An open mic, a book about business for women, and a passel of other events going on today.

First of all, up at Third Place Books, Washington State Congressman Jay Inslee will be reading from Apollo’s Fire, his book about clean energy. A friend of mine was just in Inslee’s office and he brought me back a free, pocket-sized copy of The Constitution. He said there were just stacks of them sitting around the office. I’m ready for the battles with feverish Ron Paul supporters about what it all means, now. Thanks, Congressman Inslee!

John Straley, who is Alaska’s ‘writer laureate,’ which must be a pretty cool job, is signing copies of his new mystery, The Big Both Ways, at Seattle Mystery Bookshop.

At Elliott Bay Book Company, Philip Terman reads from his new poetry collection, Rabbis of the Air, a book which begins with a poem titled: “As My Daughter Climbs the Apple Tree, I Think of the Ancient Sephardic Poet Jehuda Halevi.” This should win some kind of award for the title alone.

And at the Rendezvous, Antioch University’s KNOCK magazine celebrates the release of their brand-new Gestation Issue. I have never read KNOCK, and so I have nothing to say on the matter. But Christopher Frizzelle did, a couple years ago:

As has been said in this space repeatedly in the last few weeks, there are no great literary journals in Seattle, but I am nothing if not an optimist, which is how I ended up at the Rendezvous’s JewelBox Theater on Sunday evening. I was invited to the reading of the new issue of KNOCK by KNOCK’s editor, Bryan Tomasovich, who began a long e-mail to me with, “Hey, this is about your recent articles about literary magazines in Seattle, and the reactions to [your articles], but I’m not writing to give you shit or any such.” Tomasovich gave me the details of the event (“Starts at 6:30 p.m. with a great, seven-piece jazz/funk band… Then we kick in with readings and performances from our local contributors…”) and wrote, “And I’d like to see you there ‘cause I’ve not met you, ‘cause you seemingly don’t even know about KNOCK (or you do and are discounting us), and ‘cause just maybe if you get to know what we’re up to, you might be able to help KNOCK grow into the kind of magazine you’re seeking, based on what I’m hearing in your articles.”

Don’t forget to check out the full readings calendar.