THE BEST BOOK SIGNED TO ME AND THE BEST COVER BLURB by JAY BONANSINGA

Jay Bonansinga and I have been friends for twenty years, going back to his first novel, THE BLACK MARIAH. He is currently writing the THE WALKING DEAD novels (co-written by Robert Kirkman) and is knocking it out of the park, as they say. Before I show you the photo of the book Jay signed, let me put up the quote, which pertains to my novella FOR YOU, THE LIVING.

“Chicago has its share of treasures – deep dish, the Bean, Kingston’s blues, and Wayne Allen Sallee.  Toiling in the stubborn vineyard of short fiction for most of his career, Sallee reaches a sort of a literary apogee with his brilliant and brutal horror novella “For You, The Living.”  Ostensibly a plague tale, told in classic Lovecraftian diary form, Sallee’s yarn manages to deftly mingle the deeply personal with the gruesomely Grand Guignol.  Riveting, ghastly, hilarious, creepy, and unforgettably Wayne-like, “For You, the Living” is at once a wholly original take on the zombie apocalypse genre while at the same time a heart-wrenching love story.  This one will haunt you forever, folks.  Highest recommendation!”
- Jay Bonansinga, national bestselling author of THE WALKING DEAD: RISE OF THE GOVERNOR and THE WALKING DEAD: THE ROAD TO WOODBURY

 How can you not beat that? Maybe with the book and the signature, ha ha.

BAD GRAMMAR THEATER, 17 OCT 04

Let's keep it going, shall we? Brendan Detzner started BAD GRAMMAR THEATER a few years ago when he lived over dere by the viaduct on 17th & Halsted. He has moved to the suburbs now, and so BGT still exists, only now in the back room of Powell's Books at Roosevelt & Halsted.

On 17 Oct 14, I read "Ghost Rider In My Eye" to a group of about forty people, but I was also able to meet up with Harold Holt, a fantastic writer I hadn't seen in a decade. A DECADE. There was the usual band of idiots, too. Mike Penkas. Jude Mire. Eric Cherry.

THE BRICK FROM THE RED LION

Tina Jens started the reading series TwilightTales, which was held every Monday night at the Red Lion Pub across from the Biograph Theater on Lincoln from 1993 until 2006, when it closed for renovations. Two years ago--seven years later--they demolished it, and of course I took the train up north to A/steal some bricks and B/throw some crappy old X-Men comics into one of the freshly dug holes on the site.

It has been awhile since I was able to get to any public readings, so earlier this month I was finally able to give Tina a brick as a return favor for the many times she allowed me to headline during those Monday night readings.

04 OCT 14: GUMBO FICTION SALON

Here I am reading at the Galway Arms, on Clark north of Fullerton, last month on a wonderfully rainy Thursday night. I read from I CAN'T COME CLEAN, my poetry collection, including portions of DESMOND'S INFERNO, a long poem I wrote in 1983 and never bothered to get published. Honestly. Also in attendance, Brendan Detzner, Michael Penkas, Alexei Collier, Kate Starling, and Tina Jens, the host. The photos of me (including the close-up) were taken by Eric Cherry.)