Volume is a FREE reading & music series featuring prose, poetry and a short DJ set. Every second Saturday at 7:00 pm at The Spotty Dog. Books are available for purchase and signing. This month's writers include: REBECCA GODFREY’s first novel, The Torn Skirt, was a national bestseller and finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Under The Bridge won the British Columbia Award for Canadian Nonfiction, and the Arthur Ellis Award for Excellence in Crime Writing. She has received fellowships from Yaddo and The MacDowell Colony. She teaches writing at Columbia University, and lives with her family in upstate New York. KELLY J. BEARD is the 2017 winner of the prestigious Zone 3 Press Creative Nonfiction Book Award for her memoir, An Imperfect Rapture. She has been a lawyer, an activist, a teacher, and a musician. Her essays and other work appear in Creative Nonfiction, Five Points, the Bacopa Literary Review, the Santa Ana River Review, and other literary journals. LEE MATTHEW GOLDBERG is the author of the novels Slow Down, The Mentor, and The Desire Card. The second book in the Desire Card series, Prey No More, is forthcoming in 2019. His writing has also appeared in the anthology Dirty Boulevard, The Millions, Cagibi, the Montreal Review, the Adirondack Review, the New Plains Review, Underwood Press and others. He is the co-curator of the Guerrilla Lit Reading Series. He lives in New York City. LUCY IVES is the author of the novels Impossible Views of the World and LOUDERMILK. Her writing has appeared in Granta, Vogue, the New Yorker, and elsewhere. A graduate of Harvard University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she holds a PhD in comparative literature from NYU, and received a 2018 Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. Followed by a DJ set from a special guest DJ.

With fine Ciders such as Salt & Sand, Comes and Gose, Lost Tropic and Bon Voyage. Color your favorite Graft labels with the team! Raffle for prizes at 7pm

Please join OutHudson and Spotty Dog for an author reading and discussion. As The Crow Flies Karen Williams is a writer and psychotherapist who lives between New York City and the Berkshires. In addition to novels and short stories, she has published articles on the human-animal bond and was awarded the Maxwell Medallion by the Dog Writer’s Association of America. She enjoys philosophical debates, and often asks the question we all ponder: is there a place for us beyond this life and, if so, can our dogs and cats come too? As the Crow Flies, a haunting romance with a good dose of humor and the right amount of spooky, is currently a finalist for a 2019 Golden Crown Literary Society award.   Truth or Dare Camille Spencer grew up in Southern California during the 70s and 80s, where she spent two years as an art major in college only to switch mid-way to English Literature. She’s worked as a freelance copywriter and editor since 2001. In 2013, she began writing fiction on the side. Truth or Dare was published in 2018. Her second romance, On Second Thought, is slated for release in February of 2020. She currently lives in Western Massachusetts with her wife and their daughter. About the Publisher Bold Strokes Books offers a diverse collection of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer general and genre fiction. Our fiction includes romance, mystery/intrigue, crime, erotica, speculative fic (sci-fi/fantasy/horror), general fiction, and young adult. Since its inception in 2004, our mission has remained unchanged: to bring quality queer fiction to readers worldwide and to support committed authors in developing their craft and reaching an ever-growing community of readers via print, digital, and audio formats.

Alexander Turnquist is a guitarist and composer. He has released original albums on the VHF record label as well as limited released titles on the Kning Disk imprint and Textura record label. Turnquist has been compared to guitarists Jack Rose, Alex De Grassi, Kaki King, and James Blackshaw, as well as contemporary composer Philip Glass. Since emigrating from his native Scotland in 2014 Lorkin O'Reilly has been making a name for himself throughout the Northeast. His unique transatlantic approach blends Celtic inspired open tunings with direct and personal lyrics. His writing reflects not only his own reality, but a reality faced by most of us; the purgatory between childhood and adulthood, between new home and old home and finally the overarching struggle of finding a new identity.

“I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.” Perhaps the only subject more fascinating than the mysterious world of dreams is the mysterious world of Bob Dylan. Dreaming of Dylan brings the two together for a weird and wonderful romp through the ways the mercurial musical master shows up in our subconscious states. Celebrated writer and musician Mary Lee Kortes lovingly curated this off-kilter collection of nocturnal visions. Paired with over 100 original images and illustrations, these dreams will captivate you in ways you never expected. There are plenty of musical dreamers here, from the incomparable Patti Smith to Squirrel Nut Zippers frontman Jimbo Mathus to Kevin Odegard. Not to mention the everyday dreamers, from plumbers to poets and pastors, from dentists to attorneys and psychotherapists. Some dreams are poignant; some are disturbing; and others are nothing short of bizarre. Taken together they’re an enthralling look at what the famously enigmatic singer/songwriter represents in the deepest recesses of our minds. Mary Lee Kortes is a musician and author based in Brooklyn, New York. She has released five albums of original material to wide critical acclaim, each of which landed on the Billboard critics’ top ten list in the year of its debut. Rolling Stone described her voice as “the high-mountain sunshine of Dolly Parton, with a sweet-iron undercoat of Chrissie Hynde.” She has toured the world both as a headliner and an opening act for established artists, including Dylan. Kortes is also a published short story writer. Dreaming of Dylan: 115 Dreams About Bob is her first book.  

Veteran environmentalist and original petitioner and leader of the Green Amendment movement Maya van Rossum will appear at Spotty Dog, discussing her book, The Green Amendment: Securing Our Right to a Healthy Environment, followed by Q&A and signing.