When put into list form, radical leftism, futuristic visions and “out-there” esoteric meanderings don’t seem so far removed from one another. When put into book form, as Cologne-based writer Mark von Schlegell does, the ideas merge into neo-space age avant-gardism.

His first novel, Venusia takes place on Venus and is narrated by a plant. Venusia’s successor, Mercury Station, from which von Schlegell will read tonight, takes place at a prison camp on Mercury circa 2150. For the event, the artist/writer will also read from his critical essay “Realometer: American Romance.”

The reading will be followed by a rare screening of a 30 minute documentary My Dinner With Merlin (2005), the result of a collaboration between von Schlegell and artists and writers in Los Angeles.