Norman Doucet hails from the den of the southern rebellion, Charleston, South Carolina. Influenced by the duality that exists there, he made some interesting decisions, starting with attending the college—founded after a slave revolt—which also has the dubious distinction of producing the two cadets who fired the first shots of the Civil War.

An English major as an undergrad, Norm decided to join the Marine Corps. He spent almost a decade there, earning his MA in English literature in the process. He loves telling stories, especially stories about those seminal moments that explain the duality that exists in most people.

Please join Norm and all our accomplished readers on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

At our August 6th edition of Tuesday Funk, Brad Beaulieu read us an excerpt from a tale of court intrigue set in Imperial Japan, and it went just a little like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with William Shunn, Virginia Konchan, Norman Doucet, Lania Knight, and MacArthur Fellow Aleksandar Hemon. You won't want to miss it!

Tuesday Funk is a big supporter of the Chicago Writers Conference, and we'd like to encourage you—nay, urge you—to support this worthwhile endeavor at its annual benefit party!

The benefit takes place this coming Thursday, August 29th, at 6:30 pm, and will help support CWC's programming and outreach efforts. The $40 ticket includes food and drinks from Trader Joe's and Revolution Brewing. Along with mixing and mingling, guests will enjoy readings by Andrew Huff (Tuesday Funk co-host, editor and publisher of Gapers Block), James Finn Garner (The Politically Correct Trilogy, Apocalypse Wow!), and Hannah Pittard (The Fates Will Find Their Way). There will also be a silent auction featuring:

• An exclusive two-book set from science fiction author William Shunn
• A $50 Revolution Brewing gift card
• Your name in The Onion
• A one-night stay at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel (includes breakfast)
• A Field Notes kit

Tickets are now available. Space is limited; if you would like to attend, please send an email to contact@chicagowritersconference.org.

Date: Thursday, August 29, 2013
Time: 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Location: Lakeview neighborhood
Admission: $40 - includes drinks, appetizers and dessert, silent auction and readings

Contact CWC for your ticket now!

William Shunn began his professional software development career at WordPerfect in 1991, where he wrote 80x86 assembly language code and helped kill the DOS version of the venerable word processor. Ironically, he still uses WordPerfect for most of his prose writing, which includes more than thirty works of short fiction.

His stories have appeared everywhere from Asimov's to Salon, and have been shortlisted for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.

His podcast memoir "The Accidental Terrorist" details his experiences as a young Mormon missionary running afoul of the law in Canada. "This just may be my favorite true-life amazing-but-true tale," wrote Cory Doctorow of the podcast in Boing Boing. Bill first came to the attention of Tuesday Funk audiences in April 2009, when he presented an early chapter from the work. More appearances and more chapters followed over the subsequent months, until in October 2010 he was invited to join Tuesday Funk as co-producer and co-host.

Bill has appeared around town at such popular live-lit series as Essay Fiesta, The First Time, and Write Club. A past national judge for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, he now serves as a board member for the Chicago Writers Conference. He has lived in New York City since June, which is why he'll reluctantly be stepping down as a Tuesday Funk co-host at the end of 2013.

Please join Bill next week when he compresses the entirety of "The Accidental Terrorist" into eight short minutes. You can hear him and all our accomplished readers on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

At our August 6th edition of Tuesday Funk, Jac Jemc read us her short story of juvenile delinquency, "Filch and Rot," and it sounded a lot like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with William Shunn, Virginia Konchan, Norman Doucet, Lania Knight, and MacArthur Fellow Aleksandar Hemon. You won't want to miss it!

Lania Knight's first book, Three Cubic Feet, is a 2012 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in Debut Fiction. Her work has been published or will appear soon in Fourth Genre, New Stories from the Midwest, The Missouri Review, Literary Mama, PANK, Midwestern Gothic, Jabberwock Review, and elsewhere. She lives down-state and teaches at Eastern Illinois University. Read more about her and her recent travels to China at www.laniaknight.com.

Please join Lania and all our accomplished readers on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

At our August 6th edition of Tuesday Funk, co-host Andrew Huff brought forth more topical haiku from his fevered brain, and it went just a little like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with William Shunn, Virginia Konchan, Norman Doucet, Lania Knight, and MacArthur Fellow Aleksandar Hemon. You won't want to miss it!

Virginia Konchan's poems have appeared in Best New Poets, The Believer, The New Yorker, and The New Republic, her criticism in Quarterly Conversation, Barzakh Magazine, and Boston Review, and her fiction in StoryQuarterly and Joyland, among other places. Co-founder of Matter, a journal of poetry and political commentary, Virginia is pursuing her Ph.D. in the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Please join Virginia and all our accomplished readers on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

At our August 6th edition of Tuesday Funk, Dmitry Samarov told us what happened to him the night the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, and it sounded a little like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Aleksandar Hemon, Virginia Konchan, Norman Doucet, Lania Knight, and William Shunn. You won't want to miss it!

At our June 4th edition of Tuesday Funk, co-host Andrew Huff demonstrated his bravery by reading some of his high school poetry in Bill's absence, and it sounded quite a bit like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Aleksandar Hemon, Virginia Konchan, Lania Knight, Norman Doucet, and William Shunn.