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It's not every day that a highly acclaimed author specifically asks for your signature. And no, I wasn't just signing a check for one of his excellent books.
Palahniuk was in Louisville on June 8 during a book tour for his latest book, "Haunted." You may not recognize the name, but you may know him as the author of "Fight Club." Many of his other works are also in the middle of movie deals, including my favorite, "Choke."
It's mildly amusing to me how people -- the media, your next-door neighbor, the waving chicken mascot on the corner of your street -- will make it a point to remind you how right they were about something they predicted. Maybe they picked Florida to win the men's NCAA basketball championship, or maybe they picked Taylor to win "American Idol." But it's interesting to note how hardly anyone reminds you about a wrong prediction.
If you're a fan of "Fight Club" or "Choke," you won't want to miss Chuck Palahnik's appearance at 7 p.m. June 7 in The Clifton Center Reception Hall (2117 Payne Avenue). Carmichael's Bookstore is hosting the event, but due to the expected crowd, the venue has been moved just down the road. Palahniuk will be reading from his new book, "Haunted," and will be signing books as well.
I owe a bit to Palahniuk because after reading "Choke," I realized that maybe I could write "The Developers." Not that my stuff is as good, but it's a similar style ... at least, I'd like to think so.
Stop by any Krispy Kreme and pick up a free doughnut. If you need to figure out where to find a Krispy Kreme location, visit the website for additional details.
One of the best things about the summer is amusement parks. Maybe I'm slightly biased, since I worked at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom for eight years. Even still, I suspect most other people have fond memories of their trips to amusement parks. Unless, of course, you hurled every time you got off any spinning ride.
Nearly every weekend during the spring and summer, there's a festival going on in Baltimore. I'm sure many cities have the same thing, but the cool thing about Baltimore is that every one of these festivals is different. For instance, the Sowebo Art Festival brings together a conglomeration of artists and musicians to an area just west of downtown.
I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and say the new video game JFK Reloaded is a disgrace. More importantly, a game like this could revolutionize our way of regarding historical events.
I've decided to go a little different route with "The Developers" than your normal let's-just-sell-in-the-bookstore approach. There are numerous reasons I'm trying this, but it comes down to two major ones:
1. Bookstores end up taking a huge portion of the money.
2. Bookstores bury books that aren't being sold at record-setting paces.
The Bookshelf in Cincinnati and A Reader's Corner in Louisville now have "The Developers" in stock. The Bookshelf is located at 7754 Camargo Road, Cincinnati, 45243, while A Reader's Corner can be found at 138 Breckenridge Lane, Louisville, 40207. You can visit A Reader's Corner online at areaderscorner.com.
I just wanted to give a shout out to all of the people who stopped by the Inner Harbor Barnes & Noble in Baltimore on Sept. 1. The rain started Friday morning and didn't stop until sometime Saturday, producing more than 4 inches in the city. Instead of drowning, however, I sold a couple of books and met people from all over the country, and a few from distant lands.