So here’s the new book. The cover is meant to look cheerful but battered, a hopeful survivor of the Seventies like its protagonist. (And its author, for that matter.) Michael Tolliver Lives hits American bookstores on June 12, which by the wildest coincidence has been named Michael Tolliver Day by the Mayor of San Francisco.

If you’re wondering about that floating orchid, it’s a reference to a particular moment in the novel – a visual metaphor about life’s bittersweet contradictions. Unless, of course, it’s just a cheap trick to make you buy the book. You decide.

Meanwhile, here are my American and British tour schedules for the summer of 2007. (The Australian tour will follow this September, with France, Germany and possibly Italy next spring.) At most of these venues I’ll be reading from Michael Tolliver Lives, chatting with readers and signing books. This is by far my favorite part of the job.

JUNE 12, SAN FRANCISCO, Book Passage, Ferry Building, Noon.
JUNE 12, SAN FRANCISCO, Books Inc., Opera Plaza. 601 Van Ness, 7 PM
JUNE 14, NEW YORK CITY, Barnes & Noble, Union Square, 7 PM
JUNE 18, BELLINGHAM, WA, Village Books, 1200 11th St., 7:30 PM
JUNE 19, SEATTLE, Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St., 7:30 PM
JUNE 20, LOS ANGELES, Los Angeles Public Library, 630 W 5th St., 7 PM
JUNE 21, LOS ANGELES, Skylight Books, 1818 N Vermont Ave., 7:30 PM
JUNE 22, DENVER, Tattered Cover Bookstore. 2526 E Colfax Ave., 7:30 PM
JUNE 26, CHICAGO, 57TH St. Books/ Seminary Coop at the Newberry Library, 6 PM
JUNE 27, ATLANTA, Outwrite Books, 991 Piedmont Ave., 8 PM
JUNE 28, CORAL GABLES, FLA, Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., 8 PM
JULY 2, LONDON, Book signings in Central London, check local listings
JULY 4, LIVERPOOL, Homotopia, Small Concert Room at St. George’s Hall, 7 PM
JULY 5, NEWCASTLE, Waterstone’s, 104 Grey Street, 7:30 PM
JULY 6, GLASGOW, Waterstone’s, 153-157 Sauchiehall St., 6:30 PM
JULY 7, EDINBURGH. Waterstone’s. 128 Princes St., Noon
JULY 9, YORK, Borders, 1-5 Davygate (check for time)
JULY 10, NOTTINGHAM, Waterstone’s, 1-5 Bridlesmith Gate, 7:30 PM
JULY 11, MANCHESTER, Waterstone’s, 91 Deansgate, 7 PM
JULY 12, LONDON, Blackwell’s, Bloomsbury Theatre, 15 Gordon St., 7 PM
JULY 13, BRIGHTON, Borders, Churchill Square Shopping Centre (check for time)