NYC, Ep. 46

September 18, 2014 — In a cavalcade of masterful literary excess, Literary Death Match headed to the Upper West Side for our sold out Symphony Space debut — a brilliant night of lit-of-all-stripes, witticisms, raucousness, and braininess that ended with Rivka Galchen outdueling Bill Scheft in a back-and-forth Lone Star Lit finale to win her the LDM NYC, Ep. 46 crown. 

But before the finale was even a consideration, the night kicked off with Rivka Galchen (award-winning author of American Innovations and Atmospheric Disturbances) debuting a dazzling short story about a woman who works at a call center that wowed the audience. Next up was Julie Klam, NY Times bestselling author of Please Excuse My Daughter, Love at First Bark and Friendkeeping, who read a side-splitting and layered story that centered around explaining sex to her daughter. 

Then the mic was handed to the night's trio of all-star judges: Nick Flynn, poet, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City and The Reenactments; Carrie Coon, co-star of HBO's The Leftovers & Tony-nominee (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?); and Janeane Garofalo, stand-up comedian, actress, activist and writer. The trio heaped gobs of praise on both authors with quips to match before huddling up and making the night's first impossible decision, finally declaring Galchen as the night's first finalist.

Then came Round 2, which began with Joshua Ferris, author of Then We Came to the End (a National Book Award finalist) who read a pitch-perfect excerpt from his Booker Prize-shortlisted gem To Rise Again at a Decent Hour about the ritual of moisturizing. Then Bill Scheft took center stage, as the 15-time Emmy nominated writer for Late Show with David Letterman read from his latest novel, Shrink Thyself. The excerpt featured a man with a motorcycle who at dinner at his girlfriend's parent's house for the first time — and who ended up doing the dishes. 

Again the judges were under the spotlight, and again they delivered delight and raucousness to the wild crowd before huddling up and announcing the night's second impossible decision, declaring it would be Scheft who would advance as the night's second finalist. 

Then host and LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga stepped up and announced the night's finale: Lone Star Lit — a game in which Zuniga read off 1-star Amazon book reviews written about classic books. The finalists, teamed with volunteers, traded points, and with everything to play for, it was Team Galchen who slapped the bell first, nailing the final answer, winning her the LDM NYC, Ep. 46 medal and literary immortality to go with it. 

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