notes

The latest issue of the Oregon Literary Review is available free online. The highlight is Andrew Coburn's "Cop Talk," found in the Creative Nonfiction section: "All my years as a cop, the thing I learned most is the poor get poorer and the dead get deader." Go to oregonliteraryreview.org for additional adages.events

WEDNESDAY JAN. 10

Alan Folsom

The best-selling author of The Day After Tomorrow reads from his new book, The Machiavelli Covenant. It has nothing to do with Tupac Shakur, but everything to do with secret societies. Powell's City of Books. 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4631. 7:30 pm. Free.

David Weber

Publishers Weekly says that "nobody does space opera better than Weber." Well, duh.... His latest saga, Off Armageddon Reef, starts after the near-destruction of humanity by that pesky alien, Gbaba. It's a sci-fi epic. Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, 228-4631. 7 pm. Free.

A Talk with Valentino Achak Deng

This is the guy whom Dave Eggers became/wrote about in his latest book, What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng. He's a survivor of a 1,000-mile exodus and a Lost Boy of Sudan. His stories crush your sense of life. Reading Frenzy, 921 SW Oak St., 274-1449. 7 pm. Free. See book review on wweek.com.

THURSDAY JAN. 11

Digging for the Truth

Josh Berstein of the History Channel gives a closer look into his adventures as a real-life Indiana Jones. He'll read from a book as we stare at his beautiful bod and pretend to listen. Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton. 228-4631. 7 pm. Free.

V.O. Blum

V.O. Blum, the Oregon Coast author of Sperm Boy, hurls a wartime romance at us with his latest novel, Split Creek. The setting is a ranch, and the lovers are a German liberal and an American fascist. Looking Glass Bookstore, 318 SW Taylor St., 227-4760. 7 pm. Free. See review, page 46.

Kathleen Bryson

The Alaskan-born author presents Girl on a Stick, the story of a girl abused by a priest who also tormented her with puzzles...and the girl's relationship with a Norwegian guy named Per. Twenty-Third Avenue Books, 1015 NW 23rd Ave., 224-5097. 7 pm. Free.

Moody Food

Gram Parsons went to Canada to dodge the draft. He was a flower child of the mid-'60s and into country rock. Ray Robertson reads from a book loosely inspired by this mind-trip visionary. Powell's on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 228-4631. 7:30 pm. Free.

FRIDAY JAN. 12

Rock 'n' Roll Zine Machine

The young ladies of Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls—the ones who dandle their whammy bars—unleash a new literary event featuring their mindful musings on politics and life. In Other Words Bookstore, 8 NE Killingsworth St., 232-6003. 7 pm. Free.

Cheryl Strayed

Torch is Strayed's story of a family coming to terms with death in rural Minnesota. Powell's City of Books. 1005 W Burnside, 228-4631. 7:30 pm. Free.

SATURDAY JAN. 13

Dykes Write!

Liz Taylor, a Tom Spanbauer protÉgÉ, leads a workshop and discussion for dykes interested in writing. And dykes, will one of you write me to explain the lesbian attraction toward the Subaru Forester? In Other Words Bookstore, 8 NE Killingsworth St., 232-6003. 2-4 pm, eight-person limit. Free.

MONDAY JAN. 15

Anthony Swofford

Jarhead author and erstwhile Portlander Swoff reads from Exit A, a novel that centers on military brats growing up in Japan. Not to be confused with Exit LC, his harrowing escape from teaching the affluent brats at Lewis & Clark College. Powell's City of Books. 1005 W Burnside, 228-4631. 7:30 pm. Free. See Q&A, page 23.

TUESDAY JAN. 16

Colum McCann

The award-winning author of This Side of Brightness and Dancer brings us Zoli, a story about a gypsy who flees fascism to join a clan of Romani harpists. Did you hear that, Joanna Newsom fans? Romani harpists! Powell's City of Books. 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4631. 7:30 pm. Free. See review, below.

Jewish Literature, Identity and Imagination

Dr. Laura Leibman of Reed College discusses how the Jewish Diaspora takes on psychological, metaphorical, physiological and other dimensions ending in -cal. Northwest Library, 2300 NW Thurman St., 988-5560. 6:30 pm. Free.