Tonight is the night!

Yes, it seems that the Giants could win the National League West this evening behind birthday-boy Matt Cain, but that isn't the really big event tonight...

Tonight is finally the official start of LITQUAKE (insert applause here)!!! Below are some suggestions and highlights to help you make the most of the next 9 days.

Kicking off the 11th year of books taking center stage throughout San Francisco, The Litquake Festival is welcoming any and all comers to 111 Minna Gallery for their 'Night of the Living Read' happy hour, a FREE event from 5-9pm. Slide down there tonight and mingle with authors and event organizers while sipping drinks and listening to the literature related songs of Suzie Williams and Brad Kay.

Green Apple Books will be the official booksellers for numerous Litquake events, but a couple that we are particularly excited about include Words and Waves: An Evening of Surf Lit at The Park Chalet, starting at 6:30 on Monday Oct. 4th. Featuring Matt Warshaw, Dan Duane, Doug Dorst, and seven other writers whose names don't begin with "D", the sliding-scale admission fee of 5-10 bucks allows you to grub from the happy hour menu all-night long.

The Funny Side of Sex springs Kristin Schaal from the Daily Show to the historic Cobb's Comedy Club stage on Oct. 6th at 8:00pm. This ticketed event is a bargain at $15 when you consider that A) she's famous and B) she's sharing the spotlight with friends like Michael Kupperman and Ted Travelstead.

It's All Over But the Crying is a night of authors on sports and it's gonna be quite the doozie! Six authors will take over The Hemlock Tavern, which is really pretty cool, but the kicker will be a slide-show and discussion of how pro sports have changed due to corporate interests from my favorite wild-man photographer, Michael Zagaris. If I were you, I'd grab that $10 ticket in advance from BrownPaperTickets, as this one is certain to sell-out.

While the above seems to be shamelessly self-promoting, I can do better, as you slowly start to realize now that I'm plugging 2 other Litquake events that don't involve Green Apple, but rather feature my lovely wife, Alia Volz. She's going to be my favorite reader at the unfortunately named (but FREE) Barely Published Authors event on Oct. 3rd at the Make-Out Room. Plus, Alia is hosting the 100th episode of the (much better named) Literary Death Match. This special Litquake edition of LDM will feature multiple Pulitzer Prize Winners on the Jury panel, so the advance tickets available here seem to be the way to go if'n you want to go...

Oh, yea...just one last thing - GO GIANTS!!!