Chris Bundy, "Baby You're A Rich Man, July 13

Great news! Chris Bundy, author of the cool and coolly illustrated Japan–based novel Baby You’re A Rich Man, will be rolling by Rolling Writers (Rolling–Out, 1722 Taraval, SF) on Saturday, July 13 to read, chat, sell, and sign. I’m incredibly excited about meeting Chris and hearing him read. Excerpts …. Hai!

Lit–Night Is Back

I've finally awakened from my long winter's nap to revive Lit–Night At Rolling–Out, as requested by ... several. The first 2013 event will be a free–form round–robin with no featured reader but many featured readers, if you know what I mean. 

Writers, this is a great oppo to test drive your stuff in front of a small but discerning audience. Or, bring something canonical to share—I may read A.E. Housman's wry spoof of Homer (the Greek, not Simpson) for the sake of a lover of classical Greek lit. So come for good food, friendship, and the pleasure of sharing tasty lit.

Deets:

Saturday, April 13, 7:00 p.m.

Rolling–Out café (excellent pastries): 1722 Taraval St. between 27th and 28th Avenues, San Francisco

Hope to see ya!

Jon

Featured Reading at Noe Valley Authors Fest March 23

Hello Friends. I'll be one of three featured readers at the Noe Valley Authors Festival, the culminating event of Word Week, on Saturday, March 23, 3:00, St. Philip’s Church Hall, 725 Diamond St. (between 24^th St. and Elizabeth), S.F. I’ll have a 45–minute slot built around The Mighty Roman, my novel about baseball and the modern American man, and in that time, I’ll read two or three scenes from the book, field audience questions and comments with my pitcher's mitt, and sell and sign the book at the souvenir stand. I'll really gonna kick it with a high–energy reading, and it would be so cool if you could come—and just as cool, and very much appreciated, if you'd pass the word among any friends into baseball, lit, and the intersection of the two. To see whether you might enjoy the book, if you haven’t read it already, check out the first chapter and reader reviews here, and listen to this audiobook of selected scenes from the book (with awesome “bed music” courtesy of Steven Kacsmar’s Phantom City!).

Yours in the love of baseball and literature, Jon

Reading at Noe Valley Authors Festival

Hey y'all, I'll be a featured reader at the Noe Valley Authors Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, March 23. My 45–minute slot, during which I'll read from The Mighty Roman and discuss the book, begins at 3. Details—such as the venue—to come. Considering this is a week before the baseball season, the time is perfect for baseball lit. I'd love to see you there!

"Lawrence" Launched

First words of the novelization of popular short story "Lawrence" written yesterday—the dread Barrier of the Blank Screen, demolished. To good effect, I hope ...

Aliens.

The two sibs with the yellow–flecked, blue–green, almond/olive–shaped eyes and the smooth skin that was not Chen–yellow, Chavez–brown, Marino–dusk, or Chapman–pale, but a distinctly original blend of them all, with Walkingstick–red in the cheekbones .

Not illegal aliens, they didn’t meant that—at least, not in the lower grades—but Area 51. That Laurie’s head was egg–wide at the top didn’t help. Nor did it help that he widened his almond/olive–shaped, yellow–flecked, blue–green eyes in wonder at the everything that everyone else thought wondrous, and at many things that no one did.

The Flying Saucer Incident was no help either, establishing the boy as Room 2’s sacrificial oddball on his first day of kindergarten. This despite his big sister’s determined preparations to ease her little brother’s entry to school.

It was Mercy who had walked Laurie to school that first day. This seemed to parents and girl alike as a duty befitting a third grader long accustomed to being fawned over as precocious. In fact, the girl had skipped second grade, ...

Dec. 6, 2012