Newest News: Big in and around Balona, CA 95232 this month, besides Halloween (which everybody loves since you get to eat pumpkin pie with whipcream), is getting ready for Thanksgiving where you can eat even more pie, et cetera. And I'm still quivering with joy at the nice review Sallie Barringer gave in School Library Journal for my book Verga's Blessing. Balonans are no longer suffering The Pales (since Ms. Bless has moved on to Escalon, CA,) but the bank accounts of local poets are still in disorder. Like mine, which was never in much order in the first place.

    Anyway: Mr. Don Keyshot is getting famous around here for telling about some of his funny and painful adventures. I am one of the stars in his book which is titled, A Perched-in Soul, and mentions yours truly in the book several times (which is coming out next month) hinting to readers how I'm a pretty good journalist, etc. He sort of pokes a little fun at Bellona Shaw, which is okay by me.

   Readers are writing more emails to BalonaBooks every day and telling us that Tery Ordway's new book Nobody's Fault is really super-great reading, even though poor old Junior Kuhl doesn't talk in very good English. To make up for Junior's lack, Tery speaks sort of hoidy-toidy, which does sort of grate on an older, more sophisticated and down-to-earth person like me. 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.

   Our local martial arts star, editor Jon Riis's MySpace.com blog is getting more subscribers every day. 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