L.A. author Jervey Tervalon’s upcoming novel, Lita, is excerpted in today's LA Weekly:

"That’s what was weird about my life in Los Angeles; everybody saw me as what they wanted to see me. The Spanish people talked to me in Spanish, whites thought I was white. Colored people took a minute or two to add it up, trying to figure out what was my angle, then they got it, thought about their cousin who looked white. It was interesting in a way, not belonging anywhere; floating unmoored."

In other local author news...Roger L. Simon's site includes a bunch of kudos for his newest, Director's Cut. Praise comes from fellow mystery writers Tony Hillerman, Sue Grafton and Martin Cruz Smith, among others.