Go Ahead and Worship Them . . .

It’s my book’s birthday!

Today is the official release date for There Is No Other Way to Worship Them, my new story collection from Blue Cactus Press.

Which means you can order it online now, direct from my publisher, through Barnes & Noble, or via that behemoth that made Jeff Bezos obscenely rich. But if you’re like me and you love giving your business to your local, independent bookstores, I would be thrilled if you asked your local bookseller to order copies for you!

Here in Tacoma, I know it will be on the shelves at King’s Books and The Nearsighted Narwhal, and we plan to have it in Broswers Books and Orca Books in Olympia, WA. I was also at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association annual tradeshow yesterday, where my publisher talked to reps from several other PNW bookstores, so if you’re in this area, keep an eye out and/or help spread the word!

Now that the book is officially born into the world, that also means I’m gearing up for a book tour! You can keep tabs on where I’ll be on my Events page here, but just to give you an overview, here’s my itinerary for the next few weeks:

• Oct. 2: Creative Colloquy Crawl — The whole event occurs around downtown Tacoma from 6-9 pm; I’ll be one of three readers as part of this three-hour, multivenue literary event! My gig: Doyle’s Pub, Tacoma, 8-9 pm
• Oct. 14: Tacoma Studio Tour — This is another multi-venue event; I’ll be a featured author, alongside poets Lux Barker and Alyssa Tu and writer Abbey Murray, during a reading and open-mic session. Blue Cactus Press and the youth writing community Write253 will also be creating and producing chapbooks live on-site from 11am-3pm, so come hang out! My gig: Real Art Tacoma, 3-4:30 pm
• Oct. 17: BOOK LAUNCH — My friend and fellow author DL Fowler will be holding a dual book launch. His is a mixed-genre collection of poetry and essays, and we’ll be reading from our books, but the real treat will be the Q&A. I’ve done a few events with Fowler before, and that man is fascinating to listen to during audience discussions! My gig: Manifesto Coffee, Tacoma, 7-9 pm

I’ve also been in talks with some other indie bookstores around the Pacific Northwest for events later in October and throughout the fall. And if you’re in the area and want me to visit your bookstore or library or school, please let me know! You can contact me or Blue Cactus Press at BlueCactusPress@gmail.com.

I’ll also be hovering around the internet in the coming months, with podcasts and interviews and blog posts. And the same deal applies there: if you run a podcast or a blog and want to chat with me, please contact me or Blue Cactus Press at BlueCactusPress@gmail.com.

In the meantime, order a copy of There Is No Other Way to Worship Them and/or help spread the word!

And if you get the chance to light some candles, eat a piece of cake, and/or drink some tequila or whisk(e)y in celebration of my book’s birthday, well, here’s to you!