Location: Pasadena, California 91106, United States

Tao Lin (Taipei)

Tao Lin is the author of the novels Richard Yates and Eeeee Eee Eeee, the novella Shoplifting from American Apparel, the story collection Bed, and the poetry collections cognitive-behavioral therapy and you are a little bit happier than i am. He is the founder and editor of the literary press Muumuu House. His work has been translated to twelve languages and he lives in Manhattan. (added from Random House)… (more)

Everyone's excited about the latest from Max Barry, the author of Jennifer Government. Lexicon was one of this summer's "High-Temperature Reading" recommendations by Lev Grossman in Time: "Imagine, if you will, a secret group of people called Poets who have the power to control others simply by speaking to them. Barry has, and the result is an extraordinarily fast, funny, cerebral thriller."

Location: Street: 2810 Artesia Boulevard City: Redondo Beach, Province: California Postal Code: 90278 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Thursday, June 20, 7pm Kristen Kittscher discusses and signs The Wig in the Window

Best friends and seventh graders Sophie Young and Grace Yang have made a game out of spying on their neighbors. On one of their midnight stakeouts, they witness a terrifying, bloody scene at the home of their bizarre middle-school counselor Dr. Charlotte Agford (also known as Dr. Awkward). At least, they think they do. The truth is that Dr. Agford was only making her famous pickled beets. But when Dr. Agford begins acting even weirder than usual, Sophie and Grace become convinced that she's hiding something - and they're determined to find out what it is. Soon the girls are breaking secret codes, being followed by a strange blue car, and tailing strangers with unibrows and Texas accents. But as their investigation heats up, Sophie and Grace start to crack under the pressure. Will solving the case destroy their friendship?

Location: Street: 695 E. Colorado Blvd City: Pasadena, Province: California Postal Code: 91101 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Carl Hiaasen (A Death in China, Basket case, Flush, Hoot, Lucky You, Naked Came the Manatee, Native Tongue, Nature Girl, Powder Burn, Scat, Sick puppy, Skinny Dip, Stormy Weather, Strip Tease, Team rodent)

Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of eleven previous novels, including the best-selling Nature Girl, Skinny Dip, Sick puppy, and Lucky You, and three best-selling children’s books, Hoot, Flush, and Scat. His most recent work of nonfiction is The Downhill Lie: A Hacker’s Return to a Ruinous Sport. He also writes a weekly column for The Miami Herald. (added from Random House)… (more)

San Diego is fortunate to have been home to any number of speculative fiction authors, some of whom still reside here, and we are pleased to add UCSD undergraduate and debut author S.M. Wheeler to those ranks. Sea Change is a dark fairy tale for adults, chronicling the undertakings of a young woman endeavoring to rescue her beloved companion, a talking kraken. (See Maryelizabeth’s review here.)

Location: Street: 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Additional: Ste 302 City: San Diego, Province: California Postal Code: 92111-1040 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

With a career creating Glamorous Ghouls through make-up and costuming, writing a young adult novel with the darkness of a horror novel but the beauty of a fairy tale seems like a natural next step for Leigh Bardugo, Siege and Storm, the second book in the Grisha Trilogy, continues the story of Alina, Mal and the Darkling in new and unfamiliar territory. (See Maryelizabeth's review on our website.)

Location: Street: 2810 Artesia Boulevard City: Redondo Beach, Province: California Postal Code: 90278 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Maryelizabeth is a particular fan of the works of LA Noir at the Bar femme fatale author Lisa Brackmann, and was pleased to include Lisa in Akashic’s San Diego Noir anthology. Iraq War vet Ellie McEnroe, introduced in Rock Paper Tiger, returns in Hour of the rat, as she is entangled in an international conspiracy involving China’s burgeoning modernization and its terrifying possible environmental consequences. Lisa will discuss international intrigue with Richard Lange.

Location: Street: 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Additional: Ste 302 City: San Diego, Province: California Postal Code: 92111-1040 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Julia Reed, a master of the art of eating, drinking, and making merry, takes the reader on culinary adventures in places as far flung as Kabul, Afghanistan and as close to home as her native Mississippi Delta and Florida’s Gulf Coast. Along the way, Reed discovers the perfect Pimm’s Royale at the Paris Ritz, devours delicious chuletons in Madrid, and picks up tips from accomplished hostesses ranging from Pat Buckley to Pearl Bailey and, of course, her own mother. Reed writes about the bounty—and the burden—of a Southern garden in high summer, tosses salads in the English countryside, and shares C.Z. Guest’s recipe for an especially zingy bullshot. She understands the necessity of a potent holiday punch and serves it up by the silver bowl full, but she is not immune to the slightly less refined charms of a blender full of frozen peach daiquiris or a garbage can full of Yucca Flats. And then there are the parties: shindigs ranging from sultry summer suppers and raucous dinners at home to a Plymouth-like Thanksgiving feast and an upscale St. Patrick’s Day celebration. This delightful collection of essays by Julia Reed, a master storyteller with an inimitable voice and a limitless capacity for fun, will show you how to entertain guests with style, have a good time yourself and always have that perfect pitcher of sangria ready at a moment’s notice.

Location: Street: 695 E. Colorado Blvd. City: Pasadena, Province: California Postal Code: 91101 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

We’ve got action, romance, humor and adventure!
We’ve got music, FREE parking and refreshments!
We’ve got Hollywood LIVE!

The ONLY thing we’re missing is YOU!

This week’s show: Tomb of the Ten Thousand Dead

Admission: $10 per person (first time FREE)
To reserve your seat, call (323) 798-1635 or
email: Jonil@AuthorServicesInc.com (MARKUSWUETHRICH)… (more)

Jim Steinmeyer

Here’s what Dacre Stoker, who knows whereof he writes, wrote for Publishers Weekly about Royce Prouty’s novel, Stoker’s Manuscript: “Prouty’s debut, a riveting novel of supernatural suspense, deftly mixes fact and fiction involving the manuscript of Bram Stoker’s great vampire novel, Dracula (1897). In present-day Chicago, rare book dealer Joseph Barkeley receives a phone call from a gentleman with an Eastern European accent who wants him to authenticate Stoker’s original Dracula manuscript, which is due to be sold at auction by Christie’s... During his research, Barkeley learns the circumstances of Dracula’s publication were not without controversy. Stoker planned to publish a prologue and epilogue with Dracula, but for some reason did not. The content of Stoker’s missing text remains unknown. The many parallels between Stoker’s Manuscript and Dracula range from subtle to overt.”

Sharing more information on the fact side of the origin of Stoker’s tale, Jim Steinmeyer offers Who Was Dracula?: Bram Stoker’s Trail of Blood, examining the authors and actors who influenced the writer as he was creating his novel, including Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, and (maybe) Jack the Ripper.

Location: Street: 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Additional: Ste 302 City: San Diego, Province: California Postal Code: 92111-1040 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Edith Maxwell

Dorothy Howell Former freelance journalist, medical lext editor, and linguist Edith Maxwell has had quite a few careers under her belt. Edith used her own experience as a farmer combined with her background in linguistics to write the character Cam Flaherty in A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die, the first book in Local Foods Mysteries series. Edith also writes as Tace Baker, and again uses her linguistic studies to create Quaker Linguistics professor, Lauren Rousseau in the Speaking of Mystery series. Dorothy Howell has more than 33 novels under her designer belt, but it wasn't until she heard about the horrors of working in retail, from her daughter, that she was inspired to write Handbags and Homicide, the first Haley Randolph mystery. It was Dorothy's passion for purses and handbags that inspired the theme throughout the books. Fortunately for fans, as far as we know, there is no rehab for Dorothy's addiction and she continues with the seventh book in the Haley Randolph mystery series with Evening Bags and Executions.

Location: Street: 2810 Artesia Boulevard City: Redondo Beach, Province: California Postal Code: 90278 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

In 1913, a dedicated group of men and women came together to form the Jewish Consumptive Relief Association of California. Launching a free, national and nonsectarian tuberculosis sanatorium outside of Los Angeles, they offered care to their brothers and sisters in need. By the mid-1940s, tuberculosis was on the decline in the United States. But the organization that became City of Hope rose to the challenge of each successive era, tackling the world's most catastrophic diseases while reaffirming its humanitarian vision that "health is a human right."

On Monday, June 24th at 7:00 p.m. DR. LINDA MALKAS will address the institution’s legacy, as well as its bright future. The City of Hope was founded in the same year as the City of San Marino was incorporated, and thus is celebrating its Centennial in 2013 along with San Marino. Over its history, the City of Hope has been a place of hope and discovery and anticipates continuing in the next century working on the future promise for the prevention, detection and treatment of cancer and diabetes, and the research that makes that possible.

Dr. Malkas is an expert in the areas of human cell DNA replication/repair, women’s cancers, as well as in cancer biomarker and therapeutic target discovery and development. She is currently an Associate Chairman and Profession in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Deputy Director for Basic Research of the City of Hope’s NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center as well as co-leader of the Molecular Oncology and Cancers Programs at the Cancer Center.

Seating is limited and attendance to this free monthly series has been to capacity so arrive early! (notparoo)… (more)

A selection of books that go on sale this week, most on Tuesday June 25th.

Check with staff if you have questions. You can also purchase many of the below in eBook format. Just click the title to see if an eBook is available for that title. (Thanks to Kobo, most ebooks are now available for pre-sale.)

Happy Reading!

Signed titles may arrive later in the month. Contact the staff to reserve a copy.

Location: Street: 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Additional: Ste 302 City: San Diego, Province: California Postal Code: 92111-1040 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Our Diesel Author Luncheon Series continues in Brentwood with author Jami Attenberg for her book, The Middlesteins.

For more than thirty years, Edie and Richard Middlestein shared a solid family life together in the suburbs of Chicago. But now things are splintering apart, for one reason: Edie's life-threatening obsession with food and the growing girth to match. When Richard abandons his wife, it is up to the next generation to pick up the pieces. Robin, their schoolteacher daughter, is determined that her father pay for leaving Edie. Benny, an easy-going, pot-smoking family man, just wants to smooth things over. And Rachelle — a whippet thin perfectionist — is intent on saving her mother-in-law's life. Through it all, they wonder: do Edie's devastating choices rest on her shoulders alone, or are others at fault, too?

Jami Attenberg is the author of Instant Love, The Kept Man, and The Melting Season. Her essays and criticism have appeared in numerous places including The New Yorker, Salon, and Nylon. A Chicago native, she lives in Brooklyn.

PLEASE NOTE (UPDATED): The Luncheon will be Tuesday, June 25th from Noon-2pm at the Wilshire Restaurant and tickets are $55, which includes a paperback copy of the book. Please contact the Brentwood store at 310-576-9960 to purchase tickets.

Where: Wilshire Restaurant, 2454 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403

When: Tuesday, June 25th from 12-2pm.

Price: $55

Location: Street: Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood Additional: Brentwood Country Mart - 225 26th Street at San Vicente City: Santa Monica, Province: California Postal Code: 90402 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Tuesday, June 25, 7pm Khaled Hosseini discusses and signs And the Mountains Echoed

This event will be held at All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena, 91101.

Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most.

Khaled Hosseini will be joined in conversation by CBS News National Correspondent Leland P. “Lee” Cowan.

Event Details: (Updated 6/14/13) - This is a ticketed event. Tickets will be given with the Vroman's Bookstore purchase of And the Mountains Echoed ($28.95 + tax) and are now available for pick up from Vroman's main store and Hastings Ranch locations. If you have any questions, please call (626)449-5320.

- One ticket per book. Unfortunately, there is no ticket only option available, per the publisher's stipulations. A book must be purchased to receive a ticket.

- Books/ tickets that have not been picked-up from either Vroman's location before the close of business on 6/24/13 (9pm) will be transferred to the venue for pick-up the evening of the event.

- Doors open at 6pm. Vroman's is hosting this event in the All Saints Church sanctuary, which is located at 132 N Euclid Ave., Pasadena, CA 91101.

- Tickets and books will be available for purchase at the venue the evening of the event. Guests may purchase additional books to be signed. While supplies last.

Location: Street: 132 N Euclid Ave. Additional: All Saints Church City: Pasadena, Province: California Postal Code: 91101 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

The San Diego Book Discussion Group is led by Fearless Leader Christine. The June 25th discussion focuses on Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Participation is open to all readers; readers need not have completed a particular book to attend – it’s the perfect opportunity for readers to branch out and find new favorites!

Attendees receive 20% off of the current book club selection!

Location: Street: 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Additional: Ste 302 City: San Diego, Province: California Postal Code: 92111-1040 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Arizona fantasy author Kevin Hearne, a popular figure at a number of genre conventions, makes his in-store debut with the launch party for Hunted, the sixth novel in the urban fantasy series, the Iron Druid Chronicles. This time thousands-year-old sexy warrior druid Atticus O'Sullivan has drawn the ire of hunter goddesses Artemis and Diana and is on the lam with his trusted companions. Also appearing in San Diego on Tuesday 30 July 2013.

Location: Street: 2810 Artesia Boulevard City: Redondo Beach, Province: California Postal Code: 90278 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)