It’s a little less humid, the kids are back at school, Target has a rack of Halloween cards up, and we definitely saw someone post the dancing pumpkin guy gif on Twitter, so you know what that means: time to start making your plans for Electric Literature’s annual Masquerade of the Red Death. This year it’s on October 24 at Littlefield in Brooklyn, and yes: it is both 2 red and 2 dead.
If you want to know how to come to the party (or how to contribute to making sure that our valued contributors can come), you can find out all the details about tickets and sponsorship here. (The short version is that tickets are only $35 until October 1, then $50 thereafter, which is honestly still a deal.) But if you’re wondering why you should come, well—we’ve got you covered. Here are the top ten reasons to get your tickets now and bring your friends.
You can finally wear that Renaissance Festival cloak, vintage gown, or Elegant Gothic Lolita outfit without feeling out of place
The only dress code at the Masquerade is “red and/or black,” but people tend to push that to the very limits of sartorial extravagance. Here are some of our favorite getups from years past:
Or you can finally go to a Halloween-season party without dressing up
Prefer to just drink, dance, grab free books, and hobnob with Brooklyn’s literary scene? If you show up in black jeans and a black tee, you’ll be in good company—and we’ll give you a mask so you can feel a little festive.
Yes, you get a mask
Your cool mask is included in your ticket price. Move unrecognized among the crowd! Sow discord in a Shakespearean fashion! Take up residence in the sewers under the Paris opera house! Save it for the following week so you can half-ass a costume for a Halloween party!
Commemorate your mask and/or outfit in our photo booth
Fun doesn’t count unless you put it on Instagram, which is why we set up a photo booth full of sp00ky props and photo strips to take home.
There are free drinks
Is it even a party without free drinks? YES, apparently, because plenty of other parties make you pay for your booze, but we just hand you a specialty cocktail (featuring Sipsmith Gin) plus two more tickets for beer and wine. All you need to do is tip your bartenders.
And free books
You like books? We got books, donated by our sponsors and free for you to take home (or sit in the corner and read if that’s your preferred party mode).
The dance floor is downright deadly
There’s a reason DJ Colleen Crumbcake is back at the Masquerade for the third year in a row, and the reason is that she whips ass. Think the most fun wedding you ever danced at, but just post-punk enough to be cool.
It supports an organization you believe in
The Masquerade isn’t just the best literary party of the season—it’s also Electric Lit’s annual fundraiser, which means that your ticket price (or your sponsorship—please contact us if your organization or press would like to sponsor the event!) helps support our mission to make literature more relevant, exciting, and inclusive.
No, really, we rely on your help
Electric Lit is a very small woman-led nonprofit, and we wouldn’t exist without the support of members, donors, and the sponsors and guests of the Masquerade. Even your $35 early-bird ticket does a lot to help us pay our cool, talented writers—and to ensure we can keep surviving the brutal online publishing landscape.
We guarantee no virulent plague
Unlike some Masques of the Red Death you may have heard about, there is no gruesome and bloody disease ravaging the world outside, and it will not catch up to you in your den of hedonistic pleasure. All pleasure, no plague, that’s the Masquerade promise.
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