One open mic and quite a few quality events going on for a Saturday.

First, at Elliott Bay Book Company, Doug Dorst reads from Alive in the Necropolis, which I wrote about in this week’s Constant Reader:

When people consume fictions, they experience an urge, so strong that it feels almost reptilian in origin, to categorize the story into a genre, even something as basic as drama. Doug Dorst’s debut novel, Alive in Necropolis, toys with this urge and manipulates the reader’s expectations to great effect.

There’ll be a Suggests box about it popping up here any minute now, too.

Also J.R. Stoddard reads at the Borders in Tacoma at noon. In a press release, Stoddard himself says that his books, Cougar Hunt, Cougar Canyon, and Cougar Camp, “are currently the only fiction books on the market that deal with the potential problems of cougar and human interaction.” I wonder if you could read the books to mean ‘older woman preying on younger men’ as well as ‘fearsome large cat.’

Also, at Seattle Mystery Bookshop at noon is David Waltner-Toews. He is “an epidemiologist who specializes in food and waterbourne diseases.” His mystery is titled Fear of Landing.

And at the Fantagraphics Store, Zak Sally, who is in the band Low, will be playing music and signing copies of the second issue of his new comic book, Sammy the Mouse. This could be fun, and it’s always nice to have a reason to head down to the Fantagraphics Store.

Full readings calendar, including the next week or so, here.