Laurie R. King

Here we are at the first day of a new month. Following our long-established tradition (at least five months) this is the time, if you have any questions you’d like to throw at me, when you can do so. I’ll answer them as I can, unless they’ve been asked five times before, in which case…

Life after a tour returns slowly to normal. The teetering stack of mail diminishes, those letters from readers that have been sitting, read but unanswered, since before the Edgars in April down to the last two (until the next trip to the post office box’e2’80’a6), the cat taken to the vet and the fifty-seven urgent…

THE ART OF DETECTION’e2’80’99s tour is officially over, after Friday’e2’80’99s event in Half Moon Bay and Saturday in Santa Cruz. These two stores are shining examples of how to succeed in an unfriendly world: be outgoing, run your life with efficiency, and participate fully in your community. Bay Book and Tobacco (yes, really’e2’80’94although in answer…

One of the questions asked so often at readings that they have become clich’c3’a9s is, Where do you get your ideas? On the one hand, the question is meaningless, because life is a constant inundation of stimulating ideas. On the other, I can understand the puzzlement–however, the question should be rather, How you can pick…

Going over the accumulated copies of the San Francisco Chronicle from the past 2 weeks, I find this gem of a headline, its article reprinted from the NYT: Bush urges immigrants to learn English, history Now there’s an idea.

On the last day of The Great The Art of Detection tour, I slept in until 7:30 in the morning, about two hours after I usually wake up. I convinced the hotel’e2’80’99s internet service that I was to be trusted with their electrons, checked my email, washed my hair and had breakfast, and sauntered out…

Tuesday:5 am wakeup call (I’e2’80’99ve had two alarm clocks die on me in the past week, both the dependable Swiss Army kind. Never trust a new alarm clock without a backup call from the desk.) and 6:15 pickup. Long line to get through security, longer line to get coffee from Starbuck’e2’80’99s, on the gift card…

Maybe everyone in Seattle spends their days drinking coffee and reading books. It would explain a lot, not only about the number of coffeehouses and great bookstores, but also the general laid-back attitude of a city filled with people whose fantasy lives are well enough fulfilled that they don’e2’80’99t need to be ill-tempered. In any…