Lots of news: T.C Boyle interview, SJSU talk, new class at the Book Cafe and more

Hello, Cactuseaters readers. Lots and lots of news to share with you during this busy month.  For starters, I just found out that the short nonfiction piece I'm going to read at the San Jose State event is going to be published (!)  which means that the talk will be a kind of 'sneak preview.' I'm pretty sure the publishing event won't happen until several weeks after the talk so you'll get the first look if you go to my event with my wife, Amy Ettinger.  I''ll share the name of the publication and the particulars as the date approaches. Right around the same time, I found out that The Cactus Eaters, at this late hour, is going to be reviewed in a national magazine, which is really great news, too. Eager to see what they'll say. Also, I just had a really good phone conversation with one of my favorite authors, T.C. Boyle; we talked for 40 minutes about the strained relationship between human beings and wild nature in a number of his books and his stories, starting with the Extinction Tales. I conducted the interview with the technical assistance of Catherine Segurson and Rebecca Goldman over at the Catamaran Literary Reader's headquarters at the Salz Tannery here in SC. And the cool thing is, you get to listen in on the talk. It's almost as if the phone line was tapped. The interview will be available in the debut issue of Catamaran  soon. That will be available in bookstores across the country this fall. And finally, the Capitola Book Cafe has just listed my upcoming fully expanded and all-new travel and place-writing class. More news soon! Anyhow, my weekends have been awfully busy lately, but I've been unwinding by going 'pick your own' fruit-hunting with my little daughter. The other day we put together a blackberry cobbler, using fruit we foraged off the side of Highway 1 out here in scenic Santa Cruz. Hope you're getting out there, enjoying the weather, hitting some farmer's markets and taking advantage of everything your town (wherever it may be) has to offer. Hope to see you all soon. All for now.