A New Orleans native, Mary Lorenz relocated to Chicago five years ago for a job and a mad craving for Rainbow Cone. A copywriter by day, Mary Lorenz spends her free time writing and performing in and around Chicago - oftentimes for actual audiences. These days, you can find her performing at Chemically Imbalanced Theater with the house team A Dozen Red Roses or as a cast member with Laugh Out Loud Theater in Schaumburg.

Please come see Mary and the rest of our talented readers at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, November 6, for our 51st edition of Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf's upstairs lounge.

Mary Zemaitis won her second-grade writing contest for the groundbreaking story "The Stolen Princess." The piece documented a sea princess's struggle against underwater witches. It is considered Mary's definitive work because her teacher laminated it. Pretty much downhill from there.

As an adult, Mary performs stand-up, improv, and sketch comedy around Chicago with Salsation and One Group Mind. She has been featured in Beast Women Cabaret, 100 Proof Comedy, and Mortified. Follow her on Twitter at @Zemidas_Touch.

Please come see Mary and the rest of our talented readers at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, November 6, for our 51st edition of Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf's upstairs lounge.

Kelly Swails is a writer who pays the bills by editing an online scientific journal. Her short fiction has appeared in several anthologies including "Predator and Prey 2" and "Boondocks Fantasy." She and her husband are in the process of moving to Chicago. When she's not working, writing, commuting, or packing, she knits and plays guitar. There's a rumor she sleeps on occasion, but that has yet to be proven. You can find her online at www.kellyswails.com.

Please come see Kelly and the rest of our talented readers at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, November 6, for our 51st edition of Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf's upstairs lounge.

At our October 2nd horror program, Cynthia (cina) Pelayo stopped by our microphone to chill us with a story from her collection Loteria, and it sounded a little like this...

And if you liked that, you won't want to miss our next event, Tuesday Funk's Election Night Edition, which will take place Tuesday, November 6, 2012, and will include readings from Jac Jemc, Mary Lorenz, B. E. Pinkham, Kelly Swails, and Mary Zemaitis. Vote with your feet. Vote for Tuesday Funk!

B. E. Pinkham has held various paying jobs in commercial photography, interior design and customer service management but considers her true career to be as non-market skill specialist in the disciplines of creative writing, visual art and community building.

Originally from Long Island, she moved to the Midwest and earned all the fine arts degrees she could ever want, including an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Later, she rehabbed apartment buildings and had all the tenants she would ever want. Later still, she gave birth to all the children she would ever want. Since then, she's been writing. She hasn't written everything she wants yet. She is fascinated by water, houses and trees both as metaphors and as physical entities. Consequently, she lives near the lake in Chicago, in an old bungalow under a large copper beech tree.

At Tuesday Funk, she will be reading from her as yet unpublished memoir, Let Me Look at You. Her essays and stories have appeared in the anthology, Gravity Pulls You In: Perspectives on Parenting Children on the Autism Spectrum (Woodbine House, 2010), in Brain, Child: the Magazine for Thinking Mothers and in The Examined Life: a Literary Journal of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine (Fall 2011). One of her visual artworks (subject: trees, houses.) is currently hanging in the Creative Connections exhibit at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Lincoln Square.

Please come see B. E. Pinkham and the rest of our talented readers at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, November 6, for our 51st edition of Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf's upstairs lounge.

No matter what else you do on Election Night, remember to vote with your feet and come on down to Hopleaf for the 51st edition of Tuesday Funk! We'll be bringing you a ballot box stuffed with literary excellence from the likes of Jac Jemc, Mary Lorenz, B. E. Pinkham, Kelly Swails, and Mary Zemaitis, not to mention one of our patented Poems by Bill, continual election return updates, and your pick of cold beers from all across the brew-itical spectrum. (Vote early and often!)

The evening gets underway with your co-hosts Sara Ross Witt and William Shunn on Tuesday, November 6th, 2012, 7:30 pm, in the upstairs lounge at the newly expanded and renovated Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St., Chicago. Arrive early for a seat, and grab a beer from Mark 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 late after for some great Belgian-style food downstairs. That's change you can believe in.

Please bring plenty of friends, and become a fan of Tuesday Funk on Facebook so you never miss an invitation to one of our readings. Remember, a win for Tuesday Funk is a win for America.

You're forgiven if you decided to take a pass on out most recent episode of Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf—our United States of Horror edition. Yes, in honor of the ghastly month of October, we presented an evening of horror stories by local Chicago, and there wasn't an unchilled spine in the house.

We started things off with Stoker Award winner John Everson, who brought us not only an excerpt from his terrifying new novel NightWhere, but also read us the story of a young man who pays a steep price for his decidedly unnatural attachments to pumpkins. And then Cynthia (cina) Pelayo, made us think as well as cringe with a pair of shivery and evocative stories from her fine collection Loteria.

And finally, after a break for beer, The Colin & Ishmael Players presented us with a Tuesday Funk first—an extended live dramatic reading of co-host William Shunn's creepy horror tale "Colin and Ishmael in the Dark."

But if you missed out, don't despair. We'll be bringing you haunting video clips from the evening over the days leading up to Halloween, and then we'll be back on November 6th with our Election Night Edition featuring Jac Jemc, Mary Lorenz, B. E. Pinkham, Kelly Swails, and Mary Zemaitis.. Be sure cast your vote that night ... for Tuesday Funk!

For our landmark 50th episode tonight at Hopleaf, your friends at Tuesday Funk bring you an evening layered with shivers and squirms, from the best horror writers Chicago has to offer.

Our United States of Horror edition will feature John Everson, Cynthia (cina) Pelayo, and a chilling dramatic reading from The Colin & Ishmael Players.

So "like" us today on Facebook, grab one of dozens of varieties of beer from the bar, and get set for an evening of terrifying live literature with your hosts Sara Ross Witt and William Shunn. We dare you.

Hopleaf Bar 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 if you want 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.

At our September 4th science fiction program, Gregory A. Wilson stopped by our microphone to read from the flavor text he contributed to the game Ascension, and it sounded a little like this...

And if you liked that, you won't want to miss our next event, Tuesday Funk's United States of Horror, which will take place Tuesday, October 2, 2012, and will include readings from John Everson, Cynthia (cina) Pelayo, and The Colin & Ishmael Players. We hope to see you then!

Hey, Funkers! Our co-host William Shunn will be appearing tonight with Roosevelt University's Gary K. Wolfe on "Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg" on WGN Radio 720 AM. They'll be talking about science fiction—particularly today's release of the Library of America's new collection, American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s, which Mr. Wolfe edited.

Milt Rosenberg's show has run since 1973, during which time he's talked with an intimidating array of world leaders, prominent academics, and entertainment figures. Tonight's program airs live from 10 p.m. to midnight. You can also listen online, or a podcast of the discussion will be available in a few days. We hope you'll tune in!

(And for more information about the collection, please visit the American Science Fiction companion site, which Gary curated.)