Fans of the 2001 short story collection Dogwalker tend to walk around as if they’re ferreting a juicy secret, which, in a way, they are. Arthur Bradford’s miniature fictions about men fighting over a breadloaf-sized slug, an antagonist nicknamed Catface for very literal reasons, and a narrator who impregnates his girlfriend’s dog, were oddly casual dramas where men become canine like it’s no big thing. 2001 was also the watershed year for McSweeney’s (who counts Bradford as an early contributor), and Dogwalker was part of that early millennium wave of lo-fi surrealism, where “no stories about couples in Manhattan” seemed to be the only rule.

Bradford is also the mind behind How’s Your News?, a documentary about handicapped adults traversing the country, creating their own newscasts as they headed for the Pacific Ocean. Bradford worked at Camp Jabberwocky with disabled adults for years, and earned the massive trust required to organize this roadtrip with a van full of amateur newscasters whose cerebral palsy, downs syndrome, and other afflictions had essentially inhibited them from seeing anything beyond their own city limits.

But Bradford has been quiet for the past several years. I saw him talk at Reed in 2002 or so, where he turned one of his Dogwalker stories into a song that he performed on his acoustic guitar. Other than that, it’s been all quiet on the Bradford front.

Tonight he’s at Fifth Avenue Cinemas (510 SW Hall) and will presumably tell us about some of his recent creative misadventures. I’m hoping the words “new book” are involved. Here’s How’s Your News scene-stealer Sean Costello reporting from Texas:

Bradford talks at 7:30 pm tonight, and as always, it’s free.