Snow's coming again. All that western torment that dumnped on Colorado and drowned North Dakota is finally staggering into Illinois. Ill Annoyed. Our lilacs and our crocuses are going to be shocked to freeze tonight. Small garden tragedies. Small purple and orange bursts of hope under returning white. But sooner or later, spring will win out. Then I'll be complaining about the summer heat.

Many nice people have been writing from California, in advance of our visit to Pasadena for their One City/One Book events. I look forward to the trip--and not just to get away from the snow! You know, when I lived in So Cal, I was a poor boy and would have cut off a leg to escape. Now that I've frozen my butt off since 1982, and am not such a po' boy anymore, So Cal looks great to me! I want to stand on the beach barefoot on Christmas Day! I want to spray faux frost in my windows again! Soap flake snow sounds good as I creak down the AARP highway!

Cinderella and the girls and I will pack up and fly to CA on Wednesday. I'll look for you out there. We are, at the urging of my publisher, maintaining a Twitter record of all the adventures and misadventures. So, as always, if you want to check in with the touring, I can always be found at Twitter.com/Urrealism. Tweet me!

Thanks for your support, and I can't wait for you to read Into the Beautiful North. It'll be out in English and Spanish--and in audio--in May.

In the inimitable words of Chuck Berry: I'm gone like a cool breeze.
XXX, L

# posted by Luis @ 12:28 PM