THURSDAY 6/5

KEVIN O'BRIEN

Bailey/Coy will be hosting a publication party to celebrate the release of local author Kevin O'Brien's newest book, Watch Them Die. Kevin is the author of Only Son and The Next to Die, a USA Today bestseller. Bailey/Coy Books, 414 Broadway E, 323-8842, 7 pm, free. Also, Barnes & Noble, 600 Pine St, 264-0156, Fri June 6 at 12:30 pm, free.



FRIDAY 6/6



SHERMAN ALEXIE

See Stranger Suggests. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, $5.



SUNDAY 6/8



B. D. WONG

Famed actor/crossdresser Wong (award-winning star of several versions of M Butterfly) discusses Finding Foo, his memoir about the (surrogate) premature birth of his child. Bailey/Coy Books, 323-8842, 7 pm, free. Also, University of Washington, 634-3400, Mon June 9 at 7 pm, free.

MONDAY 6/9



* MICHAEL BYERS

"The jacket design is nauseating (a green frog sitting on a rust-colored leaf), but Long for this World, by local short story writer Michael Byers (The Coast of Good Intentions), is a sharp and wrenching novel that ingeniously places serious subjects (family, medical ethics) in the most unserious climate of all (dot-com Seattle). And the sex scenes are great: 'Her lips were cushiony and worked on him with a slightly worrisome expertise, first inhaling his top lip and biting a neat row along its underside and then taking the bottom in and doing the same, as though finishing an ear of corn.'" (Christopher Frizzelle) Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.

* QUEER WRITERS' SHOWCASE

Tara Hardy, the city's self-appointed expert on "queer writing," presents a reading of this elusive art form to benefit the Queer Writing Institute. Featuring the celebrated spoken-word troupe Or-A-Trix, and many more. Re-bar, 1114 Howell St, 233-9873, 8 pm, $6-$10.

TUESDAY 6/10



* MONKEY BICYCLE READING SERIES

This round of the monthly reading series features a number of names with prime real estate on the lips of our books editor, among them Matthew Stadler, Diana George, Richard Jenson, and Michael Sanchez. Lux, 2226 First Ave, 335-2884, 8 pm, free.