Where the Sorting Hat placed me last night:

The important thing is that it had me at Open Books.

What's Going On (at least over the next week or so)

First of all, there's a Tamale Hut reading and open mic tomorrow night. 7 p.m. at 8300 W. Cermak Road in North Riverside. Be there and be... round, as audience members tend to fill their bellies with tamales while the writers read.

After that, Open Books is holding an event on Thursday, September 27. To celebrate the release of J.K. Rowling's new novel, The Casual Vacancy, they're throwing a party in honor of the huge influence of the Harry Potter books. There might still be space left, but this is definitely an RSVP kind of thing. I'll be reading a story! A band called Tonks and the Aurors will be playing! Geeky fun shall be had!

 Beyond that, I have no idea what's going on the next few days. Par for the course.

Details Observed While on a Train

Graffiti seen under a bridge near Blue Island: "Let the sheep roam free"
On the window of one of the Beverly area train stations: "Help!" (with an unhappy face and two hands drawn next to it)
On the warming shelter at the Gresham stop: "Go Teachers"

Seems like there's some found poetry waiting to happen in there somewhere. (Can we call it "found poetry" if it hasn't been found yet?)

Gaaaaa!

It's tonight!

Paint It Bleak

Wes has been experimenting with digital painting lately. Below you'll find his painted take on the illustration he did for the story "An Interlude" in The Book of Horrible Stories.

Like it? Come tell him so when we do our reading at Open Books at 6 p.m. this Thursday. He's debating selling prints of the image, so don't be afraid to let him know if you'd be interested in one. Feedback keeps us from going adrift in this turbulent sea known as the Internet! Or something like that!