Ring In the New Year With Lucky Zinesters, and More January Lit Picks

You might think that January would bring a slowdown in lit events interesting enough to get us to leave the house in the glum depths of (California) winter. But this is the Bay Area, and taking a break from living the lit dream is not an option. If the first couple of weeks of 2016 are any hint, the next year should be a good one for people who like words.

Thursday, Jan. 7

The Lucky Number 7 Show at E.M Wolfman General Interest Bookstore, Oakland. Start the year off auspiciously with readings by local zinesters about good fortune, luck, and synchronous signs. Readings by Hope Gutwrench of Gutwrench Press, Amy Burek of Awkward Ladies Club, Nia King of We Want the Airwaves, and Julia Arrendondo of Vice Versa Press.  Details here.

Scott Allan Morrison at Green Apple Books, Clement St., SF. The past few years have brought a host of books that take the Internet as muse. Terms of Use, Scott Morrison’s new tech thriller, introduces us to Circles, the “most popular social network in the world.” Of course, Circles is more nefarious than it seems at first glance. When a software engineer discovers a dangerousconspiracy he must fight like mad to reveal it to the world before it’s too late. How’s that for a status update? Morrison lives in the Bay Area and worked as a reporter in Silicon Valley during the dot-com crash, and that familiarity with tech serves him well in this first novel.  Details here.

Saturday, Jan. 9

Writers with Drinks at the Make-Out Room, SF. Anthony Marra’s A Constellation of Vital Phenomena was a big hit back in 2013. The Stegner Fellow kicks of the first Writers with Drinks of the year, repping his latest book The Tsar of Love and Techno. Other readers include Naomi Williams, Tracey Knapp, Edward Gauvin, and Elizabeth McKenzie (look for a review of her new novel The Portable Veblen on The Spine in 2016). Always a fun time.  Details here.

Red Indian Road West Launch Party at Heyday Books, Berkeley. Red Indian Road West, published by Scarlet Tanager Books, features 31 poets from 29 California Native American tribes. Edited by Kurt Schweigman and Lucille Lang Day, the author of Married at Fourteen: A True Story, which received a PEN Oakland literary award, the anthology is one of the first of its kind. The launch party will feature readings by contributors and remarks by the editors.  Details here.