjoy this short preview, taken from our February reading, of the work of Eden Robins...

As we count down to our August reading, we're bringing you some classic performances from Tuesday Funks past. In this clip from May, Paul McComas channels his character Aldo Vesper to bring us a real big fish story. (Or is that reel?)

Your friends here at Tuesday Funk are taking it easy during the month of July, so we thought we'd fill in that giant Funk-shaped hole in your heart with some more video performances from the archives.

Back in May, we were fortunate enough to have Mr. Paul McComas grace our podium, and when he visited it looked a little something like this...

If you missed our Science Fiction Sextuple Feature this past Tuesday night, you missed a brisk, funny, and exciting evening with some of today's upcoming and best writers of speculative fiction. That's right, we were joined upstairs at Hopleaf by the members of the Wellspring Workshop, who took a break from an intense week of critiquing novels to read for us and our excellent audience.

Kelly Swails kicked things off with a tantalizing excerpt from her time-travel story "A Portrait in Time." Gregory A. Wilson thrilled us with the creatures in his novel-in-progress Icarus (featured in the video below). Vincent Jorgensen showed us a near future dominated by internet search giant Pood!e. And Holly McDowell moved us with an excerpt from her novel-in-progress, Farah Minor.

After a break to let our audience visit John at the bar, co-host William Shunn read his poem "The Lunar Night, Chicago." Sarah K. Castle brought us terrifyingly face-to-face with "The Mutant Stag at Horn Creek." And Brenda Cooper—after giving away a copy of Year's Best SF 16 to one of the non-SF readers in our audience—showed us what happens when a young girl in a post-apocalypse Pacific Northwest no longer wants to remain "In Their Garden."

In short, it was the kind of quality evening you've come to expect from Tuesday Funk. We're taking the month of July off, but please join us next on August 2nd for an evening with Tegan Jones, Sondra Morin, Eden M. Robins, Julie Rosenthal, Jerry Schwartz and Karen Skalitzky. You won't want to miss it!