I still think that my favorite urban legend/folklore fact is that there are certain areas in New Orleans where you cannot get a taxi late at night not because it isn’t safe, but because taxi companies have had recurring problems of picking up ghosts in those areas who are not aware that they are dead and disappearing from the cab before reaching the destination and therefore stiffing the driver on the fare causing a loss for the company.
An occupational hazard of cab driving I had not previously considered
I love that the nola problem here is not “ghosts in my taxi cab,” but “ghosts are FUCKING BROKE DEAD BASTARDS & I GOT BILLS”
Horror is when ghosts get into cabs and scare drivers
Magical realism is when cab companies have to develop policies to prevent ghastly fare-theft
In a book about the tsunami in Japan in 2011, the writer talked about how there was a huge increase in reports of ghostly activity. Apparently in Japan treating ghosts rudely is basically considered the stupidest thing you could possibly do. For months after the tsunami, taxi drivers would pick up a passenger only to have them give an address in one of the devastated areas. The cab driver often looked up halfway to the destination to find their fare had disappeared. Not wanting to be impolite to the person (even if they were dead) they’d drive to the address, open the door to let them out, then drive away.
Some of the biggest moments and movements in modern human history have been (or are being) carefully documented by independent artists working in film, theatre, VR, music, and beyond.
January was a great month at the bookstore! Here’s who we hosted:
Graywolf authors Maud Casey & Stacey D’Erasmo talked about their books The Art of Mystery and The Art of Intimacy
Boston alt-rock band Buffalo Tom played a benefit concert,
Queer podcast Food 4 Thot did a live show and celebrated the launch of Joe Osmundson’s memoir Inside/Out.
Nathaniel Rich launched his new novel King Zeno, a historical thriller set in New Orleans, with live jazz from The Jazz Foundation.
Austin-based showcase Greetings, From Queer Mountain launched their NYC residency, with Sam Sax, Tommy Pico, Whitney Chanel Clark, Jes Tom, Chewy May, Lynaé DePriest & host Michael Foulk!
Rising sci-fi and fantasy star Brooke Bolander talked about her debut novella, The Only Harmless Great Thing, with Maria Dahvana Headley and Amal El-Mohtar.
Drunk Ed continued its wildly successful series of roasts of “great” literary men, with Meredith Clark, Kate Knibbs, Muna Mire, and Chelsea G. Summers taking down Joseph Conrad, Michael Wolff, Jack Kerouac, and Christopher Hitchens..
