On The DL

Noir at the Bar

by Justin Bauer

Sun., June 1, 6 p.m., free, Tritone, 1508 South St., 215-545-0475, tritonebar.com

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I may only be an occasional contributor, stuck down near the bottom of this paper's masthead, miles away from the full-time ink-stained wretches who bear titles like "editor" or "manager," but the thought of seeing former CP editor in chief Duane Swierczynski (pictured) read from his new hyperkinetic pulp thriller, Severance Package (St. Martin's Minotaur, $13.95), this Sunday at Tritone's "Noir at the Bar" still gives me pause. After all, the book opens with a boss calling a Saturday meeting in order to assassinate much of his staff (and, wouldn't you know it, the innocent freelancer, too).

Swierczynski has been on a tear since leaving City Paper, rapidly breaking out of the cult pulp ghetto with a slate of new projects, including penning Punisher plotlines for Marvel Comics; he's also featured in the new Thuglit Hardcore Hardboiled anthology and is reading in support of Package. The kind of book that gets blurbed as a "nonstop thrill ride," Swierczynski's latest actually deserves the label — Package's mayhem starts with the first scene and refuses to stop for breath, reflection or backstory anywhere in its 288 pages. The book instead sticks with detailed, brutal combat between toned young women executives with a singlemindedness that resists any sort of introspective change in tempo. Expect a headlong rush of breathless pulp, but for your own good, remember to show up right on time.