Dan White

Here is the latest review, in Etude, the literary nonfiction journal. (thanks to another sharp-eyed reader for emailing me this link today.) Basically they liked it but think my behavior at the time was not very intelligent.. Guilty as charged. In other news, it looks like I’ll be adding at least one new event in the spring in addition to the talking about writing/hiking in the woods event in Santa Cruz. I’ll post the updates when I get them. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I just wanted to thank the reader who sent me a video file showing a guy slowly consuming a cactus, bite by agonizing bite (after adding sauce on top of it!) I had a link to that Stupidity.com video on my blog today but felt that it was a little too offensive (and disgusting) for a general audience, so I removed it. However, if you put “cactus eater video” or ‘video of a guy eating a cactus’ into any major search engine, you should have no trouble finding it online. I admire the guy’s high capacity for pain. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I will be leading a writing discussion/walk in the redwoods on Saturday, April 18, in a special event sponsored by Bookshop Santa Cruz. I will post the weblink to the event as soon as we nail down a few more details. Meanwhile, feel free to shoot me an email if you would like to take part, and I’ll forward your contact info to Bookshop. This just in: it’s likely that we will have the nature hike in Pogonip Meadow in Santa Cruz — but we need to do a trial run first to pick the best route — and the latest round of rainstorms and mud is making that rather difficult! http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

This just in: an essay about The Cactus Eaters in the online Synchronized Chaos literary magazine. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

One of my readers just sent me this audio link to an interview I did a while back. This is probably the only time in my life in which I will appear in the same program roster as Chuck D of Public Enemy. Cool. (I just so happen to have Chuck D’s autograph, dating back to the “Apocalypse ’91, the Enemy Strikes Back” tour. I still have that autograph somewhere in storage. It’s on a napkin.) http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Stay tuned for my special report on independent bookstores and what they are doing to stay afloat in this rotten economy — (including, in one case, adding a full beer and wine list!) http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

One of my recent post-Cactus Eaters stories was mentioned in this recent column by The SF Chronicle’s Leah Garchik (who I read religiously.) Lately I’ve been getting a spate of new emails about the unfortunate “other Dan White” name coincidence. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I am very pleased to announce that the Cactus Eaters is available in the paperback format at your local bookstore. Literal minded people will point out that the book was already out in paperback, but let’s just set that aside for the time being. In other news, it looks like the book will go into another printing soon — and I want my Cactuseaters blog readers to know that I’ve been incorporating their emailed suggestions, though I will not be able to include color photos, at least for now. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

As I mentioned in a recent blog posting, I discovered what appeared to be a spear point in Golden Gate Park, not far from the Shakespeare Garden, and turned it over to the deYoung Museum, who in turn handed it over to the California Academy Of Sciences. An expert from the Academy’s Department of Anthropology has weighed in on the finding — and there are many more questions than answers. While the expert has declared that the obsidian object is “likely a spear tip or knife — it looks too robust to have served as an arrow tip,” its provenance is murky. There is some chance that the object was buried before the park was created in the late 19th century, and that a burrowing rodent pushed it up to the surface. But very often, gophers and other creatures actually bury artifacts deeper into the ground, rather than pushing them…

Stay tuned. I will provide a full report on Tuesday, with all the latest information … http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default