Texas, Are You There?
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There’s been some discussion of a Killing the Buddha event in Texas. A certain former very senior employee of the U.S. government has volunteered his solar powered ranch as a venue…
But the real question is: Texans, are you out there? Are you reading Killing the Buddha?
Back in 2004 KtB cofounder Peter Manseau and I gave a reading from our book, Killing the Buddha: A Heretic’s Bible, at Book People in Austin. Texans packed the house! And when we asked for audience volunteers to help us perform our cacophony choir, we got a would-be arena rock belter to sing “Baba O’Reilly.”
That was then. Now? Is there a Texas audience? The former very senior federal employee has a great act — he’ll be juggling two Bibles and a chainsaw while singing a cover of the Louvin Brothers’ “Satan is Real,” dedicated to one of his co-workers, a former vice-very senior federal employee.
What say ye, Texans? I think ye do look brave.
Jeff Sharlet is a founding editor of Killing the Buddha, coauthor with Peter Manseau of Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible (2004) and co-editor of Believer, Beware (2009). Sharlet is also the author of Sweet Heaven When I Die, (2011), C Street, (2010), and the New York Times bestseller The Family (2008).