I am 61 and this is my first book. I taught English for 25 years and had a notion of theory and process, but I have written seriously for about ten years.

It's about recently living in the San Fernando Valley and people I knew and experiences I had. A lot of crazy shit happened. Themes or subjects may include . . . you know what? The less I say the better.

About six months ago I gave a talk on my birth and the unpublished memoir at a gathering in L.A. of Mensa, the high I.Q. society. I'm a member. At lunch this guy I just met said he had been thinking about killing himself, but after hearing my story he decided not to do himself in. That meant a lot to me. A lot.

Paolo Coelho, Kurt Vonnegut, P.D. James, the guy who wrote The Windup Bird Chronicle, Canterbury Tales, The Liar's Club by Karr, Frank McCourt, the ten day notice to vacate I found on my door yesterday . . .

I knew the retail end of the business from starting up a bookstore in downtown San Jose in the Eighties. I was in my fifties when I thought about getting published and figured I was too damn old to go the old route (literary agent, getting shopped around, etc.) and I like technology. I also like control. Know any freaky ladies?

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is at the top these days. I grew up on the Monterey Peninsula, where Cannery Row is located. I played in the burned down skeletons of the canneries long after the sardines disappeared. I was born in Salinas, where Steinbeck called home and The Steinbeck Center is, a million square foot interactive museum I enjoy visiting. My Aunt Carmen and he were friends. Mostly though, I share Steinbeck's passion for social justice. Catcher in the Rye. Windup Bird Chronicle. Bless Me, Ultima. Tony Hillerman.