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THURSDAY 8/1


SUNNY KOBE COOK

Sleep Country USA founder, professional public speaker, and all-around persuasive lady ("Yeah--why would I buy a mattress anywhere else?!") Sunny Kobe Cook discusses her new book, Common Ways Uncommon Things. Just listen to this satisfied customer: "You are a true inspiration. When you talked about adventure, I was so happy! I feel like we're really similar! It was a real honor to meet you." (Elizabeth G, Northwood Elementary School) Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, noon, free.


JOSEPH MOLITORISZ & KEVIN O'MORRISON

Local authors/publishers Molitorisz (Memoirs of an Immigrant) and O'Morrison (The Dead File) cover the basics of DIY, print-on-demand self-publishing. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, 7 pm, free.


SEAN RUSSELL

Return to the world of Wyndd, where demigods do battle with mortal archers, and wizards' names have too many consonants. Russell signs your first-edition copy of The Isle of Battle, the second novel in his popular Swans' War trilogy--and if you're lucky, you just might find yourself in a beautiful encounter with a fair elfin maiden or two. University Bookstore, 4326 University Way, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.


FRIDAY 8/2


COLLETTE BROOKS

In an unnamed city, former Seattle resident Collette Brooks paints an omniscient portrait of Urbania--a cross-section of all the beauty, terror, and serendipity the city can possess. Returning from her teaching position at New School University in New York, Brooks reads from and signs her new collection, In the City: Random Acts of Awareness. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.


GARY M. POMERANTZ

Award-winning journalist Gary Pomerantz somehow stretches the final nine minutes and 20 seconds of a dozen lives into 320 pages of morbid fascination in Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds: A True Story of Tragedy and Triumph. University Bookstore, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.


SATURDAY 8/3


WARREN DAVID JACOBS

Atlanta psychiatrist and lover of all things foliaged Warren Jacobs spends the afternoon waxing poetic about the joy of man-tree love with Tree Stories: A Collection of Extraordinary Encounters. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 2 pm, free.


KEVIN CHONG, TANIS MacDONALD, RICK MADDOCKS, RUTH ROACH PIERSON

Our surly neighbors to the north begin their full-fledged literary invasion with this Canuck foursome--Chong to sign his novel Baroque-a-Nova and Maddocks his collection Sputnik Diner, plus MacDonald and Pierson with their poetry collections, respectively Holding Ground and Where No Window Was. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.


SUNDAY 8/4


PERRY MIYAKE

In 21st Century Manzanar, award-winning playwright Miyake's satirical debut novel, America's warmongering president is agitated by an economic war with Japan, which escalates into a full-scale Third World War. Executive Order 9066 resurfaces, and Japanese America is forced back into internment camps. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 3 pm, free.


MONDAY 8/5


DEBRA GINSBERG

Ginsberg promotes her second memoir, Raising Blaze, a saintly account of her experience as a single mother raising a special-needs child. Zeitgeist, 171 S Jackson, 583-0497, 7 pm, free.


ELLEN MELOY

Naturalist and "desert writer" Ellen Meloy signs her latest book, Anthropology of Turquoise: Meditations on Landscape, Art, and Spirit. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.


TUESDAY 8/6


* BRET FETZER

Conflict of interest alert! Former Stranger theater editor Bret Fetzer spends this evening entertaining audiences with the premiere of a new collection of his popular, contemporary fairy tales. Look for his upcoming second anthology, Tooth & Tongue. Richard Hugo House Cabaret, 1634 11th Ave, 381-8597, 7:30 pm, free.


J.A. JANCE

Welcome the beloved Miss Jance--the woman responsible for all of those "rookie gumshoe cracks the impossible murder case" novels that your stepmother likes so much. Gilda's Club, 1400 Broadway, 709-1400, 2 pm, free. Also, Third Place Books, 366-3333, 7 pm, free.


JOHN SUITER

Following a brief magazine gig focusing on the 40th anniversary of The Dharma Bums, Suiter began his debut book, an examination of poets Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Jack Kerouac, through new interviews, photos, and previously unpublished letters and journals entitled Poets on the Peaks. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.


WEDNESDAY 8/7


ETHAN HAWKE

See Stranger Suggests. The world's last true renaissance man brings his warm, inviting prose to Seattle. This is an event not to be missed. University Bookstore, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.


NEIL McMAHON & PHILIP MARGOLIN

Thriller fans, take note: The spine-tingling double-team of McMahon and Margolin are here to satiate your thrill-stimulating impulses with a two-pronged attack. McMahon signs his detective thriller Blood Double, while Margolin covers the legal side of the spectrum in The Associate. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.


POETRY/OPEN MICS

* SEATTLE SPIT--See Stranger Suggests. Open mic with featured readers Dan Savage, Shannon Shue, and Samantha Barrow. Thurs Aug 1 at 8 pm. Wildrose, 1021 E Pike St, 271-0364, free.

SUBTEXT POETRY READING--Featuring Aaron Vidaver and Diana George. Wed Aug 7 at 7:30 pm. Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, free.

TEENS SLAM AGAINST THE SLAM TEAM--Friendly-fire poetry. Fri Aug 2, 7-9 pm. Starbucks, 4824 Rainier Ave S, 721-8871, $5.

* TAKE A POEM INTO YOUR HEART--With host Christopher Jarmick and featured poets Pieter Zilinsky and John Burgess. See Stranger Suggests. Take Another Look Books, 5023 Rainier Ave S, 721-1022, Thurs Aug 1, 7 pm, free.