On September 21, I’ll be part of a local author panel at the Mill Valley Library discussing researching and writing about California, past and present. I’ll be discussing my 2015 novel Wasted, a “green-noir” mystery set in the garbage and recycling world, as well as my work-in-progress, a historical mystery/comedy based on true events in Sausalito during the houseboat wars in the 1970s. (I’m adapting this novel from “Sausalypso Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery,” the play I wrote and directed this past spring in Tam Valley.)
Other panelists include Daniel Bacon, author of Walking San Francisco on the Barbary Coast Trail and the historical novel Frisco; Susanna Solomon, author of Point Reyes Sheriff’s Calls, More Point Reyes Sheriff’s Calls, Paris Beckons, and Montana Rhapsody; and moderator Joanne Orion Miller, travel writer, short story writer, and author of Shaketown, a novel.
The panel is a partnership with California Writers Club Marin and the Mill Valley Library.
The event is free. Register here.
Below is the flyer and the event description.
Local Author Panel: Writing California In-Person
In partnership with the California Writers Club of Marin, the Mill Valley Public Library presents Writing California: a panel discussion of local authors who research and write about the rich past and present of California. The panel features authors Daniel Bacon, John Byrne Barry, Susanna Solomon, and moderator Joanne Orion Miller.
Daniel Bacon, creator of the San Francisco’s historical walk, the Barbary Coast Trail, is the author of Walking San Francisco on the Barbary Coast Trail and the historical novel Frisco. His writing has been published in Hemispheres Magazine, Where Magazine, North Beach Now, Grand Times, and Library Journal.
John Byrne Barry is the author of the historical novel Wasted: Murder in the Recycle Berkeley Yard, a story about Berkeley reporter Brian Hunter’s investigation of the “recycling wars” and his friend’s mysterious murder. A Mill Valley resident, John is also the playwright behind “Sausalypso Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery,” a play based on true events in 1970s Sausalito, which he is currently adapting into a novel.
Susanna Solomon is the author of many stories inspired by actual sheriff’s calls in the West Marin newspaper The Point Reyes Light. Her stories have been performed in Santa Rosa, published in literary journals, and read by the author herself at many venues. Her books include Point Reyes Sheriff’s Calls, More Point Reyes Sheriff’s Calls, Paris Beckons, and the novel Montana Rhapsody.
Joanne Orion Miller, the evening’s moderator, is a travel writer, blogger, and novelist. Her first published short stories were followed by a novel, Shaketown, a tale of San Francisco’s Victorian underworld, and she is currently working on a novel of suspense and self-discovery, Power Lessons, set in California’s Mojave Desert and the eastern Sierra Mountains. Her short story “Penance” was a finalist for the Raymond Carver Award.
