I went to A Clean Well-Lighted Place last night to hear Peter Orner read from his second book and first novel, The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo. He read several short passages–always a good tactic, I think, preferable to reading one long passage–particularly if you’re playing to a partially soused crowd, which he was. I’ve had the ARC sitting around for a couple of months now, but haven’t been able to get to it. Now that the semester is over, though, I’m definitely plunging in. The passages Peter read were beautiful, funny, moving, wise, all the stuff one looks for in a great work of fiction. Later this week I’ll be taking the novel with me to Sonoma, where I’m spending three days of writing/reading time with Katia Noyes and Terry Gamble.

The reading was packed with writers–practically everyone I teach with at CCA and USF was there–testament to the SF lit community’s love of both Peter and A Clean Well-Lighted Place, which has just announced that it will be closing soon. This is a sad thing for Bay Area writers and readers, as ACWLP is simply the place for readings in the city. The store hosted my first Bay Area readings for both of my previous books, and I was very much looking forward to kicking Ocean Beach off there in January. A few of us stood around afterward comiserating with Wendy Sheanin, the hard-working events manager who has made so many authors feel welcome and appreciated for years.

After Peter’s reading, I headed over to the MakeOut Room for the after party. The latest installment of the Progressive Reading Series had just wrapped up, with Steve Almond, Peter Rock, and others. Steve told me that his lady, Erin, is knocked up–4 1/2 months and counting. Everyone is having babies. This is good. It makes me feel like I’m not the only person who spends most weekend nights at home with Netflix, Chinese takeout, and a row of prepped bottles lined up in the fridge.

Stephen Elliott informed me that the New York and Boston versions of the Progressive Reading Series are getting off the ground beautifully. Soon in New York: Jonathan Franzen and Malcolm Gladwell. All the money from these events goes to a Political Action Committee which supports progressive candidates, so if you’re sick of badly managed wars, a fumbled economy, wretched foreign policy, and the rest of it, go to one of the readings, fork over twenty bucks at the door, have a couple of beers, and listen to some great readers in a laid-back setting. I’ve read at two of these events in the past, and they’re always spectacular fun.

I talked with Glen David Gold, who’se just moved to the Bay Area and is fixing up a house in Berkeley. Apparently, he has some experience with drywall. Andrew Greer was there, professing his aversion to domestic fix-uppery. I agree. We moved into this house two years ago, and I’ve yet to open the paint we bought for Oscar’s room. I finally met face to face with Tom Kealey, who has a wonderful web site for the MFA crowd, as well as a very informative book for anyone who’se thinking of going that direction. I met a fellow from the Grotto who remembered a web site I had up years ago about Bay Area Writers’ gangs, which reminded me that it disappeared ages ago when I switched over to blogging software, and maybe I’ll put it up again, because really, it’s a funny thing, the roving gangs of authors wandering the steets of San Francisco, making the neighborhoods unsafe for dogs and children.