Just when you thought the “L” train commute couldn’t get any worse—with all those attractive, excruciatingly hip young people—along comes an author, with a megaphone, reading from his second novel. Yep. And recording it. TimeOut New York has the video-ed proof of author John Wray wowing ’em on the “L” with selections from his latest, Lowboy (see below, or here for all three segments). According to a TimeOut sidebar by Izzy Grinspan it all makes perfect sense to treat defenseless commuters to an enforced reading. “While writing the first draft of his new novel, Lowboy, [John Wray] took to the subway—spending his days writing on his laptop while riding the rails. “It felt a little silly,” he admits from his studio in Boerum Hill. “Like a Method actor gaining 300 pounds for a role.” And that silly bit of self-consciousness does indeed show on his smiling, slightly embaressed face as he hawks his latest wares on the “L”.

Why is he taking out his promotional fury on the “L” line when he lives in Boerum Hill you might wonder? Do “L” commuters deserve this as punishment for some kind of hip-ness hubris? Will they really go buy this guy’s book after such treatment? Or is it just that “F” train riders will call the Transit Cops more readily? I mean, I would be sorely tempted. What could be worse than being trapped at a reading than being trapped at a reading on the subway by a guy with a bullhorn?