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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Author blasts Joe the Plumber

Dan Webster

In a Dec. 7 op-ed column for the New York Times, in which he ranted about “Joe the Plumber” scoring a book deal, Seattle author Timothy Egan – a writer with Spokane roots – had some nice things to say about another home-grown author.

Egan, a Gonzaga Prep graduate whose best-known works include “Breaking Blue” and the National Book Award-winning “The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl,” was upset that “Joe” was coming out with a book.

“Joe, aka Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, was no good as a citizen, having failed to pay his full share of taxes, no good as a plumber, not being fully credentialed, and not even any good as a faux American icon,” Egan wrote. “Who could forget poor John McCain at his most befuddled, calling out for his working-class surrogate on a day when Joe stiffed him.”

And, Egan added, “With a résumé full of failure, he now thinks he can join the profession of Mark Twain, George Orwell and Joan Didion.”

Those weren’t the only names he mentioned, though.

“If Joe really wants to write,” Egan wrote, “he should keep his day job and spend his evenings reading Rick Reilly’s sports columns, Peggy Noonan’s speeches or Jess Walter’s fiction.”

Walter, of course, is Spokane’s resident fiction writer, having penned such novels as “Over Tumbled Graves,” “Land of the Blind,” the Edgar Award-winning “Citizen Vince” and National Book Award nominee “The Zero.”

Talking writing

If you’re a published author and you like to talk about the craft of writing, then the Inland Empire Chapter of the Romance Writers of America may want you. The group is looking for presenters for its annual conference, which will be held March 14 in Spokane.

The conference is titled Marching Toward Publication: Writing and Selling in Today’s Fiction Market.

For more information about being a presenter, send an e-mail to conference2009@iecrwa.com. Deadline is Jan. 5. For more information about the conference itself, go online at www.iecrwa.com/2009conference.html.

Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.

Book talk

•Dark City Mystery Book Group (“A Thousand Bones,” by P.J. Parrish), 7 p.m. Monday, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. Call (509) 838-0206.

•On Sacred Ground Readers Club (“Water for Elephants: A Novel,” by Sara Gruen), 1 p.m. Wednesday, On Sacred Grounds, 12212 E. Palouse Highway. Call (509) 747-6294.

•Inland Northwest Writers Guild, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

The reader board

•Luella Dow (“Rock A My Soul,” “Juba’s Cup”), signing, 1 to 3 p.m. today, North Side Hastings, 7706 N. Division St., call (509) 483-2154.

•Therese Marszalek (“Extraordinary Miracles in the Lives of Ordinary People: Inspiring Stories of Divine Intervention”), signing, 1 to 3 p.m. today, Borders Books, 9980 N. Newport Highway. Call (509) 466-2231.

•Christie Wood (“Christmas at Woodville”), reading, 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Coeur d’Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front Ave. Call (208) 769-2315.

•Cheryl-Anne Millsap (“Home Planet: A Life in Four Seasons”), reading, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Tinman Gallery, 811 W. Garland Ave. Call (509) 325-1500.

•Laura Lee Mistycah and Rennae Foster (“Got Ghosts??? The Bizarre Tales & Unearthly Adventures of the Ghostbuster Gals”), signing, 6-8 p.m. Friday, North Side Hastings.

•Manny Trembley, Eric Anderson (“PX! Book 2: In the Service of the Queen”), signing, noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, The Comic Books Shop, NorthTown Mall. Call (509) 487-4175.

•Charles Semtner (“The Silver Thread: The Kingdom of God Revealed”), signing, 2 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Steve Samsel (“The Adventures of Jonny Law”), signing, noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Valley Hastings, 15312 E. Sprague Ave., call (509) 924-0667; signing, 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, North Side Hastings.

•Rex B. Valentine (“Tiddlywinks: The Little Horse with Three Ears”), signing, 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Shadle Hastings, 1704 W. Wellesley Ave., call (509) 327-6008; 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, North Side Hastings.