The spring issue of Catamaran is here. If you happen to be in Santa Cruz this Friday, I’m going to read something so new, I haven’t written it yet.

                               The second issue of Catamaran Literary Reader is coming your way. Any moment now it should start showing up in indie bookstores across the nation and in several other countries, and start working its way into your mailbox. Even the erratic mailman who serves two of our most loyal readers in a certain suburban community in Los Angeles County should, eventually, deliver the magazine. Our magazines arrived today, on John Steinbeck’s birthday, no less. To celebrate, we’re throwing a big party at the Tannery Arts Center with some great surprises. The festivities start at 6 p.m. Friday, with live music until 7 p.m., readings from 7 to 8 (and, I would guess, perhaps a wee bit later than 8) and dance music until 9 p.m. This is your chance to meet the contributors to our…

A tragic day (week, month, year) in Santa Cruz, California –

Yesterday felt like a bad dream — helicopters circling my neighborhood for hours, streets blocked off, and reports later on that two veteran police officers had been shot to death during a sexual assault investigation on the street that I run and drive on almost every day of the week. For hours we were getting reports that a shooter was still in the neighborhood — and though the report turned out to be wrong, our household got quite a jolt when a door-to-door marketer, with an only-in-Santa-Cruz sense of timing, pounded on the door, hoping to sell stuff. (She was told to please go away and perhaps come back when there was not an active manhunt in progress.)  It was nerve-wracking to see constant updates and national news stories coming over the wire and have no idea if the situation was ongoing.  Later on, I was stunned to hear that…

The Cactus Eaters: reviews, stories, podcasts and links

Just in case you are new to this blog (and I seem to be getting new readers checking in every month), I’ve updated the page with the reviews, stories, podcasts, links and other info. Thank you for your continued support. Yes, I am working on new things, but I am am not a fast writer.  It took me all month just to write this blog post. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

The new issue of Catamaran Literary Reader is coming to a bookstore near you

Or to your mailbox, imminently. Here’s the brand-new cover by Belle Yang, acclaimed author of Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale, which is sitting right here beside my keyboard while I’m typing this. It’s great to see the word is getting out — internationally– and how this magazine is bringing together all the various threads of my writing/editing life. For instance, a month or two ago, I got an email from a poet who lives in Vancouver. She read my “Man in the Shoebox” essay in a recent issue of Poets & Writers, which included my bio at the end. The story inspired her not only to buy a copy of The Cactus Eaters at her local bookstore, but to order a two-year subscription to Catamaran. Anyhow, I’m proud to be part of this acclaimed new start-up, and I hope you go out and get a copy of the latest magazine,…

Sarah Silverman and me: HarperCollins Stranger than Fiction: 10 Great Memoirs ebook promotion featuring The Bedwetter, The Cactus Eaters, and Josh Kilmer-Purcell

Here’s the latest bit of news.  Sarah Silverman and I  are part of the same e-book promotion at HarperPerennial called “Stranger Than Fiction,” featuring a list of selected HarperCollins memoirs.  Anyways, this promotion, which is live now and ends on February 25, allows you to buy a spanking-new e-book version of Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter, my first book, The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost my Mind and Almost Found Myself on the Pacific Crest Trail,  and other bestsellers, including I Am Not Myself These Days by Josh Kilmer-Purcell for  less than you would pay to buy a gingerbread soy latte at The Sour Cup or a bean burrito at Cafe Indigestion.   But you’d better buy  this very minute because the whole thing ends in just over a week. Here is the complete list of participating authors: The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Sophia Al-MariaFante by Dan FanteDishwasher by Pete JordanThe…

Cactuseaters versus the Spam Robots: why I have comment moderation on this blog

I don’t like having comment moderation on Cactuseaters.  It makes it difficult  and annoying for people to write in. Now, when someone attempts to comment on any blog post, a sequence of headache-inducing numbers comes up on the screen, along with scattered letters. The would-be commentator must sit there at his or her keyboard and  reproduce those numbers and case-sensitive letters perfectly to leave a comment on my blog. Trying to be responsive to your needs (all four of you people, who only write into this blog once every Hale-Bopp anyhow), I changed the comment settings in February, allowing any carbon-based life form to comment on my posts without my having to approve the content. It was all-comers, complete freedom for everyone. How easy. How convenient. What a nightmare.  You would not believe the garbage that flowed into my blog that week! I received a small avalanche of nonsensical, surly, whiny…