Author Nancy Rommelmann Reading at Panther Coffee Tonight

photo via dymaxicon

Author Nancy Rommelmann

If you're like most of the population these days, your attention span has probably dwindled down to nothing. Between tweets, status updates, and all kinds of little flashing messages popping up on T.V., you can barely take in a whole movie--let alone a book.

Well, if you're trying to restore some of that long-lost brainpower, or just want to get out of the house, author Nancy Rommelmann will be reading from her new book, Transportation, tonight at Panther Coffee.

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Tonight at 7:30 pm, local writer John Hood will be introducing Rommelmann for a reading of her new book. Transportation, a collection of short stories, which have been described as "dazzling... shocking and amazing... [Rommelmann] dives into some strange pockets of the human soul and swims a line right on the blackest edge of fear, desire and despair," by the Oregonian.

Rommelmann, a New York native and Los Angeles-based journalist of 15 years, has won numerous awards for her long-form investigative pieces and cultural commentary. She is known for her documentarian style, focusing on dark subjects such as serial-killers, homeless teens, Munchausen mothers, and con-men. Her previous books include The Bad Mother and The Queens of Montague Street.

Transportation moves between sci-fi, magical realism, and dark humor. One piece, "White Coyote," is a study of humiliation at a Catholic elementary school. "X-Girl," tells the tale of a woman who sexually taunts a butcher, who promises to punish her teasing -- and follows through.

According to author Diana Spiotta, writer of Stone Arabia, "Nancy Rommelmann's startling stories are as compelling as they are unsettling. The worlds she creates are recognizable but also completely and wonderfully unfamiliar. She writes close to the body, and we are made to feel each uncanny detail. Transportation is a fascinating, fierce, and original collection of stories."

Panther Coffee will be serving coffee, cava, and refreshments.

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