About a year ago, I hosted a LitCrawl reading where the theme (not my idea) was “how would history have played out differently if one specific written document was changed?” I decided to warm up the show with an intro that veered off the rails into the concept, and ended up with an obsessively researched rant about the legendary Star Trek episode, The City on the Edge of Forever, which my husband described to me as “the most deranged thing you’ve ever written.” I never in a million years thought it would or could end up in print, but immediately after hearing it in the audience, Josh Wilson told me to submit it to his magazine. I still question his decision, but here we are a year later and now you can read The Screenplay on the Edge of Forever in the latest issue of The Fabulist, which has recently become a gorgeous and strange little print magazine. I highly recommend subscribing.

Saturday, September 12: Babylon Salon
I’ll be reading with Vanessa Hua, June Martin, Shoshana von Blanckensee and Beth Winegarner at the long-running series, this Saturday at The Sycamore in San Francisco. Details here.

Saturday September 19: Telegraph Hill Books
The fall theme at this newer series in San Francisco, featuring a lineup of writers from the Grotto, is TIDES OF AUTUMN: Stories about Loss, Love and Remembering. Details here.

Thursday October 1: Stir: Fire Season

The seasonal reading series I host with (aforementioned) Josh Wilson in San Francisco is back for fire season with a literal fantasy lineup: Tina LeCount Myers, Duane Horton, Julie Leong, and Eboni Dunbar. 5pm coffee hour at Cafe Suspiro, 6pm reading at Arc Gallery in the same building, 1246 Folsom.

Currently Reading: House of Liars by Jenny Williams

This is the second novel from Jenny Williams and the second one I’ve read and the second one I’ve loved. Both are much more literary than I usually go out of my way for, but Jenny’s prose and characters pull me in, and her richly imagined concepts and worldbuilding keep me reading.

House of Liars hits especially close to home for me because the main character — like the author herself — is a novelist whose day career is content design in the tech industry. I made my living in the same discipline for over a decade, until the second round of Meta layoffs in 2023. There was no reason given (or, really, warranted) for those layoffs, but a slide in a presentation at a department meeting the week before told the whole story: it was a chart from one of the investors (note: not the people working on the product) estimating how soon AI would be able to perform which department disciplines. Content Design was listed first, with a replacement date that had already passed. I’m grateful I got the chance to re-imagine my life when I did, because everything feels so dire and strange now that I’m not sure I would have felt as safe making such a big change if it happened today, and I’m really, really, really glad I don’t have to live the horror stories my friends who are still in it describe. (There’s a cost of course, and that cost is money.)

But enough of my bullshit — House of Liars also wrestles with AI, as a competitor in an exclusive writing retreat / novel contest sponsored by a tech company. When I say Jenny Williams knows what she’s talking about, I mean she used to work on a literal AI ethics committee, and it shows through in every aspect of this chilling premise. I shelve this book with thrillers and mysteries at my bookstore, but it would be just as at home on the literary fiction shelf or, a few years ago, in sci-fi. Get it here.

And now, spiders.

A few years ago I found out that we have a native tarantula species in the Bay Area, a population of Aphonopelma iodius known colloquially as the Bay Area Blonde. They only live on and around Mount Diablo (Tuyshtak in Ohlone), and only the males come out of their burrows in the driest, hottest part of the year, looking for mates. Mount Diablo is not easy to get to without a car, and last year was the first year I actually made it out there during spider season — but there wasn’t a single tarantula in sight. This year, the BART ride from my neighborhood in San Francisco to Walnut Creek was nearly an hour, and only got me in the general driving vicinity. Luckily I have a friend in Walnut Creek who also loves spiders, and she picked me up. We made our way to Mitchell Canyon Fire Road, where it only took about twenty minutes for us to find our first tarantula.

Let me tell you about this little guy. He could fit in the palm of your hand, and he looks so soft and fuzzy you want to pet him — but the sign at the trailhead warns not to pick him up, because he “may look tough, but a tarantula can be injured if handled.” Their only defense against humans is throwing tiny hairs at us that are itchy. He’s already walking slowly (a week-old kitten would probably tie in a race), and when you get close enough for a good photo, he freezes. Does he think you won’t notice him? Him, an adorable, hapless, humongous spider? He is the himbo of the spider world, and I’m already crushing.

The Bay Area Blond is my new favorite spider. If you need them, I have more photos, with a few other animals we saw on that hike, on my personal instagram.

That’s all I got for now. Til next time,

T. K. Rex