~ Samuel Green, from ‘Breaking Ground’

* Originally self-published back in 2000, Brunonia Barry’s semi-historical mystery/suspense novel The Lace Reader sold to William Morrow for a rumored 2.4 million. Morrow is pushing the novel as their big summer sleeper hit, with a first print run of as many as 200,000 copies, spurring a minor kerfuffle and some public sniping from the novel’s initial publicists, Kelly & Hall Book Publicity. That said, reviews have been excellent, and libraries and bookstores around the country report brisk trade. SPL, itself, currently has 143 active holds on 32 copies (I’m currently in queue at #65. HA!). If you want to know what the hype is all about, Barry is expected to be signing at Seattle Mystery Bookshop tomorrow, Saturday, September 6th. She is scheduled to appear at the Ballard SPL Branch on Sunday, September 7th at 2:00 PM, as well. UPDATE: Ms. Barry is having some transportation issues, so her appearance at Seattle Mystery Bookshop has been rescheduled to noon on Monday, September 8th. Then she’s off to Bellingham, and the rest of a really massive book tour.

* Book-It Theatre is bringing their “Danger: Books!” show to the Ballard Branch of SPL on Saturday, September 6th. Actors read and perform selections from banned books. The show starts at 2:00 PM and runs about an hour. Book-It’s website is currently under construction, so there is no way to confirm precisely how dangerous the performance will be.

* Also on Saturday, September 6th, Mr. Sam Green, Washington’s Poet Laureate, will read at SPL’s Fremont Branch, along with Richard Wakefield and Kathleen Flenniken. Wakefield teaches writing and AmLit; Flenniken’s collection “Famous” was named a Notable Book of the Year by the American Library Association. 2:00 – 3:30 PM.

“There’s always more than one way in. Come. Stay
long enough to know what brought you here,
what you leave behind, and what you take away.”
-from “Home Town Park” by Samuel Green

* It seems to be Poetry Weekend in Seattle. Elliott Bay Books is hosting Steven Nightingale on Saturday at 2:00 PM. Nightingale will read selections from Cinnamon Theologies, his third collection of sonnets.

* On Sunday, the theme continues with Poetry in the Park. Kerry Cox, Vivienne Inman, Dobbie Norris, and Herb Sundvall will read at Victor Steinbrueck Park from 4:00 – 6:00 PM. There will be a limited open mike, so bring your best doggerel and worst verse to the Northwest corner, and get in line.