The A-list

SATURDAY, Oct. 20

WRITING SEX AND DEATH Writers investigate the literary link between screwing and croaking, noting how both sex and death can signal a crucial moment in a novel's plot—or the start of extraneous prose. Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk relates the topic to Choke, his new work featuring a sex addict who gags on his dinner to garner attention. Set in sultry New Orleans, Lisa Jackson's latest thriller, Hot Blooded, concerns a popular late-night radio host who realizes she's indirectly responsible for a serial killer slaughtering the city's hookers. UW creative writing professor Shawn Wong moderates. Maclean Stage, 10:15-11:15 a.m.

FANTASTIC VOYAGE: URSULA K. LEGUIN Remember Earthsea? Even if you're unfamiliar with literary sci-fi author LeGuin's series about an imaginary archipelago in which magic, wizards, and dragons are the norm, you'll probably enjoy her newest Earthsea installment, The Other Wind, displaying LeGuin's usual memorable characters, carefully chosen prose, and knack for relating fantastic realms to today's world. The Portland author's been expanding the genre for 40 years, and in addition to adopting new heroes and story strains along the way, she's also picked up both a Hugo and a National Book award. She talks with Vonda McIntyre about her body of work and her philosophy of writing. Hugo Stage, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

SIGN OF THE TIMES: FICTIONAL JOURNEYS THROUGH AMERICA'S PAST A novel's historical backdrop often serves as more than just setting; it can determine plot and change characters' lives. In Terry Kay's Taking Lottie Home, Southerners residing in small-town Georgia learn to leave the Civil War in the past. Glen David Gold, the critically lauded author of Carter Beats the Devil, shows how early 20th-century America shapes the future of a magician who comes under suspicion after the death of President Warren Harding. In Love Among the Ruins, Seattle author Robert Clark depicts an innocent teenage romance shadowed by Robert Kennedy's 1968 assassination and the disastrous National Convention in Chicago that followed. Maclean Stage, 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

UNDERSTANDING AFGHANISTAN Who says Bookfest's panels aren't timely? Larry Goodson, author of Afghanistan's Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics, and the Rise of the Taliban; Richard Shenkman, editor of History News Network; and KUOW's Marcie Sillman talk about the tragedies of Sept. 11, how America's past actions possibly triggered the attacks, and the future of our country's relations with the Middle East. Hugo Stage, noon-1 p.m. Sat., Oct. 20.

THE THIN BLURRY LINE Creative nonfiction, fictionalized autobiography, biographical novel, . . . as genres continue to multiply, so do writers who choose to blur fact and fiction. Four such scribes discuss their crafts at this panel, moderated by Nicholas H. Allison, editor-in-chief of Amazon.com's books department. Kip Fulbeck's autobiographical novel Paper Bullets recounts the author's mixed-race childhood with equal parts poignancy and pop culture. Local lawyer Mark Lindquist mingled with the hipsterati of Seattle's rock scene as research for his novel Never Mind Nirvana. In his whimsical Baseball Is Just Baseball: The Understated Ichiro, UW professor David Shields turns to Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki for wisdom. Former Richard Hugo House writer-in-residence Suzanne Sowinska adds her own thoughts on the flexibility of actuality. Carver Stage, 12:15-1:30 p.m.

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE: SCIENCE AND FICTION What's more important when telling a story steeped in science—keep the facts straight and keep your scientist readers' approval, or disregard the truth so you can focus on the drama? Three authors talk about that tentative relationship between science and fiction. A journalist who has written science and environment features for The Seattle Times, William Dietrich employs his research on the Antarctic in Dark Winter, a thriller set in the South Pole. In his archaeological mystery Skeleton Dance, Aaron Elkins focuses on the moral makeup of Neanderthal Man and the anatomy of a slew of murders. Linda Shepherd's upcoming novel concerns the woman behind Albert Einstein, speculating on her role in the discovery of the theory of relativity. Hall Stage, 12:15-1:30 p.m.

ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND To escape the tiny town that can't fit our huge dreams or the disagreeable past we want to forget, we set course for another destination, hoping we'll discover our true identity by trip's end. Little do we know that the real self-discovery often doesn't happen till we come home. A group of novelists that does know this includes Angie Cruz, whose Soledad tells of a burgeoning Dominican-American artist who leaves the dazzle of downtown N.Y.C. to care for her widowed mother; Katie Schneider, author of All We Know of Love, a novel of art and spirituality that follows a Pacific Northwesterner to Italy and then back to the States; Kafka's Fedora author, A.J. Adler, who has written a novel about an Olympic skier whose life leads him from athletic glory in Europe to family tragedy in Minnesota; and B.C. author Shannon Cowan, who penned the best-selling Leaving Winter, about a woman who moves into her grandmother's North Vancouver home. Stafford Stage, 12:45-1:45 p.m.

THE MODERN MALE IDENTITY: A NOVEL APPROACH Relating UC-Santa Barbara art professor Kip Fulbeck's experiences of growing up in a mixed-race household in Covina, Calif., the autobiographical novel Paper Bullets delves into a host of complex topics, including interracial dating, the emasculation of Asian men, and the exoticization of Asian women. This is usual territory for readers familiar with the works of Chang-Rae Lee, David Wong Louie, or Shawn Wong, but Fulbeck offers the often-ignored perspective of being half-Asian and half-Caucasian. He's just as passionate when speaking on the more whimsical aspects of his life, such as working as a lifeguard, meeting the parents of a new girlfriend, or relying on the support of good friends. With the book's references to everyone from Ice Cube to Akira Kurosawa, reading Paper Bullets can sometimes feel like playing pop- culture trivial pursuit, but the novel's overall effect is surprisingly soothing, giving buoyancy and universality to stories that are deeply personal. (Soyon Im) He's joined by Edwardo Jackson, whose debut novel Ever After has two African-American lovers romancing it up in N.Y.C. Stafford Stage, 2:15-3:15 p.m.