Finding your way around literary California

Good news: CaliforniaAuthors.com has teamed up with BookTour.com to make it easy to find literary events – and your favorite writers — around the corner and around the state. As Kevin Smokler notes at the BookTour blog:

Yes, We love being in California, which its great weather, better food and governor who used to pose in a speedo. So we’re thrilled to announce today that our event data will now be syndicated at CaliforniaAuthors.com, the thoughtful chronicler of all things literary and left coast. Just click “event search” in their main navigation and get sent here. Then search by zip code, mileage and time. Take your pick.

CA’s Kate Cohen made the whole thing way too dang easy for her users. And for us. California Authors also features a directory of authors based in the Golden State, libraries of west coast bookstores and publishers and a nice little collection of excerpts from books by California authors.

Read more here.

Playing tourist in Hollywood, er, Culver City

My nine-year-old son has been clamoring to see Wheel of Fortune ever since his older sister got to schmooze with Vanna White a couple summers ago – and came home with cash that the show’s announcer handed out in between shows.

Well, this year Eben is old enough to go (the Wheel is one of the few shows that admits kids younger than twelve) and I scored some tickets after stalking a handy site called TVTix.com for several months.

A week ago I set out on the 405 with Eben and three buddies after they solemnly promised not to shout out letters and get us thrown out of the show. The boys buzzed with excitement as we arrived at Sony Studios in Culver City and learned that Spiderman had been filmed there, American Gladiators was born there, and Adam Sandler often zips around the lot in a souped up golf cart.

Once we finally were ushered into the Wheel of Fortune sanctum, the boys got caught up in the behind-the-scenes action: jittery contestants practicing on the big wheel just before the show, guys in black shirts hoisting cards ordering us to clap or “SHHHHH,” Pat Sajak filming blooper reels promos during breaks, Vanna emerging in a string of shimmering gowns, and, best of all, staffers handing out dollar bills and freebies in between shows.

The boys didn’t win any cash, but they did wangle some front row seats by the second taping. During the third and final show, the studio erupted as a computer-programmer contestant vanquished the bonus round puzzle AND picked the elusive $100,000 envelope, too. Confetti burst from the ceiling. The contestant danced with joy. And the boys hollered and clapped and mugged for the camera from their prized front row seats, right in the heart of game show heaven.

The verdict on the way home: The boys decided the Wheel of Fortune set was smaller than expected, and the stop-and-start action seemed kinda fake and yet somehow very, very cool.