Empire de la Mort

I guess it’s my version of public service or community activism or something . . . but for whatever reason, I have agreed to do the Sicilian Sex Ghost lecture and slideshow at the Echo Park Art Walk on April 20. 7:30 pm. Free. Details (more or less) on this Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/events/371495176296793/?ref=3

We are pleased to bring the Sex Ghost lecture to Berkeley’s famous Bone Room.

Do you like sex? Do you like Death? Do you like Sicilians? If you answered yes to any of these questions, join author/photographer Dr. Paul Koudounaris, as he presents an in-depth lecture with full slideshow on the Sex Ghosts of the Palermo Catacombs, and the history of reported sex between humans and unknown spectral apparitions.

Over 400 years ago, the monks of Palermo’s Capuchin monastery began mummifying their own brothers and prominent local citizens, and displaying their bodies in subterranean galleries. The result was one of the world’s most haunted sites. But many of these ghosts were not content to simply roam the passageways rattling chains–death had apparently not quelled their sexual appetites, and with libidos in overdrive they took to the streets of the city to fulfill their lecherous needs. Dr. Koudounaris will explore this fascinating folklore in a uniquely bizarre lecture, illustrated with his own photographs of the mummies still preserved in Palermo.

Event: Sicilian Sex Ghosts–lecture and slideshow by Dr. Paul Koudounaris; also, book signing (Empire of Death)
March 14, 2013, 7 pm
The Bone Room, 1569 Solano Way, 94707
510 526 5252
This is a free event

For previous press on the Sicilian Sex Ghost lecture, see:
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/35/48/24_siciliansexghosts_2012_11_30_bk.html
http://thehairpin.com/2012/12/death-ghosts-and-paul-koudounaris
http://animalnewyork.com/2012/sicilian-sex-ghosts-haunt-gowanus/

I will be doing a special lecture with full slideshow on the history of demonically-possessed cats at the closing reception for David Normal’s Crazyology art show. Februart 8, 8 pm, Free, 1000 Van Ness, SF, 94109 (Atrium space, part of closing reception for David Normal’s Crazyology art and illumination show).

Did you know:
–Demonically-possessed cats have been reported since the ancient world?
–London was terrorized by a demonically-possessed cat during World War II?
–A demonically-possessed cat destroyed a church in the Middle Ages in France?
–A method for inserting a demon into a cat has been preserved through a witchcraft trial transcripts?
–History’s most famous demonically-possessed cat is reported to reside in the basement of the US Capitol Building?
Learn all this and more! With select reenactment of said behaviors by performance artist Tiffany Rojas.

On the same evening, music by the Fancy Space People..

Cover art below. Unsure of release date (no one tells me anything), but email with any inquiries, or check with Japanese book sellers.

I will be part of what appears to be a very interesting panel in LA on December 1.

I will be doing a talk on the Sex Ghosts of the Palermo Catacombs at the Morbid Anatomy Library in Brooklyn on December 11. There will be music, cocktails, and thematic baked goods (I am trying to imagine what that means).
http://observatoryroom.org/2012/11/01/sicilian-sex-ghosts-and-morbid-anatomy-birthday-party/

For whatever it’s worth–free. In a man-made cave in Long Beach, CA. I am giving a lecture and slideshow about something, macabre related, although not sure what yet. Music is involved in some form.
Artificial cave created by Paul Wilkens; lecture by Paul Koudounaris (author of The Empire of Death); music by Nora Keyes and Erin Schneider. Details on flier or at http://www.facebook.com/events/433817710008564/?fref=t

This could be either a great or disastrous show, depending on how things go. I will be doing my Sex Ghost talk (this is the last time I plan to do it, at least in LA–can’t over saturate the market with sex ghosts). Also the Art of Bleeding with their magic ambulance will be showing films (and their nurses will be passing out free diseases). Horror rock band Rosemary’s Billygoat. And finally–the highly respected literary and musical trio Clowns and Fetuses, doing a presentation on the deaths of famous authors. All for–Free. October 24, the Last Bookstore, at 453 S. Spring, downtown LA.

Below are the fliers for a pair of book talks in San Diego, October 25 and October 30. Both will be accompanied by a full slide show.

For those interested in such things, a few talks coming up in Southern California in October. Two in San Diego (October 25 and 30–the first at Mission Hills Branch Library, the second at Malcolm X Branch Library), one in Long Beach (in an artificial cave) on October 13, and a grandiose affair at the Last Bookstore in Downtown LA on October 24. There is a flier for the first San Diego talk, and will eventually update this with further information on the others.