Northern California authors will display their wares on Saturday at Mt. Shasta Mall in Redding as Writers Forum sponsors its sixth annual Authors Fair.

This is a fun event, with music and skits as well as a bunch of friendly authors, who will answer questions and autograph books from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Musical performers include the Sweet Adelines and an amazing pianist named Martin Horn. Actors from Riverfront Playhouse will perform a scene from the upcoming melodrama, “Dead to the Last Drop . . . or Cheers to the Holidays,” which opens Nov. 21. 

Writers Forum also will host an Opening Sentence contest that’s open to all. Prizes will be awarded in a number of categories for children and adults.

I’ll be there on Saturday. I always enjoy meeting local readers (sometimes for the fifth or sixth time, and I still won’t remember your names!), and talking about my books. I’ll have nearly all my 16 titles there, including a few that are “collectible” now because they sold so crappily to begin with. Sigh.

• If you’re lonely and not getting enough e-mail, then you should do what I did: Set up a Google News Alert for the words “medical marijuana.” Soon, your inbox will overflow with articles on California’s Green Rush. Today’s most interesting entry is a Los Angeles Times feature about how growers have changed life in Hayfork and the rest of Trinity County. Click here.
• Baseball: Alex Rodriguez earned his big paycheck with a ninth-inning, go-ahead double, and the Yankees took a 7-4 win over the Phillies on Sunday night to gain a 3-1 lead in the World Series. I managed to stay awake until the very end.
• Monday Morning QB: Should be a good game tonight as the unbeaten New Orleans Saints take on the 4-2 Atlanta Falcons. The NFL’s only other undefeated team is Indianapolis, which squeaked past the 49ers on Sunday, 18-14. The Minnesota-Green Bay matchup lived up to its hype, with Bret Favre triumphing in his return to Lambeau. Denver choked against Baltimore. The Raiders lost to the Chargers. And Miami’s Ted Ginn Jr. ran two kickoffs back for TDs as the Dolphins beat the Jets.
• The California Department of Transportation has given scholarships to three local students who are pursuing careers in transportation-related fields. Winners Naomi Willis and Merete Capener both attend Shasta College, and Nicole Anderson goes to Sacramento State. Congrats!
• DVD I Watched on the Dreadmill: “Bangkok Dangerous,” a paint-by-numbers hitman thriller starring Nicolas Cage. Terrible, but loud.

Tips appreciated: Send news tidbits to steveb.anewscafe@gmail.com.

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