Karin Slaughter: Femme Fatale
Friday, August 29th, 2008
Karin Slaughter’s been hearing it for years: She writes like a man. Women authors like her don’t get called on the violence in their books nearly as much as men do. And she doesn’t look like someone who traffics casually in blood, guts and guns and the killers who use them.
“I guess I should be like 600 pounds with a beard or something, with lots of leather,” she says, “which would be scary.”
No thanks. Fractured, the second departure from her wildly popular Grant County series, is scary enough. The novel lifts characters from her previous non-Grant County work, Triptych, and drops them into a murder/rape/kidnapping in Atlanta’s tony Ansley Park neighborhood.
David Lee Simmons speaks with Karin Slaughter - Download
Former “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” star Bob Saget has reinvented himself in recent years with his stand-up routine and blue humor, most famously captured in the 2005 documentary The Aristocrats, as well as his 2006 direct-to-video comedy Farce of the Penguins.
Brown reads and signs Feasting on Asphalt. $29.50. Thurs., May 8. 7 p.m. Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave. 404-681-5123. www.variety-playhouse.com.
The Marriage of Figaro
Pablo Francisco has a way with words, or at least the sounds of other people’s words. His gift for impersonations has people thinking he’s Don LaFontaine, the now-famous movie-trailer voice-over genius. Francisco brings his fast-paced stand-up routine to the Punchline from Fri.-Sun., April 18-20.
Theatrical Outfit’s ATLEXIS 2008 fundraiser offers “an evening of Words, Wit and Wisdom from Southern Literature,” of which there’s a ton, with readings and music by a host of celebrity guests Sat., APRIL 5. The most notable of the group, besides our own Mayor Shirley Franklin (natch), is actor Tony Shalhoub (right), the three-time Emmy-winning star and executive producer of TV’s “Monk.” (Shalhoub’s sister, Susan Shalhoub Larkin, is a local theater figure, and will also read.) Shalhoub will be joined by wife/actress Brooke Adams in reading from Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve. Other, more local celebs include Tom Key, Monica Pearson and Ferrol Sams, along with singer/songwriter Kate Campbell and WSB-AM’s (750) Scott Slade hosting. $110 gala tickets; VIP tickets sold out. Reception, 6 p.m.; performance, 7:30 p.m. Rialto Center for the Arts and Balzer Theater, 80 Forsyth St. 678-528-1511. 
Paula Poundstone performs Fri., MARCH 28, at the Ferst Center for the Arts, and her material is as fresh as ever. $21.60-$37. 8 p.m. Ferst Center for the Arts, 225 North Ave. 404-894-9600. 
They tell artists to look for inspiration in their everyday lives, so Camille A. Brown had to look no further than underneath Manhattan.
The timing of the writers’ strike couldn’t have been worse for D.L. HUGHLEY, who was set to take a second swing at a late-night talk show (this time on BET) when the bad news hit. So it’s a good time for the former star of his own sitcom (and the recent HBO special “Unapologetic”) to focus on his stand-up chops as he pulls into Atlanta Fri., NOV. 23. Hughley deftly mixes political and topical observations with his unabashedly scatological humor. “I was driving down the street through Virginia and I saw one bumper sticker that said, ‘I support the NRA,’ and right next to that was another bumper sticker that said, ‘What would Jesus do,’ he observes on his HBO special. “Ain’t that a bitch? I ain’t no Bible scholar but I’m gonna guess he ain’t gonna have no gun.” His previous Comedy Central TV talk show, “Weekends at the D.L.,” had short-lived success but showed Hughley could be the next Bill Maher if given the right opportunity. Click here to listen to a a podcast interview with Hughley. $39.50. 8 p.m. Center Stage, 374 W. Peachtree St. 404-885-1365. 
Mike Sager’s “literary anthropology” approach to narrative journalism stands on the shoulders of Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese. Revenge of the Donut Boys: True Stories of Lust, Fame, Survival and Multiple Personality, a collection of his magazine articles, includes profiles of Ice Cube, Mark Cuban and the Newark, N.J., car thieves of the book’s title.
Sugarcane Academy: How a New Orleans Teacher and His Storm-Struck Students Created a School to Remember
While he is considered one of the most respected film critics in the country, as evidenced by his work with Time magazine, Richard Schickel is also widely known for producing documentaries about Hollywood and its most important figures. As the producer of works such as Woody Allen: A Life in Film and Scorsese on Scorsese, Shickel allows legendary filmmakers to explain their work.