Skylight Books Podcast Series

This River: A Memoir by Brown; This Vacant Paradise: A Novel by Patterson (both books published by Counterpoint) James Brown and Victoria Patterson visit Skylight to read and sign their new books: Brown's memoir (This River) about his struggle with sobriety and Patterson's novel (This Vacant Paradise) about the upwardly mobile in Newport Beach in the '90s. Light snacks and drinks will be served. All attendees will automatically be entered into a raffle for a chance to take home a free copy of each author's book! James Brown is the author of several contemporary novels and the memoir The Los Angeles Diaries which garnered numerous "Best Books" awards in 2006. James Brown's work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, GQ,  The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and Ploughshares. For more info, please visit: www.jamesbrownauthor.com. Victoria Patterson is also the author of Drift. A collection of interlinked short stories, Drift was a finalist for the California Book Award, the 2009 Story Prize and has been selected as one of the "Best Books of 2009" by The San Francisco Chronicle. Victoria Patterson's work has appeared in various publications and journals, including the Los Angeles Times, Alaska Quarterly Review, and the Southern Review. For more info, please visit: www.victoriapatterson.net.

Deus Ex Machina (Counterponit) Andrew Foster Altschul will read and sign his new, highly acclaimed novel about a reality show gone awry, Deus Ex Machina. "Brilliant... one of the best novels about American culture in years." --NPR "Deus Ex Machina was a book waiting for someone to write it, and luckily Andrew Foster Altschul took on the job... this is a heady, fast-paced novel." --The Wall Street Journal Andrew Foster Altschul is the author of the novel Lady Lazarus and an O. Henry Prize-winning short story writer. A former music journalist and rock DJ, he is the Books Editor of The Rumpus and director of the Center for Literary Arts at San Jose State University. He lives in San Francisco. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 17, 2011.

Widow: Stories (Bellevue Literary Press) A new book of stories from the author of A Proper Knowledge. Widow bravely explores the physiology of grief through a masterful interweaving of tender insight and unflinching detail. Among these stories of loss are interwoven other tales, creating a bridge to the pleasures and follies of life before the catastrophe. Throughout, Latiolais captures the longing, humor, and strange grace that accompanies life’s most transformative chapters. “Bracing, exposed, ruthlessly mercurial . . . The writing thrums with aggression and a lush, rooted sensuality . . . the rewards here are enormous.” —The New York Times Book Review Michelle Latiolais, the author of two previous novels, is an English professor and co-director of the Programs in Writing at the University of California at Irvine. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS, APRIL 4, 2011

Students from the Master of Professional Writing graduate program at USC will read their work, joined by USC faculty member and acclaimed poet Amy Gerstler! This reading's theme is "Road Trip--Get Me Outta Here!" and the student readers are: Erin La Rosa, Sarah Lowe, Justin McFarr, Breene Murphy, and Russell Nakamura. Amy Gerstler is a writer of nonfiction, poetry, and journalism whose work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including the Paris Review, New Yorker, and Best American Poetry. Her book Bitter Angel won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. Her most recent book is Dearest Creature (Penguin); she also edited the anthology The Best American Poetry 2010 (Scribner). THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 25, 2011.

Blind Sight (Pantheon) Los Angeles-based author Meg Howrey comes to Skylight to read and sign her debut novel, Blind Sight. "An engaging first novel filled with the nuance and yearnings of adolescence." --Marisha Pessl, author of Special Topics in Calamity Physics Meg Howrey is a classically trained dancer who has performed with the Joffrey, Los Angeles Opera, and City Balley of Los Angeles. She made her theatrical debut at Lincoln Center, and toured with the Broadway production of Contact, for which she won the 2001 Ovation Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She currently lives in Los Angeles. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 29, 2011

Toward You (Tin House) The wonderful storyteller and local favorite Jim Krusoe returns with a new book! Toward You completes Jim Krusoe’s bittersweet trilogy about the relationship between this world and the next. Bob has spent several years trying to build a machine that will communicate with the dead. He’s gotten more or less nowhere, but then two surprising things happen: he receives an important message from a dead dog, and a former girlfriend, Yvonne, reenters his life. These events make Bob even more determined to perfect the Communicator, as he calls his invention, in the belief that it will change his friendless, humdrum life for the better. In the meantime, Yvonne’s young daughter inhabits an afterlife she is trying to escape and would give anything to be reunited with her mom. Toward You is a poignant story of longing, mistakes, regret, disaster, and, above all, hope. "Krusoe's surrealistically skewed, oddly affecting novel blurs the borders between life and the afterlife, what's real and what's imagined, to highly entertaining effect. . .A seriously strange, funny and affecting novel about imagining another life while being stuck in this one." —Kirkus Reviews Jim Krusoe is the author of the novels Erased, Girl Factory, and Iceland. His stories and poems have appeared in the Antioch Review, Bomb, the Chicago Review, the Denver Quarterly, the American Poetry Review, and other publications. He teaches at Santa Monica College and lives in Los Angeles. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 5, 2011.

Serpant's Storm (Ace) by Benson; The Wise Man's Fear (Daw) by Rothfuss Authors Patrick Rothfuss and Amber Benson will be vigorously debating urban fantasy vs epic fantasy, as well at taking questions and chatting about whatever else comes to mind. We're excited to have these two creative folks here at Skylight Books to do one of our rare Speculative Fiction events. Patrick Rothfuss burst onto the fantasy literature scene with the 2007 publication of his debut novel The Name of the Wind.  This first book of a planned three-book epic fantasy series called The Kingkiller Chronicle drew comparisons to the works of several of the top modern writers in the genre as well as the groundbreaking classic The Lord of the Rings. Readers quickly caught on to Rothfuss and as word of The Name of the Wind spread, he developed a cult-like following, attracting big crowds at bookstores and convention appearances. The paperback edition of The Name of the Wind debuted on the New York Times Mass Market Paperback Bestseller List and has been consistently selling ever since. At 700 pages, The Name of the Wind took Rothfuss seven years to write, and readers have been waiting to enjoy its highly anticipated sequel for four long years. The Wise Man’s Fear: The Kingkiller Chronicle, Day Two (DAW) was published on March 1st, 2011 and debuted at #1 on the New York Times Hardcover bestseller list. Patrick Rothfuss teaches at the college he grew to love as a student, and acts as advisor for the College Feminists and the local Fencing Club. When not reading and writing, Pat wastes his time playing video games, holds symposia at his house, and dabbles with alchemy in his basement. Amber Benson's Calliope Reaper Jones series published by Ace Books is an action-packed adventure that demonstrates Benson’s colorful imagination and wit. Not only is she a talented actress and a wonderful writer, she also produces and directs her own work!  She co-created, co-wrote, and directed the animated supernatural web-series Ghosts of Albion with Christopher Golden, followed by a series of novels including Witchery and Accursed, and the novella Astray.  Benson and Golden also co-authored the novella The Seven Whistlers.  As an actress, she has appeared in dozens of roles in feature films, TV movies, and television series, including the fan favorite role of Tara Maclay on three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Benson wrote, produced, and directed the feature films Chance and Lovers, Liars, and Lunatics. Photo of Patrick Rothfuss by Jamie Rothfuss. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 8, 2011.

Look! Look! Feathers by Young (Word Riot Press); The Book of Freaks by Iredell (Future Tense Books) These two authors make the last stop on their West Coast tour here at Skylight to read, discuss, and sign their latest books, out now from the awesome indie presses Word Riot and Future Tense! Mike Young is the author of We Are All Good If They Try Hard Enough (Publishing Genius (2010) and Look! Look! Feathers (Word Riot Press 2010). He co-edits NOÖ Journal, runs Magic Helicopter Press, and writes for HTMLGIANT. Find him online at http://mikeayoung.blogspot.com. Jamie Iredell is the author of The Book of Freaks (Future Tense Books 2011) and Prose. Poems. A Novel. (Orange Alert Press 2009). He lives in Atlanta, where he co-curates the Solar Anus Reading Series. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 12, 2011.

The Last Rose of Summer (Fantagraphics) Monte Schulz, author of This Side of Jordan, returns to Skylight to read and sign his follow-up novel The Last Rose of Summer! Praise for This Side of Jordan: "Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, a veritable time-machine that whirled me through time to the dirty back roads of the American midwest in the year before the Depression. ... Did I mention how good the writing is? The writing is excellent… a masterpiece of setting and storytelling." –Cory Doctorow Monte Schulz, the eldest son of Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, received his M.A. in American Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he continues to reside. His latest novel, The Last Rose of Summer, is his third. His first, Down by the River, was published by Viking in 1991. Library Journal raved that it compared to Stand by Me and Twin Peaks, and seemed "ready-made for Hollywood." He spent ten years writing Crossing Eden, from which The Last Rose of Summer is drawn as the second of three interconnected novels; the first, This Side of Jordan, was published in 2009 by Fantagraphics and won the 2010 USA Book News Award for fiction, and the third, The Big Town, will be published in 2012. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 6, 2011.

West of Here (Algonquin) We're thrilled to have Jonathan Evison (All About Lulu) back to Skylight to read from and sign his highly anticipated new novel West of Here! We're big fans of this book, which has been getting great early buzz.  First printings are already selling out at some stores, but we're still stocked up on them for the event, so be sure to get your copy here! "A big novel about the discovery and rediscovery of nature, starting over, and the sometimes piercing reverberations of history, this is a damn fine book." --Publishers Weekly "'Epic' is yet another one of those words that's been stripped of its meaning from overuse, but no other word can properly describe this novel. I'm in awe. You will be, too." -Ron Currie, Jr., author of Everything Matters! Jonathan Evison is the author of All About Lulu, which won the Washington State Book Award. In 2009, he was the recipient of a Richard Buckley Fellowship from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation. He lives on an island in Western Washington. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS FEBRUARY 24, 2011.