Two Interesting Local Talk/Reading/Signings This Week--K.M. Koenigs and Abraham Louis Clark

With me out of town for several days, I did not want to over-schedule events at the store. Our event calendar has a rhythm and my time away from the store is beginning to conform to that rhythm. Though I'd much rather be gone in spring and fall, that's prime event time. It's winter (with its weather conditions) and summer (with its crowds) that give me time to do things like visit family and gift shows and conferences with other booksellers.

That said, we do have two interesting events scheduled with local authors, the first being Tuesday, February 7, 7 pm. K.M. (Kevin) Koenigs has three works of fiction for sale at Boswell, but his newest is Cast a Cold Eye, a noir mystery set in Milwaukee. And the only problem with our timing is that it should be even colder than it is. I quote from our marketing materials below.

"In the numbing deepfreeze of January on the gray gritty streets of Milwaukee, the frozen body of a much-hated local artist is found abandoned atop the tallest building in the city. Detective Harry Kelso and his partner Jack Raney investigate, meeting a half-mad professor of German philosophy, a slime bag realtor from L.A., an alcoholic sad sack turned voyeur, the hot-bodied ex-girlfriend of the deceased, and many other suspects and informants along the way. Action, fast-paced dialogue, local color and even some urban history all make for a great hardboiled read in Cast A Cold Eye."

K. M. Koenigs lives with his wife Marsha on the Lower East Side of Milwaukee. A graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in Literature, he teaches English as a second language when he is not writing. His first novel, Kramm, was published in 2010 and a collection of short stories, Virgil Lost and Other Stories, was published in 2011.

And then on Thursday, February 9, we're hosting Abraham Louis (Abe) Clark, author of Running Water: A Thirst Quenching 2,960 Mile Solo Run Across America. Here's more about the story.

"In 2010, one month after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Port au Prince, Haiti, 23-year old Abraham Clark set out to fulfill his dream of becoming the 15th person to run across America solo and unsupported. Caught in the middle of young love and a world racing to raise funds to save the dying country, his journey became much more than an escape from the chains of a post-college career.

His journey began as a new way to experience life without regrets, but when tragedy struck an island nation and snared the world’s attention, Abraham decided each step had to take on a greater meaning beyond his own life. This soft-spoken, humble man with big dreams managed to raise nearly $89,000 for Living Water International, a 21 year old Christian-based charity that has completed more than 10,000 projects in 26 countries that lack clean drinking water."

When Mr. Clark in, I recognized him as a regular at our adjoining coffee shop, and indeed, he is, despite the international nature of Running Water, an East Sider. And this is just one of his extreme endurance adventures that he's taken on to raise awareness of the global water crisis. We haven't even talked about his 9200 bike trip.

If you come for either of these events, please say hi to Stacie, who will likely be enjoying a hot beverage from her new Penguin Classic mug. We have an assortment of titles at $9.95. And you'll forgive me for forgetting about them--I ordered them last June. Talk about extreme backorers!