August 31, 2010 — The Literary Death Match's long-awaited (by us) return to China and The Bookworm Beijing was nothing short of masterwork, with the brilliant night finishing with a fake mustache/chopstick/cheap toy/basketball shootout finale that saw One Story representative John Leary claim a 3-1, closer-than-the-scoreboard-suggests victory over co-finalist and Shiva Naipaul prize-winner James Palmer. While the crowd cheered ecstatically, Leary was crowned victor.
But well before the first cheap toy was raised with wooden chopsticks, the night kicked off with Leary leading off against fellow first-rounder (and mini-media mogul/co-founder of That's magazine) Mark Kitto — author of China Cuckoo. Leary skewed death-defying, a tale about how he'd like to die versus how he was likely to die. Then up stepped Kitto, who read a gently brilliant excerpt about the whore we call Shanghai.
The mic was then turned over to the threesome of all-star judges, including Gady Epstein (Forbes.com), Elyse Ribbons (Cheeky Monkey) and heavy metal guitarist Kaiser Kuo. Epstein found both readings excellent, but couldn't believe there was nothing in the way of pre-event bribery,
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