My story All Monsters Welcome appears in the fall issue of Spartan.
I based my costume on a vague memory of this ridiculous ‘50s movie I once saw. There was all this anticipation about some horrible creature terrorizing the town. Then when it finally appeared onscreen it looked like something a rug shop had puked up. My costume looks a bit better than that, if I do say so myself. I went to Nielsen Brothers and spent $75 on marked-down orange shag. I flirted with the stockboy and he threw in a couple of burgundy remnants, which I used for horns and demonic pointy eyes.
Even a monster could show some leg, I figured, so the outfit ends jaggedly above my knees, showing silver stockings and my favorite high-heeled boots. I don’t think Ted will remember those. He’s only seen me in them once or twice, and they came off quickly.
This is the same piece I read at Lit Fix in September.
What a fun night!
Pictured above: fellow readers Susan Rich, Kelli Agodon Russell, and Jim Ruland, hostess and organizer extraordinaire Mia Lipman, and me, right after the event. Not pictured: Jon Frum, who provided the evening’s excellent musical interludes. Pretty sure he’d already snuck back to the bar.