You gotta get up early for this one! The Lake Merritt Breakfast Club is a bastion of Oakland goodness. We can thank these guys for the resuscitation of the Necklace of Lights and for their support of Children’s Fairyland. Anyway, I’m presenting there Thursday, June 23. Come at 7 a.m. (yup! they’re early birds) to register at the welcome table and get a ticket for breakfast. I’ll start at 8:00. The breakfast/talk (even if one does not come in time for breakfast) is $10 per person, whether you are a member or not (this is open to anybody: please come!) The club welcomes new members, so talk with anyone wearing a badge about the duties and camaraderie of joining. I’m told that folks who enjoy doing public service, helping non-profit organizations, appreciate Lake Merritt and have a good nature are particularly welcome. The LMBC meets at the Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellevue, in Oakland. For those travelling by car or bicycle, it is off Grand Avenue, just a few blocks east of Harrison Street. Drive past Fairyland and the bocce ball greens and find (free) parking along either side of Bellevue. The Garden Center is between the bowling greens and the ornamental garden. Books will be available for purchase, courtesy of A Great Good Place for Books.

Sponsored by the American Association of University Women, this Tuesday, April 19 reading and booksigning for The Oakland Hills takes place at the Claremont House, a retirement community at 4500 Gilbert Street (near 51st/Pleasant Valley). Please arrive at 7:15 to sign in for the event, which starts at 7:30. Erika will show slides from The Oakland Hills, answer questions and sign books. Both The Oakland Hills and Years of Tales, a Collection of Senior Writing by Oakland writers will be for sale at this event. Free event, open to all.

As part of College of Alameda’s Staff Development Day on Thurday, April 7 at 10 in the morning, Erika will be showing slides from her book The Oakland Hills and answering questions from the audience. This event is open to the public and free. College of Alameda is at 555 Atlantic Avenue in Alameda (just across the Posey Tube from Oakland) and Erika will be presenting in the D Building, Room 206. Books will be offered for sale.

What: Redwood Heights Neighborhood History Night with Erika Mailman
When: 7 p.m., Thursday, April 7
Where: Redwood Heights School Auditorium, 4401 39th Ave.
Donation: $5 adults. Children free
For more information: call Denise at 531-3930 or e-mail redwood_heights {at} yahoo(.)com
This is a fundraiser for a great project, a playground for children of all levels of phyiscal capability. According to the Redwood Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association, “Redwood Heights School is creating one of the only truly accessible playgrounds available to children in the entire San Francisco Bay Area. The Playground Environment Transformation (PET) project will provide nontraditional opportunities for children of all abilities and interests to play side-by-side in a creative playground setting. They will be able to enjoy both the physical equipment and social opportunities, without leaving behind support gear such as wheelchairs and walkers.” Hope to see you there to support such a great project. Residents are also asked to bring along stories of the old days of the area. Open to everyone.

Erika will give a reading from her new novel Hexe at the College of Alameda at noon on Wednesday, March 9, 2005. Free. Come to the F Building Lounge. The campus is at 555 Atlantic Avenue in Alameda, just on the other side of the Posey Tube from Oakland. She will have copies of The Oakland Hills for those wishing to purchase.

Monday, Dec. 6., 7-8 p.m.

Dimond Branch Library, 3565 Fruitvale Avenue (near MacArthur). 510-482-7844. We’ll be upstairs in this library’s community room. Erika will show slides of the images from the book and discuss the project.

Thursday, Dec. 2., 7-9 p.m.

A Great Good Place for Books, 6120 LaSalle Ave., Oakland. 510-339-8210. This booksigning event is part of Montclair Village’s Holiday Stroll, an evening where area businesses stay open late and
holiday spirit prevails!

2-4 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 12 at the Pardee Home Museum, 672 Eleventh Street in Oakland. Joint event with William Wong, author of “Chinatown.” Discussion and booksigning. For info, call 510-444-2187.

The Witch’s Trinity will be on bookshelves Sept. 25, 2007! Please attend one of the following events:

* Sept. 25 (the launch): Cody’s Books, Berkeley, at 7 p.m. (1730 Fourth St.)
* Sept. 26: M is for Mystery, San Mateo, at 7 p.m. (86 E. 3rd Ave.)
* Oct. 4: A Great Good Place for Books, Oakland , at 7 p.m. (6120 LaSalle Ave.)
* Oct. 13: Book Passage, Corte Madera, at 4 p.m. (51 Tamal Vista Blvd.)
* Oct. 17: Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, at 7 p.m. (155 Fell St., at Van Ness)
* Oct. 30: Books Inc., Alameda, at 7:30 p.m. (1344 Park St.)

Last call for alcohol!
(and prostitution….)

My last reading for WOMAN OF ILL FAME will be 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, 2007, at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley, 510-486-0698.  Below are the readings I already held. It’s now time for me to focus on getting ready for our baby… and then in September a whole new book launches, The Witch’s Trinity. Hope very much to see you at Black Oak… what a wonderful bookstore and such a pillar of the literary community.

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WOMAN OF ILL FAME launches February 1, 2007. The following events have been scheduled and more will appear as they are scheduled.

Thursday, Feb. 1, 2007: launch party and reading at A Great Good Place for Books in Oakland, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007: Mediabistro party with author Kemble Scott (for media only and must rsvp in advance with Mediabistro)

Friday, Feb 9, 2007: reading at Laurel Bookstore in Oakland, 7:30 p.m. (please note that event time is half-hour later than originally posted)

Thursday, Feb 22, 2007: reading at Books Inc. in Alameda, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 4, 2007: reading at Bird & Beckett in San Francisco, 4:30 p.m.