I luhrv this spiffy online journal, Hobart, which I just discovered this morning, as of five minutes ago, which makes it the first literary journal I have “discovered” before 4:45 a.m. It appears to be published monthly. The design is simple and delightful. Apparently they do print issues too. I’ve been up for quite some time, working on my new book and battling what appears to be a burgeoning case of walking pneumonia.

And this upcoming event at St. Mary’s College of Moraga, sent to me by event host Mary Volmer (author of Crown of Dust) :

“Channeling Mary Ellen Pleasant: Using Fiction to Examine History”

Karen Joy Fowler, an award-winning fiction and short story writer and best selling author of The Jane Austen Book Club, visits Saint Mary’s College to discuss her novel Sister Noon.

Richly evocative of San Francisco at the turn of the 19th century, Sister Noon tells the story of forty-year-old spinster and volunteer with the Ladies Relief and Protection Society, Lizzie Hayes, and her encounters with the notorious and wealthy Mary Ellen Pleasant. Join us on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 as Karen Fowler reads and discusses the process of creating a novel from the known facts and myriad speculations surrounding the life of the real Mary Ellen Pleasant, a prominent, black, San Francisco citizen, who until recently, had been largely forgotten by popular history.