by Chuck Palahniuk

$24.95 hardcover

(Doubleday)In Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (1930), the book which codified the stereotypes of the detective novel, Sam Spade and the siren Brigid O'Shaughnessy square off in his office, where he tells her: "You're good. You're very good. It's chiefly in your eyes, I think, and that throb you get in your voice when you say things like, 'Be generous, Mr. Spade.'" Spade agrees to help the woman--for where would a century of detective writers be if he hadn't?--although first there is the small matter of his retainer, which amounts to almost all of Miss O'Shaughnessy's bank account. Spade is no hero, he wants us to know, in his pared-down language and blunt phraseology--just as Brigid is no angel.

Three-quarters of a century later, enter Chuck Palahniuk and Lullaby. Lullaby is the book that all of Palahniuk's other narrators have been building toward: the nervous adolescence of Survivor, the brooding machismo and juvenile love of destruction of Fight Club, the relentless self-assessment of Invisible Monsters. Yet, while all of the main characters in these books were primarily concerned with their place in the world, in these larger and seemingly insane social structures, Lullaby finds the protagonist, Carl Streator, literally on a mission to save the world (instead of just interpreting it).

Brigid's plea for Spade's generosity echoes in every page of Lullaby; nearly 75 years after The Maltese Falcon first appeared, Palahniuk is making good on Spade's promise. KATE PREUSSER (When a Song Is Your Story: Fiction That Uses Music, Sat Oct 19, noon-1 pm, Stafford Stage; also, The Hollywood Dream: When Books Become Movies, Sat Oct 19, 2 pm-3 pm, Carver Stage.)

Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture

Edited by Lisa Miya-Jervis and Andi Zeisler

$4.95 an issue

(B-Word Worldwide)I love Bitch, the magazine co-founded by the sage and funny Andi Zeisler. From her precocious beginnings as an intern at the budding feminists' magazine Sassy (tragically no longer in circulation), Zeisler went on to be published in magazines like Mother Jones, Ms., Bust, and HUES. She has settled in Oakland, and is now the editor and associate publisher of Bitch.

As its subtitle suggests, Bitch critiques pop culture with a sharp, irreverent pro-woman perspective. Covering important topics like the Guerrilla Girls, sex work, fat grrrls, boy bands, Buffy, and Oprah, the magazine has earned a cult following of unabashedly feminist readers who aren't embarrassed to watch TV or discuss the pros of porn. Zeisler explains that the mainstream media's response to the magazine is often (surprise!) not positive--"Sometimes we get criticized for being too negative"--but she shoots back: "In a world where so many magazines exist to kiss celebrity ass, it's not bad to be critical." I think the reason I like Bitch so much is because the writers can acknowledge the seriousness of subversive (and not-so-subversive) misogyny in our culture, but still make it funny. ALLEGRA WIBORG (Writing the Revolution: Political Writers Sound Off, Sat Oct 19, 10:45 am-11:45 am, Stafford Stage.)

Fast Girls: Teenage Tribes and the Myth of the Slut

by Emily White

$22 hardcover

(Scribner)Seattle's own Emily White, former editor of this very newspaper, returns to Bookfest in the triumphant wake of her excellent book Fast Girls, which has brought her much-deserved acclaim, sales, and, perhaps most importantly, guest appearances on Montel Williams' and Ricki Lake's talk shows, both of which honored her with the title of "expert on sluts." (That's a step up from the woman on CBS's Early Show, who interviewed White about the book's inquiry into the culture of rumors and character assassination surrounding female promiscuity on all levels of society, but who refused to say the word "slut.") Media indignities notwithstanding, the author remains enthusiastic about her book's success.

Fast Girls will appear in paperback in March. White, meanwhile, is preparing her follow-up, a novel currently in the research stages, and acting as writer-in-residence at the Richard Hugo House. SEAN NELSON (Life in Limbo: Between Girlhood and Womanhood, Sun Oct 20, 2:30 pm-3:45 pm, Stafford Stage.)

Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America

by Dan Savage

$23.95 hardcover

(Dutton)Thanks to a nefarious office lottery, it fell upon me to scribble out some kind words about our boss, Dan Savage, whose new book, Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America, is currently being showered with praise. I have read said tome, and it is, indeed, good--not Proust good, but at least The O'Reilly Factor good--and since Savage sits next to me every day barking about something or another, I can certainly attest to his being a rather engaging (i.e., loud) speaker. So his reading or speech or panel discussion--whatever those highbrow types do at Bookfest--should, at the very least, kill some time. What is Savage's book about? Put simply, it's a lefty's answer to the likes of William Bennett, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Bill O'Reilly, which means mucho, mucho ranting. But unlike the abovementioned dunderheads' work, Skipping Towards Gomorrah is actually funny. BRADLEY STEINBACHER (Here She Is, Myth America: Dethroning the Deception, Sat Oct 19, 3:15 pm-4:30 pm, Carver Stage.)