I have been informed that I left out a reader in today's Reading Tonight. (Have I mentioned that I'm riding on three hours of sleep?) University Book Store added a reader to their genrepalooza tonight: Local author Cherie Priest will read from her new steampunk novel Boneshaker.

Boneshaker is set in Seattle, but it's a very different Seattle from the one we know. Priest wrote an apology to our city yesterday on Amazon.com's Omnivoracious blog. Here's the beginning:

As you may be aware, Amazon.com is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. As you are somewhat less likely to be aware, I kind of, sort of, completely demolished this city in my most recent novel, Boneshaker. So at Jeff VanderMeer’s suggestion (and invitation), I thought I’d take a moment and offer some heartfelt apologies and explanations for myself, here on one of Amazon’s exceptional blogs.

You see, it wasn’t personal; it was only convenient. By my tenth or twelfth time on the Underground Tour, I was getting some nasty ideas about the interesting ways this city could host a zombie horde and some very tall tales for my book. I wanted a wild place with wacky local history, and some persistently gloomy weather, and maybe a rough-and-tumble nineteenth century population from which to draw. And with a checklist like that, where else could I begin?

I'm excited to read this book, and Priest's presence, combined with Jeff Vandermeer's detective fantasy novel Finch, this makes the University Book Store reading look pretty attractive.