Newest News: Some of us are fixing our faces in anticipation of hogging down Mrs. Applehanger's holiday fruitcake, a confection which is hard as a rock but got lots of herbal stuff in it and is nicely edible with plenty of whipcream, et cetera. (Makes you sleepy and hungry both.) I must report that we are looking forward to Mr. Burberry's book which will finally reveal next month what Mr. Burberry was cooking in Mrs. Billa Crinkle's garage that smelled so great before he left us and went back home to England. I will not mention that the other person in his book is an ex-boyfriend of mine who will remain nameless. I will mention here that the afore-non-mentioned Joey Kuhl has a Cousin Zack who is a real cute boy with his own book, A Little Honesty, where I am prominent, too.

    Anyway: Mr. Don Keyshot is getting more famous around here for his own new book since it is titled, A Perched-in Soul, and reveals spicy secrets about his ex-married wife Mitzi, star of Fresno radio. It has some sad parts, too. Mr. Keyshot mentions me as a pretty fine journalist.

   Tery Ordway's famous book, Nobody's Fault, has a bunch of reviewers clapping for it and saying how you ought to read it. You could email me and tell me, especially about a book I'm a star in: Community Spirits, a ghost story you can read any time of the year. And, of course, don't forget Verga's Blessing, where I'm the main star. Lots of good writers here in Balona.

   Since one of our BalonaBooks editors is a real cute guy (who so far hasn't asked me to lunch), I might as well mention that he has a Web site and blogs on it. You can read it over there at Jon's Blog. I hope you will e-mail me and tell me if you like my own blog.     Patella's E-Mail