Why Is Everyone Talking About Brian Boitano? (Maybe Because He's Part Of Our New Issue, Available For The First Time Tonight)

Our favorite skater, Brian Boitano

Brian Boitano is an American figure skater, cook, and overall nice guy. He is the 1988 Olympic Champion, the 1986 and 1988 World Champion, and the 1985-1988 US National Champion Figure Skater. More recently, Mr. Boitano has been inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Off the ice, Mr. Boitano is a culinary mastermind – wielding a saucepan and spatula with the same excitement, charm, and skill we have all come to love. Mr. Boitano even hosts a cooking show on the Food Network called What Would Brian Boitano Make? (Sundays at 1pm).

By now, you are probably wondering why a literary magazine, staffed by creative writing graduate students at San Francisco State University, would blog about Brian Boitano. After all, the two have nothing to do with one another; Fourteen Hills is an internationally renowned literary magazine and Brian Boitano is an Olympic champion. Nary the two should meet, let alone be spoken of in the same breath.

Pick yours up tonight!

Unless, of course, there’s a story involved.

The newest issue of Fourteen Hills includes Michael Reid Busk’s story The Eighties, A Brief Primer. This short story is a fictional romp through the decade, made all the better with just one sentence: “In 1989, Brian Boitano was elected President of the Eighties.” With that, we are tossed into a parallel universe where Mr. Boitano saves America from disgruntled postmen propaganda, promotes healthy life-style choices, and brings out the figure skater in us all.

But that’s not all. Oh no. Not by a long shot (or a perfectly executed triple axel).

Enter to win this book!

Mr. Boitano has graciously donated an autographed copy of his book, Boitano's Edge: Inside The Real World Of Figure Skating, to the list of raffle prizes available at tonight's release party (join us at Coffee Bar at 7pm for your chance to win).

Mr. Boitano’s generosity doesn't end there. He has taken time out of his busy schedule to send us a video greeting. Behold:



So, please join us TONIGHT for all the fun and excitement that only the combination of Brian Boitano and a new release of Fourteen Hills can bring.

Long live the President of the Eighties!

-Rose Booker, staff member, Fourteen Hills

Shakespeare, Tattoos, And Finely Cured Meats: Win These Raffle Prizes At Our Release Party On 12/16

When Fourteen Hills releases issue 17.1, our goal is to get the whole community involved. Our party will not only have amazing readers, it will also feature a long list of fantastic raffle prizes from Bay Area stores. You could win movie and theater tickets, books, burritos, tattoo art, brow waxing, and a night out at the club. Pretty swell, for the low, low price of $2/ticket.

Here is a list of some of the raffle prizes that could be yours at Coffee Bar on Thursday, Dec. 16. All proceeds help support our non-profit journal. Huge thanks and gratitude to these fine businesses (and patrons like you) that keep independent literature alive.

Entertainment & Movies

Yours, for the price of a raffle ticket.

Two Tickets to California Shakespeare Theater
Two free tickets for one performance of the California Shakespeare Theater's 2011 Season which starts May 3, 2011 and includes: Titus Andronicus, The Verona Project, Candida, and The Taming of the Shrew. Cal Shakes' home, the magnificent Bruns Amphitheater, is one of the most beautiful and unique settings imaginable to experience live theater. This is an amazing opportunity to experience live theater the way it should be.

$25 giftcard to Regal Cinemas
This prize is good for two. Take that certain someone to enjoy a classic night out at the movie theater. Regal Cinemas is the largest movie theater company in the world and its theaters can be found here in Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco at the Stonestown mall. Visit the theater to check out the latest arthouse flick du jour including film festival darlings from Danny Boyle, Daniel Afredson, Sofia Coppola, and the like. Stonestown Twin Theater is located at 501 Buckingham Way, San Francisco CA 94132. Enjoy your movie.

Eats & Drinks & Sweets

$40 Gift Certificate to 222 Hyde
This prize will get two through the door to enjoy complimentary drinks. Located in the Tenderloin, 222 Hyde has a clean yet bass-booming sound system—they recently won best sound system in the SF Weekly's “Best of San Francisco 2010” poll—perfectly suited to the club's always-exciting rotation of local, national, and international DJs. Full bar and amazing made-to-order thin-crust pizzas on the main floor, DJ dancing in the basement. Located at 222 Hyde Street at Turk. Easy to get to from Civic Center. (415) 345-8222.

Want to eat here? Buy a raffle ticket.

$30 Gift Certificate to Nopalito Mexican Cuisine
Nopalito is a gourmet Mexican restaurant that celebrates the traditional cookery of Mexico while utilizing local organic and sustainable ingredients. This charming little restaurant is located at 306 Broderick Street (between Oak & Fell) in San Francisco, 415-437-0303. 

$25 Gift Certificate to The Monks Kettle
Enjoy great food and well-crafted beer -- over 250 beers to choose from -- at this Mission district hotspot. The Monk's Kettle serves a rare vintage of beers that have been aging in their climate-controlled cellar. Located at 3141 16th Street, San Francisco, 415-865-9523.

$25 Gift Certificate to Avedanos Holly Park Market
This small butcher shop & deli serves delicious meats along with produce and specialty gourmet items that are organic and handpicked just for you. Visit Avedano's Holly Park Market at 235 Cortland Street, San Francisco.

$20 Gift Certificate to Hudson Bay Café
Great neighborhood just down from the California College of the Arts in Oakland: good place to work with WiFi, food, wine, or good, strong coffee. Atmosphere is effervescent with a variety of ages. Sidewalk tables in sunny or shady sections, and good street viewing from inside. Hudson Bay Café is located at 5401 College Avenue in Oakland, 510-658-0214.

$18 Gift Certificate to Mission Pie
We all love pie and this lil’ corner café, bakery, and gathering spot is located in the Mission District of San Francisco, nestled between busy streets and vibrant communities. Mission Pie has an atmosphere for writers to gather. Because they only use produce from local farms, their menu changes seasonally and offers exceptional baked goods along with fair trade tea and coffee. Located at 2901 Mission Street (25th & Mission), 415-282-4PIE

Gifts for your body

$200 or Two Hour Session at Body Bazarre Tattoo
One of Northern California’s premiere tattoo artists, Chris Evans, is awaiting one lucky individual to have either a two hour session or $200 dollar piece of artwork permanently placed on their body. Chris is a talented artist that is willing to create what you can only imagine. Body Bazarre is located at 5847 Auburn Blvd, Sacramento Ca. 916-705-8903

The Brow Lounge

$30 Gift Certificate to The Brow Lounge
A variety of eye enhancements and facial waxings that have you looking good! Not only do the technicians do good work, they are enthusiastic supporters of the arts, and some are artists themselves! The Brow Lounge is located 5916 College Ave. Oakland, Ca. (north of the Rockridge BART Station)

Outlets for the imagination

$50 Prize Pack of Three Omnibucket Books
You will receive The Book of CLAV, Eleventy Billion Miles Away, and God's Acre: The Ravens & the Rhyme. They're not art books. They're not coffee table books. They're not a comic books or even graphic novels. They're not a children's books, that's for sure. They're not popup books, and they certainly aren't just plain old books. They're a different kind of book. Omnibucket books.

$25 Gift certificate to Dog Eared Books
Reflective of the Mission district itself, Dog Eared Books is the largest and most eclectic of their three stores — you'll find anarchist magazines next to Vanity Fair, Nina Simone cds next to Joy Division and Michelle Tea poetry next to Chaucer. Located at 900 Valencia Street in San Francisco.

One of these could be yours.

$20 Gift Certificate to Amoeba
Amoeba Music is the “world’s largest independent record store” for new and used CD’s & DVD. They also have posters, T-shirts, and just about everything. They are located at 1855 Haight Street in San Francisco & 2455 Telegraph in Berkeley.

There are many, many more raffle prizes to be given away, so don’t miss out.

We look forward to seeing you this Thursday night at 7 pm to celebrate the San Francisco literary community with food, drinks, and great entertainment.

If you have yet to purchase a raffle ticket, not to worry, you can purchase tickets at the door. A big thanks to all of our local contributors, writers, readers, and artists for helping Fourteen Hills and the rest of the independent literary community. (RSVP on Facebook.)

Looking forward to seeing you there.
-Jason Johnson, Fourteen Hills staff

Sketch Comedy Plus Filmmaker-Poetry: Two More Featured Readers At Our Party On 12/16

The Fourteen Hills release party is only FOUR DAYS AWAY! Please join us at Coffee Bar this Thursday, Dec. 16, at 7 pm. Attendees will be treated with readings by hilarious comedy group Kasper Hauser and poet/filmmaker Noah Gershman. (If you missed our countdown of other featured readers, you can get up to speed here and here.)

Kasper Hauser is a San Francisco-based comedy quadruplet consisting of Dan Klein, James Reichmuth, John Reichmuth, and Rob Baedeker. They’ve been making quite a name for themselves, having written for Comedy Central and HBO, and now appearing within the pages of Fourteen Hills Issue 17.1. (Get a sneak preview of their act by listening to their podcasts.)

Their talent doesn’t stop at writing. The group boasts a hearty resume of live performances, having competed in and won various comedy contests around the bay, including the Universal Comedy Orgasm and Big Bang Holy Championship.

Noah Gershman may be best known for his talents behind the camera and in the director’s chair, but on Thursday he will share his poetry live and in person. Though he can be quite elusive on the Internet, his work can be found in many literary journals. To hear his work performed by a puppet (no, this is not a joke), click here.

So come on out to Coffee Bar. There will be tons of great, fabulous, random, exciting, and entertaining raffle prizes, as well as drinks, readings, laughing and all sorts of other tomfoolery.

-Phillip Van Sant, staff member, Fourteen Hills

North Korea, Hip-Hop, and Homeless Men: A Look at 3 More Readers Who Will Perform on 12/16

It's December, and we all know what this month is about: going to mad parties, letting it all hang out, and then guiltily planning New Year's resolutions afterward. Fortunately, here at Fourteen Hills we will help you out with all of the above, minus the guilt. Come to our release party on Thursday, December 16, at Coffee Bar in the Mission to hear some guest readers so incredible, they will make you want to get to your writing desk/recording equipment/sketch pad immediately to lay down some serious inspirations for the new year. But you can't leave too soon, because we will be partying and getting literary like crazy.

If you want to feel inspired early (and maybe really jealous) check out some of the super talented contributors that will be reading at our release party:

ADAM JOHNSON is a self-described “maximalist;” he favors bold plots over subtle ones, and manages to always entertain. So if you ever find yourself bored with “the literature of the times,” do yourself a favor and pick up one of his publications. He has been a construction worker, a former Wallace Stegner Fellow, and the Senior Jones Lecturer in Creative Writing at Stanford University. Playboy magazine even named him “one of the nation's most influential and imaginative college professors.”

Winner of the Whiting Writers’ Award, the Gina Berriault Award, and an NEA Fellowship, he is the author of a short story collection Emporium (2002), and the novel Parasites Like Us (2003), which won the California Book Award. His fiction has appeared in Esquire, Harper’s, The Paris Review, Tin House, and Best American Short Stories.

The excerpt that appears in Fourteen Hills 17.1 is from his recently completed novel, tentatively titled The Orphan Master’s Son. Set in a modern North Korea, and partially narrated by a “propaganda loudspeaker,” The Orphan Master’s Son promises to be quirky, poignant, insightful, and tender all at the same time. If you are as intrigued as I am, you can read an excerpt.

MYRON MICHAEL's words hit hard. After reading his piece in the Harvard Review Online, I found myself momentarily unable to process any thoughts beyond “whoa.” His work is gritty, honest, and eye-opening. He is a Cave Canem Fellowship recipient, and his works appear online and in The Harvard Review, Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds (City Lights, 2009), Tea Party, and Nanomajority.

In addition to being a writer (his chapbook Scatter Plot is forthcoming), Michael is also a recording artist and a writing teacher. He is the proprietor of Rondeau Records, which produces “Poetry for Hip-Hop, literature, and music of the highest quality.” Under the name Money The Mystro, he records his own songs which you can check out on Myspace and on his website. He also has a blog with more insightful words, and even pictures of spiders.

MOLLY PRENTISS is full of charm and wit. She doesn't believe the idealized “cabin of solitude” that many writers desire would really work out so well, because, as she says, “we don’t want to be even lonelier than we already are!” She recently received her MFA in Creative Writing at the California College of the Arts and is now a resident writer at Workspace with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She is also a co-director of an arts and writing collective called factorycompany.

She has been published in La Petit Zine, Miracle Monacle, Plaid Review, The City Reader, and elsewhere. Her story appearing in Fourteen Hills 17.1 is about, as she says, “a homeless guy who hums into a jar and sleeps with other people's girlfriends.” It is even more amazing than it sounds. Check out her blog to see more of her writing, her illustrations, and her really adorable handwriting.

-Stephanie Doeing, staff member, Fourteen Hills

Introducing 3 Of 8 Fabulous Readers Ready to Enthrall You At Our Release Party on 12/16

What follows are a few brief descriptions of writers who will be gracing us with their presence at one of this winter's finest literary events in San Francisco: the Fourteen Hills Release Party for Issue 17.1. It’s on Thursday, December 16, at Coffee Bar in the Mission. (You can RSVP right now on Facebook.) We will be profiling all of our special guest readers, and when you come to the party, you'll be able to pick up a copy and read their work for yourself.

READER #1: Jason Bayani is someone to hear and see. When performance and writing mix, the terms "spoken word" and "slam poetry" often get thrown around, and names like Jason Bayani appear floating on the roster. Bayani is a Filipino from our side of town -- a San Francisco State University graduate. He later received his MFA at St. Mary's College in Moraga. His accolades include published pieces of poetry in the 2005 National Poetry Slam Anthology, membership to seven National Poetry Slam teams, an appointment as the 2010 IWPS representative for Oakland, and the 100th episode winner of Literary Death Match.

He is also among a group of three Asian American poets known as Proletariat Bronze who have risen from the Bay Area and gained national recognition. As much as poetry is part of their method and medium, they also see public enrichment as an intrinsic facet of their lot as poets in society. They are self-described "working-class romantics."

READER #2:  Maxine Chernoff is a name that does not wait on a shelf. At Fourteen Hills, we know her as the director of the Creative Writing Program at San Francisco State University, but we also know her as an expansive writer whose merits have allowed her to travel the world over. She has produced a long list of novels, short stories, and poems over the course of two decades.

These include her novel, American Heaven and a book of short stories, Some of Her Friends That Year, which were both finalists for the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award. In fact, you can see a long list of the awards she has received here. Along with her husband, poet Paul Hoover, she is the editor for a long-standing literary journal, New American Writing.

Her writing and work is often in conversation with other writers and places, using it to investigate and grow through the exploration of engaging material. In a recent interview she stated, "We are living in perilous times, and I hope that my writing is exploring and addressing some of these perils."

READER #3:  Stephen Elliott has been there and done that. He's lived to tell. He's known for sex, drugs, and metaphors.

You might also know him from The Rumpus (he's the editor) or you might know him for his books which include his acclaimed memoir, The Adderall Diaries and novel, Happy Baby. Much of his thematic content revolves around the process and shape his own life has taken. He unabashedly coats his life under a thick fictive varnish. In his essay, Why I Write, he describes the way he entered into writing, "My fiction was just reality-PLUS, a slightly more intense version of the world I lived in."

Elliott was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and he is now a member of the San Francisco Writer's Grotto. His work has been published in Esquire, the New York Times, GQ, Best American Non-Required Reading 2005 and 2007, Best American Erotica, and Best Sex Writing 2006.

Stay tuned  for more details on our other featured readers (and more reasons to come out and celebrate with us on December 16 at Coffee Bar).
-Erica Eller, staff member, Fourteen Hills

San Francisco Motorcycle Club: City Landmark (And Fun-Loving Home To Our Release Party)

This granddaddy of motorcycle clubs celebrated its centenary in 2004. As the second oldest motorcycle club in the United States, the San Francisco Motorcycle Club (SFMC) is an iconic city landmark, a symbol of free-spirited bikers crisscrossing the American landscape.

Started in 1904, it gypsied from one place to the other before finding a home on 2194 Folsom Street in the Mission. The club website proudly proclaims its philosophy: they are not fixated with a particular motorcycle brand, open to all age groups (over 18), and members must take the business and the art of motorcycling seriously. The SFMC also likes to support the city's aspiring literary masterminds, and has played host to the Fourteen Hills release party for several years running.

Is there a reason these too seemingly disconnected groups -- writers and bikers -- go so well together? Of course there is, according to SFMC member John A. Sweeney. “The writer and the motorcyclist are kindred spirits," he explains. "We search for our souls in the blank sheet of paper and the open road.”

When you step inside the club this Friday at 7 p.m. for a night of readings, prizes, and literary celebration, you'll enter a plush wood interior to see trophies and historical photographs lining the walls. Take a seat, because this gorgeous room will quickly fill up with poets, writers, artists, bike riders, and more, reciting, bantering, and dancing. Voila, the next Fourteen Hills release party is born.

- Ashutosh Bhuradia, Fourteen Hills staff

From A Boudoir Studio Session To Delicious Ice Cream, These Raffle Prizes Can Be Yours at Our Release Party

At Fourteen Hills, the launch of a new issue is a community affair. Our upcoming release party will have not only amazing readers, but fabulous prizes donated by local Bay Area businesses, including gift certificates to some of the best eateries, bookstores, and movie houses in the city.

Here is a list of the participating businesses, and the amazing prizes that could be yours on May 21 for the price of a $2 raffle ticket!

Prizes to eat and drink

Wine-Tasting for Ten at Periscope Cellars Winery, Valued at $200
You and nine guests will tour Periscope Cellars, a leader in the Urban Wine Revolution. Winemaker Brendan Elasion will guide you through a barrel tasting from the previous harvest, as well as his award-winning current releases. This urban winery operates out of a WWII submarine repair facility, and specializes in yielding wines of unique character and quality. Periscope is the current winner of one Gold and three Silver medals in the SF Chronicle Wine Competition.
1410 62nd Street, Suite B (@Hollis) Emeryville, CA 510-655-7827

$50 Gift Certificate for Internos Wine Café
Internos Wine Café & Merchant, a new edition to the Inner Richmond and Laurel Heights neighborhoods, is a relaxed and cozy rustic wine bar that offers a sophisticated list of wines by the glass or bottle. For food, munch on Mediterranean inspired plates that compliment the wine selections.
3240 Geary Boulevard SF, CA 415.751.2661

$50 Gift Certificate for the Front Porch
The Front Porch is a gem in the heart of the outer Mission. Serving up Southern-style food and hospitality, guests can catch dinner nightly from 5:30—10:30PM. Yelpers praise The Front Porch as the best soul food in the Bay Area.
65A 29th Street SF, CA 415.695.7800

Free Club Entry and Drinks for Two at 222 Hyde, Valued at $40
Located in the Tenderloin, 222 Hyde is an awesome destination for nightlife in San Francisco. The events range from their famed J’adore Happy Hour that takes place the first Thursday of every month, to a wide array of DJs that spin experimental tunes to groove to.
222 Hyde SF, CA 94102 415-345-8222

(2) $25 Gift Certificates for the Mercury Café
Mercury Café is a favorite destination for café goers in the city. The restaurant is light and airy, specializes in drip coffee, and serves a great espresso, has great bagels and friendly baristas, plenty of outlets and free Wi-Fi.
201 Octavia Street SF, CA 415.252.7855

$25 Gift Certificate for Bi-Rite Creamery
Bi-Rite Creamery products are crafted in small batches. They specialize in artisanal ice creams, sorbets and dreamy confections. Bi-Rite strives to use local, organic ingredients, and maintains a commitment to operating in a sustainable manner. Situated in the heart of the Mission at Dolores Park, Bi-Rite is the perfect place to stop in for a treat.
3692 18th Street SF, CA 94110 415.626.5600

$20 Gift Certificate for Mocha 101
This neighborhood café located in the Parkside neighborhood of San Francisco has great salads, crepes and sandwiches. Mocha 101 also provides free Wi-Fi, low-key atmosphere, and is a lovely place to study, or grab a bite.
1722 Taraval Street SF, CA 94116 415.702.9869

Code Orange Organic Espresso Beans
These coffee beans from Ethos Coffee are great for French press or drip maker. This 12 oz. gift is yours to enjoy. Ethos coffee brewers roast their own beans to ensure pure drinking pleasure in a cup.

Prizes to help you woo a lover

$250 Professional Boudoir Studio Portrait Session
One lucky person will enjoy 60 effortless minutes of boudoir deification and a 10X20 vignette style framed print, compliments of Alba Fiore Photography.

$30 Gift Certificate for the Red Vic Movie House
The Red Vic is a collectively run cinema that offers an eclectic mix of independent, foreign and blockbuster films. This theater is a fabulous place to catch some local San Francisco culture, and a unique cinematic experience.
1727 Haight Street SF, CA 415.668.3992

Prizes to put on your body

(2) Sock Monsters, Valued at $60
The Sock Monsters were some of the most sought-after raffle prizes last year, so they are back by popular demand! Andrew Kornblatt handcrafts these awesome gifts, and you can try your luck at winning them in the raffle.

(2) $25 Gift Certificates for Fiftyseven-Thirtythree
This company makes all of their clothing in East Oakland using water based, solvent free inks. Fiftyseven-Thirtythree creates unique, inspired street wear for all. They sell urban accoutrements, from skate decks to hoodies.
4125 Piedmont Avenue, 2nd Fl. Oakland, CA 94611 510.547.5733

Prizes to awaken your mind

$70 Prize Pack of Omnibucket Illustrated Books
Win this fabulous set of three limited edition, illustrated Omnibooks. The Book of CLAV, God’s Acre book one: The Ravens & the Rhyme, and Eleventy Billion Miles Away are fascinating reads, complete with original artwork.

$25 Gift Certificate for Green Apple Books
This awesome local bookseller is the perfect place to sell, trade or buy books. If you are a lover of the written word, you will find informed, passionate staff at Green Apple Books.
506 Clement Street & 6th Avenue SF, CA 415.387.2272

$25 Gift Certificate for Pegasus Books
Pegasus and Pendragon Bookstores specialize in rare, used and out-of print books. With three locations to shop, this fine bookseller with stores in Berkeley and Oakland is a great destination for book-lovers in the Bay area.

$35 One-year membership for Modern Times Bookstore
Modern Times Bookstore is at the vanguard of progressive booksellers in the Bay area. With this one-year membership, the winner is guaranteed 10% off all purchases, on top of existing discounts. You will also receive a monthly events calendar in the mail, and participate in special member-only sales. Members also get their admission to events waived, as well as reduced rates on classes and workshops.
888 Valencia Street SF, CA 415-282-9246

$40 Free Membership to the Poetry Center & American Poetry Archives
Free year long membership to the SFSU Poetry Center which curates a distinctive reading series in both the Spring and Fall in locations all over the bay area. Readings are given from visiting writers from all over the world and archived in the largest archive of poetry in the country dating back to the 1950s, including Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, Williams Carlos Williams and thousands more. Membership includes access to these recordings.

“Voices” by Pam Benjamin: Hot New Release from Ink. Press
Ink. Press is a San Francisco publisher focusing on interesting, accessible work from the hotbed of creativity that is the Bay Area writing community. Ink. is dedicated to minimizing their carbon imprint as much as possible by using 30-100% post consumer waste to make their books and literary magazines. Ink. Reviewed is the literary magazine attached to the press, and explores writing, art and photography. Look for the forthcoming issue this summer featuring.

Limited Edition Broadside by Annemarie Munn
This prize is one of only ten custom prints of “Underwear Girl,” a poem by 16.2 contributor Elizabeth Hazen, made exclusively for Fourteen Hills by Annemarie Munn.

The Fourteen Hills Release Party is a great way to experience a vital part of the San Francisco literary community, and enjoy a great social event with food, drinks and new friends. The raffle prizes are yours to win, and we hope you’ll join us for what is sure to be a fantastic event.

If you haven’t bought your tickets, you can pick them up the night of the party. Raffle tickets will be sold for $2 each or three for $5. All proceeds from the raffle go to our non-profit literary journal, so we can continue to publish exciting writers and celebrate as a literary community for many years to come.

May 21, 2010 7:00 PM
Fourteen Hills: The SFSU Review 16.2 Release Party
At THE SAN FRANCISCO MOTORCYCLE CLUB
2194 Folsom St. (@18th St.) SF, CA
FREE ADMISSION
RSVP on Facebook

Can't wait to see you there.
-Safiya Martinez, Fourteen Hills staff

Save The Date: Fourteen Hills Spring Release Party Friday May 21

Hello fellow writers and readers. Thanks to everyone who came out to hear Adam Johnson read from his novel-in-progress on Thursday night. You can read the full story about the event on SFGate's Culture Blog (thanks, Alex!).

Now it's time to gear up for one of Fourteen Hills' favorite events: the release party for the issue we've been working on all semester. Behold the beautiful cover with artwork by Alec Laughlin, and come out to the San Francisco Motorcycle Club on Friday May 21 at 7 p.m. to hear from featured writers Jeannine Hall Gailey, Lauren Hamlin, Zara Raab, Michael Schmeltzer, Shanthi Sekaran, and Joseph Voth.

There will be mouth-watering treats, fabulous raffle prizes, DJs and dancing. RSVP on Facebook and stay tuned right here and on Twitter for updates.

Oh What A Night: Thank You To Everyone Who Came To Our Release Party!

Wow. We certainly celebrated the release of Fourteen Hills issue 16.1 with style. Or, should we say, with amazing readers, applause-happy attendees, great food, even better drink, and raffle prizes galore. A full report on the evening will be up soon, but we wanted to send a quick shout-out to all the new people who came, enjoyed, and signed our mailing list (hi!).

While you wait (breathlessly?) for our release party recap, please check out Evan Karp's full report of the event in the Examiner. He has video of all of our readers including Stephen Elliott. So even if you couldn't make it, you'll feel like you did.

When you watch the videos in Evan's story, see if you can spot the pieces that were just published in issue 16.1. They're all wonderful. We promise.

The new issue won't be in stores until 2010, but you can still order a subscription here.

-Leanne M., Fourteen Hills staff

Fourteen Hills Goes Culinary: Gourmet Menu for Wednesday's Release Party

Not only do we at Fourteen Hills love showing off our contributors’ work and beautiful new issues, but we are also know a thing or two about food! In honor of issue 16.1, which we will be launching into the atmosphere tomorrow, December 16, our fabulous party at the San Francisco Motorcycle Club will feature a full gourmet menu prepared by our very own copy editor—me!

You’re in for a treat. Nothing canned, frozen or packaged is used—I make everything from scratch, and will even use ingredients from my organic garden.

The menu will be Middle East meets North Africa. I’ll be preparing classic Middle Eastern fare such as hummous, muhammara, tzatsiki and baba ghanoush, fresh falafel, pita bread and vegetables. From Turkey, I will be making Cerkes Tavugu, or Circassian braised chicken in a walnut sauce. From Afghanistan comes a pumpkin, ground beef and yogurt dish called kaddo bowrani. From North Africa, I will be making a Moroccan vegetable tagine with harissa,* and couscous.


My falafel isn’t made from a boxed mix, or even pre-made garbanzo flour. I make it starting from whole dried garbanzo beans, which I soak overnight and blend with fresh spices and herbs, then fry in trans-fat-free rice bran oil. For the tzatsiki sauce, I make the yogurt myself.

Hummus? If you’ve only ever had store-bought hummus—pasty, gritty and tasting mostly of garlic—you haven’t had hummus. I make mine starting with dry beans, soak them overnight and simmer them, then pop the tough hulls off by hand. Then I put them through a food mill and blend them until silky smooth with fresh tahini, French sea salt, a balanced amount of roasted garlic, good olive oil, fresh ground cumin seeds and lemon juice from my Meyer lemon tree out back.

I will be making tabbouli with home-grown, late-season heirloom tomatoes and fresh parsley just picked from my garden.

Kaddo bowrani is an Afghani dish made with browned and roasted pumpkin drizzled in a (homemade) yogurt sauce, then topped with ground beef cooked with fresh turmeric root, coriander, tomato paste and garlic. I will be using one of my homegrown Musquée de Provence pumpkins for this dish.

Muhammara is a dip originally from Syria, made of roasted red peppers, walnuts, bread crumbs, oil and pomegranate molasses. It has gentle sweetness from the red peppers cut with a touch of heat from red pepper flakes, earthiness from the ground walnuts, and a pleasing texture.  I make my own pomegranate molasses by simmering a bottle of POM pomegranate juice down until it is thick and syrupy, no more than 5 or 6 tablespoons. I will be using some of my homegrown peppers for this dish.

If I don’t give out from making all this fresh food, I will try to make a fabulous cake. If not, there will definitely be sweets there to complete the meal. I look forward to serving you my food at the party, so please come hungry. The party starts at 7pm.

-Janna K. Denig, Fourteen Hills Staff

*Vegan dishes include the Moroccan tagine, hummus, baba ghanoush, and tabbouli. No peanuts or peanut products will be used.