Justin C. Gordon

 Out of the Gutter, now on issue No. 4, is a journal of degenerate literature whose writers seem to think of the word “pulp” in the sense of “beaten to” rather than “printed on.” Bum fights, botched boob jobs, lab-rat prostitutes and murder (!) drip from its pages, which are handily divided into reads of five, ten and 20 minutes. Beyond these dropkick-a-baby experiments in grit lit, there are quote-unquote literary offerings too, such as “The Rules,” a smart, self-aware tale about holding up a crack house. The story has a protagonist who mentions foreshadowing outright and then — spoiler alert — doesn’t quite deliver like you’d expect.

Austin writer Justin C. Gordon, a contributor and front man for OOTG, will be at Murder by the Book today, performing a puppet-show version of his story (you read that right) and passing out malt liquor in OOTG brown bags (yep, that too). 4:30 p.m. 2342 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-524-8597 or visit www.murderbooks.com. Free.
Sat., June 28, 4:30 p.m., 2008