In summer, 2011, Joseph Mattson was awarded a prestigious DCA COLA (City of Los Angeles) Individual Artist Fellowship for the 2011-2012 grant cycle for his novel-in-progress, Hexico. A re-imaging/re-imagining of the United States and northern Mexico, in Hexico, the Mexican-American war was averted, the 1848 Mexican Cession of the southwestern states never happened, and the present-day border between Mexico and the U.S. is the continental divide--a border divided by a strip of presently war-torn, ungovernable land mythically known as HEXICO, where a beautiful ex-circus sideshow strongman T-girl prostitute is on the run to after experiencing natural, biological auto-prodantry and is impregnated by a chupacabra.

While the novel will remain in progress for some time, Joseph Mattson will be presenting excerpts at public readings as part of the COLA grant cycle:

SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 2012, 1pm:
Los Angeles Artists Fellowship Laboratory Exhibition*
Plaza de la Raza
3540 North Mission Road
Los Angeles, CA 90031
*Also featuring current COLA visual and performance artist grantees Martin Durazo, Lynne Berman, Paul Outlaw, Raphael Xavier, and more! MATTSON reads at 1pm SHARP!

SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 2012, 5pm:
A Barnacle Book Showcase*
Stories Books
1716 W. Sunset Blvd.
Echo Park/Los Angeles, CA 90026
*Also featuring ORIANA SMALL aka ASHLEY BLUE (Girlvert: A Porno Memoir), STEVE ABEE (Johnny Future), and GARY PHILLIPS in celebrating the Barnacle book release of Monkology!

ALSO: Friday, June 29, 2012, 8:30pm: Mattson will be presenting another HEXICO excerpt at GRAND PERFORMANCES at California Plaza, downtown Los Angeles.