New SAN DIEGO NOIR events! And off to Oregon!

I'm doing a couple more events for SAN DIEGO NOIR — the first at the wonderful Bay Books in Coronado on June 23rd, the second at the Ocean Beach Branch of the San Diego Public Library on June 25—I don't have a time for that yet, but since it's Saturday, I'm assuming during the day.

Two things writing this brief post made me think about...

First, independent bookstores are awesome. You've probably heard me say that before. I had such a great time at the Mysterious Galaxy Birthday Bash—an event like this, where literally hundreds of loyal customers turned out to celebrate Mysterious Galaxy, its role in the community, in bringing authors and readers and books together, really brings home the value of local bookstores. Bay Books is another San Diego treasure—an absolutely lovely store on a charming street that's well-worth a visit and a stroll.

Second, libraries are awesome. And you've probably heard me say this as well. I just did a quick scroll through the San Diego Public Library's events calendar. My event isn't posted yet, but have a look anyway. The incredible diversity of the offerings is something we should all be celebrating. Libraries are repositories of our collective knowledge and aspirations, and they are centers of community—the values and resources that we hold in common. The opportunities that libraries provide all citizens, particularly those who are poor and struggling, are absolutely invaluable.

We're living in a tough time, and it's more than the bad economy. I'd call it an almost spiritual crisis (and I'm not religious). It's a collapse of the notion that we have a commons, places that belong to all of us, that we all support and that support us in times of need. Libraries, parks, schools, wilderness: all these are a part of our commons, things that shouldn't belong to individuals, but to all of us, and to our children and their children to come.

(I'd add in health care, a social safety net and a secure retirement, but I am trying to step off my soapbox, so...)

Er, Oregon. First stop on June 7, Powell's! After that, Klamath Falls, Ashland and Medford! Check my events calendar for information...hope to see some of you along the way...

Ooooh! Shiny!

I came home the other day to find an unexpected pleasure in my mailbox: my author copies of San Diego Noir! For those unfamiliar with the Akashic Noir series, each collection of short stories is set in a specific location, generally a city (though there have been some interesting exceptions). The books are a blast, a chance to see a place reflected and refracted into many different views and angles, all through the lens of noir (to push this strained metaphor even further).

I was thrilled when editor Maryelizabeth Hart (who is among other things co-owner of one of my favorite bookstores in the world, Mysterious Galaxy) asked me if I'd be interested in contributing a story. I'm about as newbie an author as they come, with one published book to my credit, and to be placed alongside rockstars like T. Jefferson Parker and Don Winslow (to name but a few of the authors included) was beyond flattering.

Also a little scary. I had not written a short story since college. Which was, erm, kind of a long time ago.

I somehow pulled it off, and you can read the result, "Don't Feed the Bums," when the book hit stores around June 1. If you're in the San Diego area, sooner, at the Mysterious Galaxy Annual Birthday Bash—more on that to come as we get closer to the event.

I've long thought that San Diego was an underutilized setting for fiction, and Maryelizabeth has done a fantastic job assembling a diversity of views, styles, places and subjects —I thoroughly enjoyed reading so many authors' disparate takes on my hometown, and I bet you will too.

Anyway, I had to document the books' arrival. I decided since Ghost did such a great job posing with the ARC of ROCK PAPER TIGER that I'd see what my foster kitty Feenie thought about the book:


(I call her a foster kitty but I don't think she's going anywhere...this is what happens with so-called foster kitties)

Ghost was blase about being in the limelight this time:


Spike is pretty tolerant of the whole thing:


Cats play a role in the story, actually. No, they don't solve crimes. These aren't cuddly cats. They're feral. Because this is noir, yanno?