LOS ANGELES, September 17 – Finally, something to aspire to.

I found it at Vroman’s Bookstore, near the kids’ section, on the way to the events area, a wall of shame.

A glorious wall of books that have been, at various times, banned.

Staring at them, Tolkien cheek by jowl with Judy Bloom, who was holding hands with J.D. Salinger, I could only say a silent prayer.

Pleas, please, sweet baby Jesus, let one of my books be banned one day. Let my work be shamed and spat upon and burned. Amen.

Though, truth be told, it’s not likely to happen.

Bloodshed and obscenities don’t tend to get one to the banned book shelf when they come wrapped in a genre package. A book requires a certain stature to be shamed thus. Much to my chagrin, I will probably have to settle for snippy Amazon reader reviews rather than the full blown glorious ignominy of being banned.

I’m not saying you’ll find my books on the shelves at Oral Roberts University, but I doubt they’d take the time to declare an actual ban.

Book bans are something of a statement after all. And, sadly, I suppose I understand why there may be no need to make a decisive statement about the offensive nature of cat torture.

But a man can dream.

For those keeping score, by the way, I was on time, early, in fact, to Vroman’s. I was likewise quite prompt when arriving at The Mystery Bookstore. Which only left me to be late getting to Mysteries to Die For. Fifteen minutes late. This is becoming a bad habit. I could blame the 101 traffic. But why bother.

A disturbing trend.

I will be leaving earlier for my remaining stops.

One stop I made last week was in the Twilight Zone. I know it was the Zone because I somehow ended up doing an interview with Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg of The Wall Street Journal’s website. Now, granted, it’s not the same as putting me in the actual paper, but still…What the fuck were they thinking? Does the impending Murdochrenation of the WSJ have them throwing all caution to the wind?

Weird.

Anyway, the interview ending up being something that makes me look like a reasonably intelligent writer with something to say about his business and craft. Which is odder still.

Find that WSJ interview HERE.

And Sarah Weinman at the Baltimore Sun seems to be smoking the same stuff as the folks at the WSJ. Find her review of THE SHOTGUN RULE right HERE, with a brief scroll down.

And now I get to take part in the joys of modern jet travel. Glorious future, winging me to San Mateo, Scottsdale, and Seattle. Wings never fall off those big silver birds. So why should I worry.

In random pieces,
Charlie

Put Thread On It

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, once of Buzzscope, has soft-launched his own webzine called SPINDLE. The focus is on arts, lit, culture and politics in NYC. First look is HERE.

Scottsdale and Beyond

In the future you can find me these places:

Tuesday, September 18

7:00 PM at THE POISONED PEN in Scottsdale, AZ

4014 N Goldwater Blvd., #101
Phone: 888-560-9919

Wednesday, September 19

7PM at M IS FOR MYSTERY, with ZOE SHARP, in San Mateo, CA

86 East Third Ave.
650/401-8077

Thursday, September 20

7:00 PM at THIRD PLACE BOOKS in Lake Forest Park, WA

17171 Bothell Way NE
Phone : 206/366-3316

Monday, October 1

7:00 PM at PRAIRIE LIGHTS BOOKSTORE in Iowa City, IA

15 S. Dubuque St.
Phone: 319/337-2681

Tuesday, October 2

6:30 PM at MURDER BY THE BOOK in Houston, TX

This will be part of an evening long event, featuring KEN BRUEN among others, known at Noir Night

2342 Bissonnet St.
Phone: 713/524-8597