City Lights and Litquake as part of Litquake Festival 2024 present
Josh Mohr with Slummy
A reading with music and conversation
Moderated by Peter Maravelis (City Lights)
Josh Mohr is joined by his band Slummy in celebrating his new novel
Saint the Terrifying
Published by Unnamed Press
This event will be held at The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd Street (near Mission) San Francisco, CA 94110. Admission $12.00 in advance, $15.00 at the door.
In the first installment of Joshua Mohr’s Viking Punk saga, a West Oakland musician acquires a new name and new calling. Chasing down a gang of thieves, Saint the Terrifying turns a gritty urban detective story into the stuff of legend. Saint’s an ex-con still coming to terms with his origin story. Raised in the wilds of Norway by an artisan father famed for his glass-blown birds, Saint trained daily in ancient Norse martial arts with a bear as his sparring partner. One day, his father makes a critical mistake, forcing Saint to leave his home forever, and move to San Francisco. Years later and fresh out of prison, Saint finds himself immersed in the Oakland punk music scene. On stage, he’s struggling to find his identity as a guitar player in a mediocre band. Off stage, his uniquely Norse skillset suddenly turns Saint into a one-eyed punk gumshoe after sinister thieves start targeting local bands’ gear. But it is only when Saint meets Trick Wilma, the powerhouse lead singer of another (better) band, that he begins to see the glimmer of salvation in her eyes.
Propelled by a broken Baroque of punk language, Saint the Terrifying examines tensions between community and individual identity, social activism and vigilantism, while taking the reader on a roller coaster ride of hard-boiled twists and hardcore music. Saint is the badass protagonist that answers the question: What if Johnny Rotten had a baby with The Rock?
Joshua Mohr is the author of eight books, including Damascus, which The New York Times called “Beat-poet cool.” He’s also written Some Things that Meant the World to Me, one of O Magazine’s 10 Terrific reads, and All This Life, winner of the Northern California Book Award. Termite Parade was an editors’ choice on the New York Times Best Seller List. In his Hollywood life, he’s sold projects to AMC, ITV, and Amblin Entertainment.
Slummy is the band fronted by author and musician Joshua Mohr. Created and based upon the fictional band in Mohr’s upcoming novel Saint the Terrifying. Jessamyn Ward (on drums) & Vince Cuneo (on guitar).
Litquake is a project of the Litquake Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit registered in the state of California. It is one of the largest independent literary festivals on the West Coast.Learn more at https://www.litquake.org/
Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation