CHARLES R. CROSS
Pilfering a few more dollars off the corpse of everybody's favorite dead Aberdeenian, former editor of the late great music biweekly The Rocket Charles Cross returns to hawk the paperback version of last year's best-selling biography Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, 7 pm, free.
* TYPING EXPLOSION
In correlation with the opening of My Mother's Legacy by Boston artist Sarah Hutt at the Elliott Bay Cafe, Typing Explosion will rattle and click and ring and honk their way through a mountain of mechanical poems, one dollar at a time. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7 pm, free.
ELIZABETH GROSSMAN
Former New York literary agent Elizabeth Grossman delivers Watershed, her deliberation on the blight of hydropower. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
CAROL BERG
A short list of characters from Carol Berg's Restoration, the third book in the Rai Kirah Saga: Damok, D'Skaya, Evan-diargh, Gordain, Pujat Kavel, Qeb, Vallyne, W'Osti. Sound like your kind of people? Well all right then. University Bookstore, 634-3400, 2 pm, free.
ROBERTA ISLEIB
Golf AND intrigue?!?! Where do I sign? Isleib reads Six Strokes Under, her first of a "golf lover's mystery" series. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry St, 587-5737, noon, free.
GLORIA VANDO
In her award-winning second collection, Shadows and Supposes, literary activist and poet Gloria Vando globe-hops for a mass of diverse subject matter, from suicide fantasies to potatoes. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
MICHELLE TEA
Is there a Dewey decimal number for overtly maudlin ruminations on victims of shitty adolescence? Is that somewhere in the 920's? Oh, okay--think you can clear a little space for this one? Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 2 pm, free.
LAURA KASTNER, Ph.D. and JENNIFER WYATT, Ph.D.
Kastner and Wyatt's The Launching Years: Strategies for Parenting from Senior to College Life capitalizes on the abundance of pathologically overprotective parents in desperate fear of letting their babies become names on shopping lists. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
LEIF ENGER
Peace Like a River author returns to Elliott Bay to plug its paperback edition. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
JOCHEN HEMMLEB
Effectively solving half of a 75-year-old mystery in 1999 regarding the disappearance of two mountain climbers on Everest (documented in Hemmleb's previous book, Ghost of Everest), Hemmleb returns to the mountain's north ridge to answer the remaining questions with Detectives on Everest. University of Washington Campus, Kane Hall, Room 110, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.
JAMES KNISELY
The book release party for Knisely's debut novel, wonderfully entitled CHANCE, an Existential Horse Opera. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7:30 pm, free.
MARY OLSEN KELLY
As co-owner of Hawaii's Black Pearl Gallery, Mary Olsen Kelly has developed an intimate relationship with the little abominations--and has begun to see them as a metaphor for the life's path of women. Kelly signs Path of the Pearl: Discover Your Treasures of Passion, Beauty, and Wisdom. "When the pearl oyster absorbs the irritant into its body and makes it a part of itself, it transforms the unwelcome intruder into an exquisite example of nature's artistry." Third Place Books, 366-3333, 7 pm, free.
SEPTEMBER 11: WEST COAST WRITERS & GROUND ZERO
Roll up your pant legs, cuz here comes the flood--expected readers include Stacey Levine, Michael Byers, Colleen J. McElroy, Michael Hood, and Barbara Earl Thomas. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
DAVID ULRICH
If creativity truly is capital, David Ulrich is here to expand your net worth with his latest pyramid scheme in (get this title) Widening the Stream: The Seven Stages of Creativity. Third Place Books, 366-3333, 7 pm, free.
POETRY/OPEN MICS
* CATHARTICISM--Poetry, music, performance, and chaos, with host Ricky Rebel. Wednesdays at 8 pm. Coffee Messiah, 1554 E Olive Way, 861-8233, free.
IT'S ABOUT TIME--Featured readers include Janet Sekijima, James Snydal, Crysta Casey, and Anna Balint. Wed Sept 11 at 6:30 pm. Seattle Public Library, 5009 Roosevelt Way NE, 864-4063, free.
JET CITY POETRY SLAM--New venue combining poetry, performance, and the cruel dynamics of reality TV. Tuesdays at 8 pm. Central Saloon, 207 First Ave S, 427-2300, $3.
MIDNIGHT CABARET--Stories, song, and performance with host Sylvia O'Stayformore. Saturdays at midnight. Coffee Messiah, 861-8233, free.
OUT OF TUNE--Poetry and music free-for-all hosted by Jon Hogan. Thursdays at 8:30 pm, signup at 8 pm. The 15th, 7515 15th Ave NW, 706-4973, free.
POETSWEST--Featured poets Thomas Hubbard, A. J. Downing, and Christopher Jarmick. Thurs Sept 5 at 7 pm at Wit's End Bookstore & Tea Shop, 770 N 34th St, 682-1268, free.
reBIRTH--All-ages open-mic brouhaha. Sundays at 7 pm. French and European Artistic and Cultural Center, 623 Broadway E, 726-4843, free.
SCRATCHING POST--Poetry open mic, all ages. Thursdays at 8 pm, signup at 7:30 pm. Mr. Spot's Chai House, 5463 Leary Ave NW, 297-2424, free.
SEATTLE POETRY SLAM--Open mic, feature, and slam with Karen Finneyfrock. Wednesdays at 8 pm. Sit & Spin, 2219 Fourth Ave, 441-9484, $4.
* SEATTLE SPIT--Queer spoken-word open mic with featured readers Karen Milling, Roxann Ireland, and Yva Las Vegas. Thurs Sept 5 at 8 pm. Wildrose, 1021 E Pike St, 271-0364.
STAGEFRIGHT--Wed Sept 11, 7-11 pm. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, free.
