Radio interview, and details about my visit to the Pacific Northwest this week --- without smelly pack

If you are in the Bellingham, Washington area, and happen to be awake on the early side, switch on your radio and listen in on my brief live interview on KGMI at 7:15 AM PST. Immediately after the interview, I will board a plane and fly up to one of my very favorite places in America, the Pacific Northwest, where my "Cactus'' tour will begin. However, I will most likely leave my backpack behind because he's picked up a terrible odor from my last outdoor sojourn in the Southeast. (bear scat? Whatever it is, it won't go away.) Anyhow, I'm looking forward to meeting readers and hikers up there. Many of the loveliest sections of the PCT are right there--- Crater Lake, the Goat Rocks, the Pasayten Wilderness. The list goes on and on. Out in the Pacific Northwest, I ate too many huckleberries, stomped through pumice flats, and stayed at an absurdly cheap, now-non-existent bed and breakfast in Snoqualmie Pass. (If you were a Pacific Crest Trail hiker, they would let you stay there for about eleven bucks a day. No kidding.) I also spent some time in gorgeous Stehekin, Washington, where I ruffled a few feathers by eating an entire pie during a slide presentation about mountain goats. Anyhow, I look forward to meeting you all up there. I will read from my book, answer questions, and share a couple of trail artifacts. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions about the readings or would like to stop by and say hello. I only wish I had more time so I could visit my favorite hiking spots. (oh well; maybe next time!)

Date & Time Location

June 4, 2008
6:45 p.m.
VILLAGE BOOKS
1200 Eleventh Street
Bellingham, WA 98225

June 5, 2008
6:30 PM SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Ballard Branch
5614 22nd Ave. NW
Seattle, WA 98107
(this event is being sponsored by the Secret Garden bookstore)

June 6, 2008
7:00 PM BARNES & NOBLE
12000 SE 82nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97266

Also -- it was great to speak with another Pacific Northwest resident this week -- Lisa Haneberg --- who has posted her 'fireside chat' podcast interview with me about "Cactus'' on her popular site, Managementcraft. Here is that link:

http://managementcraft.typepad.com/management_craft/2008/06/fireside-chat-w.html

Aside from my reading events, I will be doing a taped in-studio interview on Evergreen Radio in Seattle on Thursday, June 5, at 3:45 p.m.

Interview with Little Clay Pig

And this just in --- a good talk with influential lit blogger Little Clay Pig, right here in San Francisco. Actually, you should read that blog regularly; it's a good one.

Little Clay Pig

By the way, this week I will figure out a way to put in clickable links for my readers. Sorry about that. What can I say? I am a total Luddite. Also, if you happen to be a reader of the Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant and NY Newsday, look for the LA Times review, which is reappearing in various places. Also, I had a really good podcast talk with the author Lisa Haneberg this week. I will include the link to that podcast at some point next week.

This just in: Good Times, Santa Cruz

here is the link to the story by Christa Martin. Don't be scared by my huge, staring eyeball in the picture!!!!

http://www.gtweekly.com/a-e/the-lois-and-clark-expedition-1

Haight Ashbury poultrygeist

Hi everyone. Sorry I've barely blogged lately. The reason is total exhaustion, on account of a very loud, annoying rooster that has been keeping me up at night. A number of months ago, I mentioned the fact that this tin-eared, crazy chicken moved into my Haight Ashbury neighborhood. For months at a time, he was so dead-quiet, I figured his owners got sick of his racket and made capons out of him. No such luck. The rooster is back in action now, and he's driving me batty. All day long he makes the same loud, horrible noises -- "Muck-muck-magooooooooo!'' I hope the chicken calms down soon. Until then, I'll do all my writing down at the Mission Creek Cafe.

The Cactus Eaters: Readings and travels

Here is the most updated list. Stop by and say hello. I look forward to meeting all of you.


Date & Time Location

June 4, 2008
7:00 PM
VILLAGE BOOKS
1200 Eleventh Street
Bellingham, WA 98225

June 5, 2008
6:30 PM SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Ballard Branch
5614 22nd Ave. NW
Seattle, WA 98107

June 6, 2008
7:00 PM BARNES & NOBLE
12000 SE 82nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97266


June 9th, 2007
"Cover to Cover”/KPFA-FM
Berkeley, CA
3:00 – 3:30 PM

June 19, 2008
In-studio interview
KFOG-- San Francisco
7:30-8 AM

June 19, 2008
7:30 PM CAPITOLA BOOK CAFÉ
1475 41st Avenue
Capitola, CA 95010

June 26, 2008
7:30 PM MRS. DALLOWAY
2904 College Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705

June 29, 2008
1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
"First Author, First Book" panel discussion.
Anaheim Convention Center, Room 203 A
Authors include Kaya McLaren (Church of the Dog, Penguin), Scott Douglas (Quiet, Please, Perseus Books), Mark Sarvas (Harry, Revised, Bloomsbury USA), Daniel White (The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind—and Almost Found Myself—on the Pacific Crest Trail, HarperCollins), Janelle Brown (All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, Spiegel & Grau), and Anya Ulinich (Petropolis, Penguin). A book signing will follow.



June 30th, 2008
2-2:30 p.m., book reading and signing.
ALA Convention,
Anaheim Convention Center. Room TBA.

July 1, 2008
2 p.m.
Malaga Cove Library
Palos Verdes Estates, CA.(PV is my hometown. This was my childhood library.)


July 12, 2008
4:00 PM BOOK PASSAGE
51 Tamal Vista Blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925

July 15, 2008
12:30 PM STACEY’S BOOKSTORE
581 Market ST
San Francisco, CA 94105
*Joint Event with Vincent Carrella, author of "Serpent Box.''

September 24, 2008
730-830 p.m.
2008-2009 Creative Writing Reading Series
Saint Mary’s College of California.
Moraga, CA.

November 2008: date to be announced
reading/reception at San Jose State University

The Kerouac pigeons

Do you ever have one of those days that is luminous and wonderful one moment and grim (and rather disgusting) the next? Just the other day, I was in North Beach, and I stopped by City Lights books. They had one rather lonely-looking copy of "Cactus,'' so I signed it, which was fun, considering that City Lights is the land of Ferlinghetti and The Beats. The City Lights staff was very nice about it. They put it back on the shelf with a little sticker saying "Signed By The Author.' Moments later, I was walking with Amy down Columbus, and an enormous group of pigeons, straight out of Hitchcock, swooped down and voided themselves all over us -- a tidal wave of voiding, and it covered both of us from head to toe. We tried to run but the pigeons closed in on us and kept bombing away. Wham, wham, wham. Passersby stopped and stared. Amy insists that this incident was "good luck'' and "a very good sign.'' She even joked that it was some kind of ectoplasmic shout-out from beyond the grave by Kerouac himself. I think my dry cleaner will disagree.

The Cactus Eaters is now available nationwide

So the doomsday clock on my author's web page has stopped ticking. That can only mean one thing; my book is now in bookstores all over the place. My pal, James, (who happens to be a character in the book) wrote in to let me know that he got "Cactus'' in Minneapolis just the other day. It was pretty surreal to see a nice big bunch of them in my neighborhood bookstore up here in the Upper Haight. Today, I walked into the store and decorated them all with rubber stamps dipped in bright green archival ink. I also signed them. Anyhow, if you run into me at some point, I would really like to sign and stamp your book or books. In fact, I will sign just about anything, except for a blank check. Make sure to specify "lizard, snake, or longhorn steer skull'' before I stamp it. Otherwise, I'll pick the creature for you and you'll have to accept my choice.

On KPFA FM

This is extremely short notice, I realize, (as a matter of fact, I'm giving you a roughly four and a half minute notice, to be precise) but if you happen to be in the Ventura County/Santa Barbara area, the NPR affiliate is doing an interview with me today at 1:06 p.m.

Back from the backwoods

I had a fantastic time in the Southeast --- I heard my first whipporwil, heard a black bear snort (very close by!), met a bunch of great people, went to a Bourbon tasting and explored some of the greenest, steepest backcountry I've ever seen. On the downside, I got a bit turned around up there in the wilderness. I had a close encounter with some kind of invasive rose-bush-like plant; both of my legs have red, crosshatching scrapes all across them. My next order of business is to beef up my backcountry survival skills. I'm hoping to enroll in an intensive orienteering course this summer as soon as i can find an open patch in my schedule.

Off to the forest

Friends and family --- after I file this, I'm heading out the door and flying out to the Southeastern backwoods, which means that I will be kind of hard to reach for the next three days or so. I'm bringing lots of MREs and a spanking-new seven-dollar nickel-plated compass that I just bought from Robert's Hardware in Haight Ashbury. I'm in good hands. By the way, this is probably my last ramble ever with Big Mofo, my trusty -- and enormous --- backpack dating from the PCT. He's covered with mouse bites and duct tape, the zippers barely function and the hinges are almost rusted out. The time has come for an upgrade.

Someone outbid me on the "cactus-shaped rubber stamp'' listed on Ebay

Mr. Big Bucks, I hope you're happy. I had my sights on that attractive little cactus-shaped rubber stamp on eBay. It was going to be one of my promotional gimmicks, and now it's gone --- all because of you. The bidding war was ferocious. I lay down $4.50. You upped the ante to five bucks. The next thing you know, you jacked up the price to $6.50. Whoever you are, you are shameless.

In the footsteps of Daniel Boone

I'm heading off to the Cumberland Gap for a while. I will be going on a journey through a remote forest full of elk, sandstone cliffs and wild ginseng. I'll see you all when I get back. (just so you know, I'm bringing plenty of water this time, and the trail is not that long. Seriously.)

Radio Cactus

Here is the link to my radio performance on KQED Writer's Block. I had fun doing this.


http://www.kqed.org/arts/writersblock/

In Ruins

A few months back, I mentioned an eventful journey that I took (in a four-wheel-drive vehicle) up a scary dirt road into a remote canyon filled with fascinating Fremont-era ruins in Utah. If you're interested, my article on this subject (with color photos) appears in this month's Backpacker, which is now in bookstores and news stands. Check out the pictures of those spooky petroglyphs -- and, if you have a chance, make your way out to Range Creek and see them for yourself. It's well worth the trip.

KQED Writer's Block

I had a great time going into the KQED studio and recording a scary section of "Cactus'' for radio broadcast. It will be podcast a few weeks from now, and when it's available, I'll post the link right here. Stay tuned.

"Cactus Eaters Kids" -- my coloring book

My nieces have expressed strong interest in my book. This is a problem, because there are a lot of bad words (!) and some scary situations in this book. To solve the problem, I've decided to create a "clean version'' of the project called "Cactus Eaters Kids'' I'm editing out all of the swearing and most of the disturbing situations. It will be about 20 pages long (give or take a couple of pages.) I expect to finish it and distribute it to my family and friends in about three weeks. It will include many pictures of cacti and mostly harmless fauna.

Who wants to go backpacking with me?

As part of my book tour, I will (apparently) be leading at least one hike into the woods. All I can say is, bring plenty of water. Also, proceed at your own risk. But seriously, if this happens, I will be very careful not to stray too far from civilization. Also, I promise to do a careful head count to make sure that no one gets left behind in the forest.

New improved list of readings and appearances...

Also, I've recorded a chapter of the book for KQED Writer's Block. It should be available for podcasting in about three weeks. I'll post the link when it's ready. When I get closer to the bookstore events, I'll post addresses for the stores.

June 4, 2008

7:00 PM


Village Books
Bellingham, WA



June 5, 2008

6:30 PM
Seattle Public Library

(with Secret Garden Books)



June 6, 2008

7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
Portland, OR



June 19, 2008

7:30 PM
Capitola Book Cafe




June 26, 2008

7:30 PM
Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts
Berkeley, CA

June 29,
American Library Association conference, Anaheim, CA. 1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m, location to be announced.

I will take part in a panel called "First Author, First Book,'' with Kaya McLaren (Church of the Dog, Penguin), Scott Douglas (Quiet, Please, Perseus Books), Mark Sarvas (Harry, Revised, Bloomsbury USA), and Anya Ulinich (Petropolis, Penguin). Visit http://www.ala.org/ala/eventsandconferencesb/annual/2008a/home.cfm for more information.


July 12, 2008
4:00 PM
Book Passage
Corte Madera

Link to author's page ..

And here's the link to my HarperCollins page, with the cover and some biographical info...This will be updated and augmented in the coming weeks. Thanks to my readers for pointing out the 'doomsday clock' function (which I did not notice at first!)

http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/33024/Dan_White/index.aspx

Whitmaniacs converge on San Jose

If you happen to be in San Jose on April 23rd, the Poets & Writers Coalition is setting up a small army of readers who will perform Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself'' in its entirety. This event will start at 1:30 p.m., location TBA. I will fill in the details as soon as I get them.