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Rex Marshall in conversation with Michelle Kicherer

Tue, May 19 from 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm PDT

The Literary Arts Bookstore and Cafe is excited to welcome Rex Marshall for his memoir,  All the Work I Never Wanted. Marshall will be joined in conversation by Michelle Kicherer.


About the book:

The lady at the plastic-cup-making factory is missing her fingers. The kid at the burger joint is spitting on patties. The newspapers are thrown out of dented vans in the darkest hours of morning. There are blood bank maimings, factory near-faintings, and storage facility mysteries. Time clocks are forever. As are those unrelenting bills.

All the Work I Never Wanted contains all of Rex Marshall’s minimum-wage stories from 1987–2002. All the years he traded his time for low wages. Paying the bills with his precious hours. Tales of toils. Workplace woe. Has he ever not worked? Will he ever not work? Rex is now brain-damaged and has bad hips. You lift sixteen tons, and what do you get? Fast-food scars and a warehouse back. All the Work I Never Wanted: A Memoirella of Jobs is Rex Marshall’s pitiful, seedy CV. Infused with delightful self-deprecation and laugh-out-loud observations, Marshall’s work stories are a refreshing look at the lives of those who’ve had to use a little elbow grease to get through a shift but someway, somehow end up making it. Usually.

Rex Marshall is from Las Vegas and still recovering from that fact. When he is not trading his hours for money, Rex Marshall jets around with his long-running music project, Mattress. He runs a small print publication called Mercy Flush. Plays vinyl records in the coolest bars. Collects books, VHS, records, coins, scorpions, rocks, and drum machines. His favorite color used to be blue but he doesn’t play favorites anymore. He laughs too loud and if you must, he prefers tequila soda in a tall glass.

Rex Marshall

Rex Marshall

Rex Marshall is from Las Vegas and still recovering from that fact. When he is not trading his hours for money, Rex Marshall jets around with his long-running music project, Mattress. He runs a small print publication called Mercy Flush. Plays vinyl records in the coolest bars. Collects books, VHS, records, coins, scorpions, rocks, and drum machines. His favorite color used to be blue but he doesn’t play favorites anymore. He laughs too loud and if you must, he prefers tequila soda in a tall glass.

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Michelle Kicherer

Michelle Kicherer

Michelle Kicherer writes about books and music for the San Francisco Chronicle, Willamette Week and others. She is also a writing coach and former ghostwriter specializing in fiction and memoir. Michelle’s fiction has been published in The Master’s Review, Berkeley Fiction Review, 8142 Review and many others, and her novella Sexy Life, Hello is out in audiobook in Sept ‘24 and in print March ‘25 on Banana Pitch Press. Michelle believes there are no dumb questions in the classroom, only pretentious instructors.

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