Because the Northwest Bookfest is the biggest literary event in Seattle--because it sucks up literary talent from around the world and funnels it into a massive building--because of all the excitement and expectations--the Stranger Readings Calendar says "fuck it," and focuses its entire telescope on the recognizable objects in the galaxy of the Northwest Bookfest (happening Sat-Sun Oct 20-21 at the Stadium Exhibition Center, 1000 Occidental Ave S, 381-7500, $5 suggested donation). Many of the Bookfest authors will also be reading at other venues in Seattle, so the Readings Calendar says "fuck it," and includes those details as well.

* CHUCK PALAHNIUK

See review this issue. Chuck will tell us why sex is like Hamburger Helper during the "Writing Sex and Death" presentation. Maclean Stage, 10:15 am. He will also read from his latest novel, Choke, Sun Oct 21 on the Hugo Stage at 3:45 pm.

DIANE ACKERMAN

Ackerman is the author of Natural History of the Senses, a book I used to find on the small shelves of the woman I one-night-stood during my wild years. Ackerman will be part of the "Art and Soul" presentation. Stafford Stage, 10:15 am. Ackerman also reads tonight at Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main, 624-6600, 5 pm, free; and University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, Mon Oct 22, 7 pm, free.

URSULA K. LE GUIN

The universe's Ursula K. Le Guin makes an appearance with her much-anticipated new Earthsea novel in hand, The Other Wind. Sadly, the Fantastic Voyage presentation she is part of has nothing to do with the funk band Lakeside, or the rapper Coolio for that matter. Hugo Stage, 10:30 am. Le Guin also reads at Elliott Bay Book Company, Fri Oct 19, 5 pm, free.

DAVID SHIELDS

David Shields is a professor of English at the University of Washington, and is the author of six books of fiction and nonfiction, most recently Black Planet: Facing Race During an NBA Season. His latest, Baseball is Just Baseball, is controversial. Shields will participate in a presentation titled "The Thin Blurry Line" on the Carver Stage, 12:15 pm, and a reading on the Stafford Stage at 4:45 pm. Shields also reads at Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, Fri Oct 19, 5:30 pm, free.

KIP FULBECK

Fulbeck is best known in Seattle as a videomaker and poet, and as winner of the Silver Carp Award at Seattle's Asian American Film Festival. He joins us here this afternoon with more Hapa (multiracial Asian American) stories. He will be part of "The Thin Blurry Line" presentation at the Carver Stage, 12:15 pm; and later on the "Modern Male Identity" panel, Stafford Stage, 2:15 pm. He also reads at Elliott Bay Book Company, Tues Oct 23, 7:30 pm, free.

DORIANNE LAUX and JOSEPH MILLAR

Up from Eugene, these two fine poets give a reading of their new work. Beard Stage, 2:30 pm. They will also read at Elliott Bay Book Company, Sun Oct 21, 4 pm, free.

WILLIAM DIETZ, HOWARD HENDRIX, SUSAN R. MATTHEWS, and TIMOTHY ZAHN

Four sci-fi writers band together to educate the masses on their craft during a presentation titled Bug-Eyed Monsters and Serious Fiction: Another Look at Science Fiction. McCarthy Stage, 2:45 pm. The sci-fi crew will also be at University Bookstore, Fri Oct 19, 7 pm, free.

* DAVID BARASH and JUDITH EVE LIPTON

These two scientists have proven what everyone in Malawi already knows: Monogamy is a myth. Hugo Stage, 3 pm.

* MATT BRIGGS

I have spoken to the novelist Matt Briggs about "E-Publishing: What New Authors Need to Know"--the very subject he will discuss at the Bookfest--over Japanese food, and Briggs impressed me as a man who is well informed. Hall Stage, 4 pm.

HAYNES JOHNSON

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Haynes Johnson will talk with me, Charles Mudede, about his chronicle of the decade just past, The Best of Times: America in the Clinton Years. Hugo Stage, 10:30 am. Johnson will read sans Mudede at Elliott Bay Book Company, Mon Oct 22, 5 pm, free, and Third Place Books, Mon Oct 22, 7:30 pm, free.

BO CALDWELL

Northern California writer Bo Caldwell's first novel The Distant Land of My Father: A Novel of Shanghai tells the story of a '30s-era smuggler and his daughter. Their lives diverge when the Japanese occupation of Shanghai forces his family to flee to the U.S. Caldwell's presentation is called "After the Fact: Daughters Tell Their Fathers' Stories." Carver Stage, 10:45 am. Caldwell will also read at Elliott Bay Book Company, Sat Oct 20, 3 pm, free.

* ALEX SHAKAR

Jonathan Franzen calls The Savage Girl, the new novel by Alex Shakar, an "exceptionally smart and likable first novel." Hardly sounds like praise. Anyway, the title of Shakar's Bookfest presentation is "Falling out of Fashion"--a fate one would prefer to fall on Franzen than Shakar. Stafford Stage, 11:45 am. Shakar will also read at Elliott Bay Book Company, Mon Oct 22, 7:30 pm, free.

* DAN SAVAGE

Mr. Savage will speak with five others about "The Art of Nudge." Carver Stage, noon.

ROBERT FERRIGNO

Ferrigno is the author of a darkly comic thriller about a tabloid journalist who returns to L.A., and finds his brother married to his ex-girlfriend. Ferrigno will talk about villains. Maclean Stage, 2:30 pm. Also at Third Place Books, Tues Oct 23, 7 pm, free; and University Bookstore, Wed Oct 24, 7 pm, free.

* JOE WENDEROTH

Sean Nelson writes of Wenderoth's latest book: "Letters to Wendy's leapt off the pages of Harpers a few months back, and is permanently engraved on the list of great ideas you wish you'd had. It's a book of prose poems written on Wendy's fast-food comment cards which traverses the chasm of novelty with depth and grace verging on genius. The book pounds the quotidian banal ("Today I had a small Frosty... ") until it yields absurd existential righteousness. It's just one of the best books ever." Beard Stage, 2:45 pm.

* ALEXA ALBERT

Kathleen Wilson writes of Alexa Albert's new book: "As a medical student, Alexa Albert was given rare access to Nevada's most prominent legal brothel, the Mustang Ranch. While conducting a study on condom use, Albert spent six years observing the politics of prostitution and the prostitutes themselves, and Brothel is the end result of her personal experiences. Albert's book is informative and voyeuristically intriguing, but the author is quick to gloss over what motivates her subjects to become prostitutes when feminism is not being promoted. Addiction and abuse are scarcely addressed, lending Brothel an irritating air of blind ignorance." Hugo Stage, 4:30 pm.