2 More TAHOE MOON Signings In South Lake Tahoe

It's been a busy week, signing my new book TAHOE MOON all over. So good to see so many of you! THANKS!

There's more to come. 

I'll be signing TAHOE MOON at the Red Hut at Ski Run and Lake Tahoe Blvd, Sunday August 7th at 8:30 a.m.

Next, I'll be giving a talk and signing my new book at the South Lake Tahoe Library on Tuesday August 16th at 5 p.m.

After that, it's on to the Mountain View Festival where I'll have a booth September 10 & 11, then the Candy Dance Festival in Genoa Semptember 24 & 25, then the Harvest Festival in San Mateo November 10, 11, & 12, and the Harvest Festival in Sacramento November 18, 19, & 20.

I expect to spend all my remaining time working on the next McKenna book. Stay tuned... And thanks again for your support.

Independent Book Stores Are Cultural Hotspots

 On Saturday, as part of my new book launch, I made some visits to bookstores and other retailers on the north side of Tahoe, all of which sell lots of my books. I'm always impressed with how hard retailers work to promote books like mine! 

I started in Reno at Sundance Books, where I gave a talk to a nice crowd and read from my new book, TAHOE MOON. 

From there I went to Grassroots Books, also in Reno.

I drove up and over Mt. Rose summit and stopped by The Potlatch gift shop in Incline Village.

I went around the North Shore to Tahoe City and visited Geared for Games. They also have a store called Mind Play in the Olympic Village at what used to be called Squaw Valley and is now called Palisades.

Heading north from Tahoe City took me to Truckee with Word After Word books. (I'm giving a talk there on Tuesday at 6:30 PM)

These stores make my books look good! Please stop by and show your support for independent book stores and gift stores.

Next week I'll visit stores on the South Shore and in Carson Valley.

TAHOE MOON Signing Schedule

TAHOE MOON will be out August 1st. I believe it will be available every place the books have been in the recent past. So wherever you got TAHOE JADE, for example, you will probably be able to get TAHOE MOON. (Of course, it's always a good idea to call first before you drive a long way.

Stores that will have the books include:

Sundance Books in Reno

Shelby's Books in Minden

Artifacts in South Lake Tahoe

The Red Hut Cafes in both South Lake Tahoe and Carson City.

Word After Word Books in Truckee

The Potlatch in Incline Village

Geared for Games in Tahoe City

Grassroots Books in Reno

The Book Seller in Grass Valley

The History Museum in South Lake Tahoe

Camp Richardson General Store in South Lake Tahoe

My initial signing schedule is beginning to take shape.

I'll be giving talks and signing the new book at these places:

July 30th, 11:00 AM Sundance Books in Reno - Talk and Sign

August 2nd, 6:30 PM Word After Word Books in Truckee - Talk and Sign

August 5th, 6:00 PM Shelby's Books in Minden - Talk and Sign

August 6th 8:30 AM The Red Hut Cafe in Carson City - Signing only

August 7th 8:30 AM The Red Hut Cafe in South Lake Tahoe (the one on Ski Run Blvd) - Signing only

August 16, 5:00 PM South Lake Tahoe Library - Talk and Sign

September 9 & 10 Mountain View Art & Wine Festival, Mountain View, CA

September 24 & 25 Candy Dance Festival, Genoa, NV

November 11, 12, 13 Harvest Festival, San Mateo, CA

November 18, 19, 20 Harvest Festival, Sacramento, CA

I look forward to seeing you at these talks!

Any additional events will be posted on the "Events Page" of my website.

Thanks very much for your continued interest and support!

The Next Big Space Telescope Meets Tahoe Mysteries... Sort Of

 In Tahoe Payback, there is a discussion of the Italian mathematician Giuseppe Lagrange a man who - in the 1700s, 200 years before the first satellite was launched into orbit - figured out a solution to the "three-body problem" for how the sun, Earth, and the moon relate in their orbits. Lagrange did this with nothing but mathematics. No fancy telescopes, no computers, just him and his chalkboard. Amazing what mathematicians can figure out!

One result of his work was the realization that with any two big objects in space - Earth and the sun - there will be five points in space where the gravity of the different bodies and the centrifugal force from hurtling around the sun, cancel each other out. Lagrange realized that these five points - now called Lagrangian points - are like gravity wells. Objects like asteroids that wander by may fall into these "wells" and be trapped. Another perspective suggests that we could purposely put spacecraft into those points, and the spacecraft would tend to stay in place without much encouragement.

On Christmas day, we launched the James Webb telescope. The James Webb telescope will be much more powerful than the Hubble telescope. 

The mirror of the James Webb telescope is made up of gold-plated hexagonal sections. Once the rocket lifted the telescope into space, the mirrored sections were automatically assembled. Together the combined pieces are 21 feet across. That mirror is many times bigger than the 7-foot mirror of the Hubble telescope. It will allow astronomers to see stuff they've only dreamed of.

When they looked for a good place to put it in orbit, they chose the L-2  Lagrange point, about a million miles out from our planet. In the illustration below, Earth is the blue dot, the Sun is the yellow dot, and the Lagrange points are numbered.

What does this have to do with my Tahoe mysteries?

Not much other than Tahoe Payback has a character who is into Lagrangian points. While not hugely critical to the mystery, the concept of places in space where you can "park" a spacecraft is something I find very cool. (Incidentally, the Lagrangian points at the planet Jupiter are so big and their gravity so powerful, that they hold a million asteroids and other space detritus.)

Last we heard, the James Webb telescope has assembled its mirror pieces, unfurled its solar panels, and its huge sunshade. It is now cruising out to its million-mile distance. It will take a few weeks to get there, then it will begin to go to work.

As with the Hubble telescope, we will hopefully be hearing about "James Webb telescope" discoveries for years to come.

Back From The (Pandemic) Brink

 The world is slowly getting back to normal. Yay. Book events are coming back as well. The South Lake Tahoe library scheduled me to talk about my new book, Tahoe Jade, on Tuesday August 10 at 6 p.m. As in the past, it will probably be smart to arrive early (5:30?) to get books signed. My talk and Q & A will begin a little after 6.

South Lake Tahoe library audience.

Is this an interesting reading? Or am I droning on and on...?

I've also scheduled several festivals, Harvest Festivals in San Mateo and Sacramento, and the Mountain View Art and Wine Festival. The Candy Dance is pending. Judging from interest, I'll have several bookstore events as well.

I'll post more about my events as they take shape.

Little Free Library

 For writers, libraries are sacred. A really cool development in the world of libraries is "The Little Free Library," an attractive neighborhood display where you can help yourself to a book at no charge and with no obligation. You can also donate a book for others to enjoy. There are no rules and no requirements.

Little Free Libraries are put up by volunteers everywhere. There are now over 100,000 Little Free Libraries around the world.

There are a dozen Little Free Libraries on Tahoe's South Shore, and also two on the North Shore.

If you'd like to find locations or learn about how to put up one of these great attractions in your own neighborhood, visit the website: 

https://littlefreelibrary.org/

Enjoy!