Events

Upcoming Events

TBD – Kansas City, MO

Past Events

Speed of Dark Book Signing
Thursday, October 27, 2022 – Evanston, IL
6:00-7:00 p.m.
Bookends & Beginnings – Author Showcase
1712 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, IL

Speed of Dark Book Signing & House Concert
Thursday, August 4, 2022 – Forks, WA
7:00-9:00 p.m.
The book signing took place during a break in the author’s house concert in Forks, WA

Speed of Dark Book Signing
Thursday, July 28, 2022 – Chicago
5:30-6:30 p.m.
The Book Cellar 4736 N Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL

Speed of Dark Book Signing
Thursday, July 14, 2022 – Northbrook, IL
The Book Bin 1151 Church St. , Northbrook, IL

Speed of Dark Launch Party
Thursday, May 12, 2022 – Chicago
Cliff Dwellers Club 200 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL

Photo Gallery from the Launch Party at Cliff Dwellers on May 12, 2022:

After reading excerpts and signing copies of Speed of Dark, the author led guests in a writing exercise — “In the Voice of…” Here are their creations:

In the Voice of…

PARROT
“Six words. That’s all. You have a vocabulary of thousands—hundreds of thousands maybe—and you gave me six of them to speak? Did half of them have to be “Kiss my ass?” You laugh each time. But still I say them. Not to make you laugh, but because I mean them.”
-T. R. Kerth

TREE
“Sit underneath me and look at my leaves, look at the light through the spaces, smell the air [if  you can smell] and love the quiet.”
-Roxanne St. John

CHAIR
“Oh, you’re here. Come sit. Let me warm you. No, you aren’t too heavy. Oh, breathe, snuggle. I’m not going anywhere. Ahhh…what a luxury you are. Human touch!”
-Carol Felney

TREE
“200 years. My arms drooping to the ground—pesado, hefty, rotting. I can’t lift the damn things up. No, my head starts to droop. Louder, creaking limbs.
And then this green-eyed traveler arrives…laughing—lifting wind lifts me and the orchids she plants on my arms give me new purpose.”
-Jim McNulty

CAT
“Clybourne would want to talk to the family. How important she was to us. Love me as I loved you. The family would leave me as if I wasn’t important—meow meow meow—listen to me. I am a part of this family, don’t forget I have comforted you and been there when you needed another heartbeat.”
-Linda Dunne

TREE
“My arms reach out from my heart, my boughs spread wider. Find shelter. Look at my great reach.”
-Trish Gerber

LION IN THE BERNINI FOUNTAIN, PIAZZA NAVONA, ROMA
“Where you been? Where you goin’? Why?”
-Chris Petersen

TREE
“One of the many, as they are. I watch the passing sunlight filtering through…early morning. Texas ranchers, and a father and daughter in war paint…am present, aware of each twig and leaf, each crack and ripple in my trunk. She leans against me. They sit beneath me. Shadow—dappled—Willie Jack. There was another before. There have been many. None the same and each both mourned and forgotten, but for now he is remembered.”
-Lillian

CAT
“If it weren’t for the fact I know, knew, have known, that everything about me repulses her…it may not have been so fun, or meaningful. The running, snotty nose and sneezes. The purring sound she would shake at when she woke, finding my fat, furry butt practically on top of hers, sending her pulse racing. None of that would draw her in devotion to the one that hates me, but her smell…the faint, ever-so-present smell, of a shellfish.”
-Anonymous

TREE
“I don’t get the human beings. They are always moving around looking for something. How much could they want? Don’t they see that what they need is right where they are? Look at me. I have not moved from this spot for 70 years!
-Anonymous

TREE
“I’m still here, since last you were here. ‘I’m still standing… WHOO WHOO WHOO!’ I swing full of grace for you now, but there were minutes, maybe hours when someone, something else had the power. I knew it and I surrendered and I’m still here.”
-Mary Daley

STORM
“I am coming your way, changing everything you believe is secure, and then I will move on.”
-Steven A. Jones

CROW AND AN OCTOPUS
I’ve been thinking about a crow and an octopus and how they’d interact. Since I’m a crow and my friend is an octopus, I’ll pretend they’ll act like we do! I’ll assign a loving tone of a warm embrace with a lot of goofiness and curiosity. It’s a mystery when the crow walks on the beach where the octopus can see her. She strolls out to the end of the dock. He watches. Can she swim? Will he climb up the edge of the piling to set and chat with her? I think they do. It’s sweet.
-Anonymous

DOG
“It would be really nice if you could feed me. I’m so hungry now…How about now? Could I have something from the counter?”
-Anonymous

BOOTS AKA SHIT-KICKERS
“Other shoes. Eternal beatings. Utility above all. Wise but rough around the edges. Would not hang out with dogs.”
-Anonymous

TREE
My being would want to talk to the passing people. He would love to tell the story of his resilience and power. He has been through a lot; however, he has weathered the storm. His voice would be strong, wise and full of bias.
-Anonymous

SAHARA THE CAT
“The humans are kind, but they are soft. They save me all kinds of food and I’m grateful, but they are large and slow and stupid. But…they are warm and they stroke my fur and are careful of my ruined eye. So I love them even though they are large and slow and stupid.”
-Lauren

TREE
“I see you above me. I feel your Eternity in my roots. You look at me like I’ve always been here. But what about the Universe above me? What about the Spirit inside you? Have we known each other over the eons? Whoever we come from, there we are. And here we go…”
-Jefferson Coombs

RIVER ROCK
“I lay here for centuries, embedded in the riverbed. Season after season, hot and cold, throughout every season fish swept over me, branches and leaves, too. I felt the sun and the moonshine. One day, I was picked up, out of my home—and carried a great distance. Now I live, cherished and loved in an urban flower bed. Squirrels sit on me, birds try to dig under me, and I enjoy the sun and the admiration.
-Kris Cloud

GOLF BALL
“I am majestic! You can hit me as hard as you can—and if we have a great connection, I can fly to infinity—or plop down a couple of feet. But, hey, I moved. I always get a second, third, fourth or as many chances as it takes to travel along. What a great adventure we can have…joy, sorrow and amazement at what I can do for you. However, in the end, I take a bath, hide in the brush or sleep in the pocket of your golf bag until the next time we play.”
-Peggy Schulte

SAND CRANE
“I want to talk to people that fear and misunderstand me. I may look prehistoric and make loud noises, but I am gentle and more afraid of me than you. As much as people want to feed me, I prefer to hunt my own food, especially when I have my young. My greatest contribution to humans is to watch their wonder when I take flight!”
-Rose Retrum

CLOUD
[in an angry, furious voice…] “Life is not always easy!”
-Cathy Glunz

PACIFIC COAST TREE
“I’m old. I’m gnarled. I’m proud yet bent by forces bigger than the branches of my youth when my roots took hold at the right moment in the Universe’s time. So, maybe I’m not as frail as others thought, mainly the humans that take this coastal path on the way to the peaceful waters, the Pacific Ocean. Most just pass on by without a glance, their eyes fixed on the distance past me. The sound of the waves draws them closer and quickens their pace. But sometimes, my favorite time…I live for this kind of human.”
-Kathleen Mavourneen

DOG
Dogs are just like people. They are kind and loving, want all the attention they can get. You can see the love or sadness in their eyes. They can do anything but talk. Just one look with their eyes—you can even tell from their bark.
-Mina

WEEPING WILLOW
“Birds and lonely souls. I think about grass a lot.”
-Anonymous

PORK PIE HAT
“I miss my accustomed perch, perfectly fitted to my contours, fragrant from the morning’s shower, and the smell of the body that warms the skin. I sit in a cardboard box now waiting for a new owner to love me as only a bald guy can.”
-Anonymous