Photo courtesy of the UA Poetry Center David Foster Wallace, UA alumnus and author of "Infinite Jest," "Girl with Curious Hair" and "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," will read from his work tonight in the Modern Languages auditorium.

Peter Rock, one of two writers reading for the UA Poetry Center's reading series tonight, is afraid. But it's not reading in front of an audience he's afraid of; it's the other person he's reading with.

That other writer, fiction writer and essayist David Foster Wallace, is not only an alumnus of the University of Arizona's creative writing program, but one can almost guarantee that any conversation about contemporary postmodern fiction will eventually be steered his way.

Rock, however, has nothing to worry about. As the author of three novels and many short stories and essays, he should be able to hold his own during the reading tonight and the colloquium tomorrow morning.

Rock, through an e-mail interview, made it clear that he is looking forward to his reading, despite the possibility of Wallace overshadowing his appearance.

"I am afraid but definitely looking forward to it. I teach both his fiction and non-fiction in my classes and have a lot of respect for his work, especially its energy," Rock stated. "I believe most people will be coming to hear him, not me, read and speak, and I share that anticipation so I hope to do my thing and get out of the way."

Photo courtesy of the UA Poetry Center Peter Rock, author of "The Ambidextrist," "Carnival Wolves" and "This is the Place," will read from his work tonight in the Modern Languages auditorium.

While Rock set his first two novels in the American West, his last novel, "The Ambidextrist" is set in Philadelphia. Rock, who had relocated several times, found that people were unhappy with his move from the west to east coast.

"I think it's good for writers to move around. I like to try to discover places as I write about them, to live in a place that's unfamiliar," he stated. "I suppose, though, that all places are unfamiliar, if we look at them hard enough.

"I am originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, though I haven't lived there for 15 years or so (I've been in Montana, New York, other places). I moved to Philly from San Francisco, and many people questioned this move, as if we were moving from the most desirable city to the least desirable.

"But I quickly found out that Philly was a real city with actual grit, where people who live there still live there, where there are children and old people - actual 'minorities' and neighborhoods," Rock stated.

Rock attributed Philadelphia's "grit" to the permanence of its residents.

"Also, Philadelphia is not a city that's so full of itself. I mean, people from Philadelphia seem self-deprecating, but deep down, they're very proud and feel invested. It seems to me that the opposite is true of a place like San Francisco, where so many people live there only a few years (as I did). In short, I'm a believer. Philadelphia's a city without hype and a city full of stories," he continued.

The change in location also meant a distinct new environment for his characters.

"I wanted to write an urban book, one in which the characters (unlike in my other fiction) would not be able to escape, to suddenly drive to another state when things got complicated. I wanted to deal with a landscape of buildings and pavement and river instead of the mountains and deserts I had visited so often; I wanted to see how this landscape played itself out in the consciousness of characters, if that makes sense," Rock stated.

The central character of Rock's "The Ambidextrist" is a drifter who supports himself by participating in medical experiments. Rock, who researched his novel by becoming a test subject himself, had a warning for those who are tempted by the "participants will be compensated" ads in the Wildcat.

"Be careful. Definitely the big money comes with the big risks. If they lock you up, or have you take drugs, or cut you, then you're definitely getting paid. And I think sometimes it's worth taking those risks, especially if you're broke," he said.

"The most important part of it for me as a writer, though (I did need the money; I won't lie about that), was the experience of being so subjected, so de-humanized. Every time I said, 'I'm actually a novelist, doing research,' someone slapped me down with, 'Sure, honey, take off your pants,' or, 'Get in the machine.'"

Rock and Wallace will read from their work and take questions tonight at 8 in the Modern Languages auditorium. Their colloquium is at 11 a.m. tomorrow in the "Swede" Johnson Building. Both events are free; call 626-3765 for more information.