Lesson Learned
It may have taken him more than ten years to finish, but Michael McCulloch's debut novel, "Cold Lessons," is finally here. Written under a pseudonym (a combination of his middle name and mother's maiden name), "Cold Lessons" tells the story of a hard-drinking high-school English teacher turned reluctant detective living in cold and snowy Montana. Explains McCulloch, "I think `Cold Lessons' will appeal to people who like dark but darkly funny takes on the detective story and stories that don't necessarily guarantee triumph at the end." A Montana native currently living in Chicago, McCulloch started the novel, which is loosely based on his hometown, in 1993. "This book was completely out of my experience," he says, "but I felt like I could give a different take on the subject." The former Newcity writer reads from the novel at After-Words New and Used Books February 15.

Lights, Camera, Owen
Get your cameras rolling--let's make a music video! Chicago's own Mike Kinsella, a.k.a. Owen, has paired up with AbsolutePunk.net in search of a video for his song "The Sad Waltzes of Pietro Crespi." "A guy on Owen's MySpace page posted that he had made a video for one of his songs," Seth Hubbard of Polyvinyl Records says. They checked it out and liked the idea of fans becoming more involved. Hubbard contacted Mike Kinsella about the idea, who thought it sounded "pretty awesome," having also created some homemade music videos himself. AbsolutePunk.net was pulled on board as host for the contest, and a prize package, including the entire Owen discography, was put together. The deadline for submissions has been pushed to February 23--and make it good, because "this video will be plastered all over the place," according to Hubbard. But Kinsella, who has viewed a handful so far, is just having fun with this. "I don't know if I would want to put any of them on MTV yet," he says, "but with that being said, I don't know if I would want to put mine on either."

Betting Man
While your average sports gambler most likely wouldn't place big bets on the Cubs, that is exactly what the protagonist in "Good Money After Bad" does. The first novel by Chicago's own Donald G. Evans, it follows a man consumed by gambling, which is "a role I knew intimately," says Evans. "I grew up in a family where my uncles were sports gamblers and dad went to the racetrack, so I started young," Evans explains. He says that his "insider knowledge" and his interest in gambling led him to write about the process. He celebrated with a release party at the Hideout last week and he reads at the Oak Park Cigar Shop on February 16th. "I just hope that guys who are supposed to not read serious literature will come buy my book," he says with a laugh. (2007-02-13)

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