Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 7:00PM September's Literary Death Match SF marked was a night to remember at Elbo Room, as Tracy Clark-Flory—pitted against finalist Genie Grotto—took home the LDM crown in a ferociously heated game of Literary Beer Pong.
Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 12:00PM Literary Death Match NYC’s seventeenth episode had the air of a good stand-up comedy show. Each segment showcased another distinct voice and performance, each as often profound as uproarious. If its comedy club atmosphere was incidental—coincidently, three of the four readers performed without notes, which is unusual at LDMs—it was befitting for a reading series conceived by Opium.
Friday, August 14, 2009 at 9:30PM The Battle of the Independent Bookstores was, indeed, a battle for the ages. Episode 20 kicked off with two handsome readers: Jade Brooks (City Lights), who “out-booted” co-host Alana Conner with a pair of mighty tough hiking boots and Derek Powazek (The Booksmith). Powazek took the stage first and left the audience somewhere between laughter and tears with a tale of a sexy tour guide in the Warsaw Ghetto. Brooks was equally dazzling with prose poetry that Performance Judge Andrew Lam likened to a beautiful painting. A tough call but beautiful Literary Merit Judge Beth Spotswood announced that Derek would advance to second round.
Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 2:58PM August 13, 2009—The Emerald City debut of the Literary Death Match at Rendezvous' Jewel Box Theater was an instant classic, as the two remaining gladiators—Ryan Boudinot (representing Monkeybicycle) and HTMLGiant's Matthew Simmons—knifed it out in a LDM original: Stab a Hole in Nebraska!™. In the end, Simmons' blade-sized penetration through northeast Arkansas was closer to Omaha than Boudinot's "knife punch" through Nevada, making Simmons the first-ever northeastern Literary Death Match champ!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 11:00AM The Literary Death Match's mile-high return was a smash hit of literary and farcical proportions, as Lighthouse Writers fantastic combatant Nick Francoise narrowly won over an equally stellar Jessy Randall (representing Ghost Road) in a daring duel of hula-hooping while reading Allen Ginsberg's "The Howl." The full story (aka: hilarious details) is below in the final paragraph, but know—for now—that Francoise was the winner.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 10:28AM The pilot episode of Literary Death Match LA at Cinespace was a diverse showcase that finished with a Hollywood ending, as The Nervous Breakdown's Rich Ferguson out-dueled Hyperion's Joshua Lyon in a stellar gun-fueled match of "Adapted or Original?" Ferguson pulled off the win by a score of 11-9 to become Los Angeles' first Literary Death Match Champion.
Friday, July 31, 2009 at 2:59PM Literary Death Match Chicago, Ep. 3 at the Printer’s Ball in the universe-famous Ludington Building was a night of many firsts! For starters, it was the most stage-populated LDM in history as it brought together a record eight readers (trumping Chicago, Ep. 1’s six), in an blockbuster poetry-off that ended with THE2NDHAND's Spencer Dew belting a stunned Michael Czyzniejewski of ACM (Another Chicago Magazine) in a Chicago Author’s Face Guess-Off that Dew won by a startling 5-1 to become the LDM champion.
Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 2:58PM Just about everyone who attended Literary Death Match NYC, Ep. 16 stood together afterward in the little restaurant-room at the front of the Bowery Poetry Club and agreed: Episode 16 was a
readymade classic. As per usual, three notable New Yorkers sat in judgment of four brilliant readers, who competed for the coveted LDM champion's medal. But at the end of Ep. 16
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 4:37PM The Literary Death Match has already gone global (Beijing), but now we’re launching in Europe. LDM London, Ep. 1’s lineup features Nick Harkaway (The Gone-Away World), Salena Godden (of The Book Club Boutique), Joe Dunthorne (Submarine), Tim Wells (representing Pen Pusher), and judges like Luke Brown of Tindal Street Press—with more to be announced shortly!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 5:02AM Literary Death Match SF, Ep. 19 (which doubled as the official west coast launch of Opium8: The Infinity Issue) at Elbo Room was a clash to remember, as K.M. Soehnlein narrowly out-infinity-raced co-finalist Katharine Noel in a wild march towards the Literary Death Match championship.