Friday, April 23, 2010

Death in California-May 15th. 4:00 pm



Our next event is David Kulczyk signing his book, 'Death in California' May 15th. at 4:00 pm.
Nothing ruins your evening like a jet fighter slamming into your kitchen. The 10-ton military aircraft hit the Tahoe Apartments in Alameda, California, one rainy night in 1973, incinerating residents in the middle of their evening routines - one woman instantly burned to death just minutes after arriving home. The aircraft's engine was found buried 15 feet underground, compressed by the crash to two-thirds its normal size. The pilot's body was never found and was presumed to have been vaporized on impact.
Ah, carefree California - the land of beaches, sunshine, celebrities - and so many shocking and gruesome ways to die. David Kulczyk, the dean of offbeat California history, chronicles 31 bizarre and grisly true stories in his new book, Death in California: The Bizarre, Freakish, and Just Curious Ways People Die in the Golden State.
Kulczyk turns a sardonic, but always humane, eye to strange and gruesome events from the earliest California pioneers to the present day. A grimly humorous history of hangings, murders, accidents, overdoses, suicides, and fatal stupidity, Death in California offers a bizarre, lighthearted and cheerfully perverse glimpse into California's deadly past.
What's the deadliest nature spot in California, whose scenic beauty has lured 14 tourists to their deaths?
What's the absolute dumbest way possible to light a cigarette?
Whatever happened to sweet little Buffy from the 60s hit TV show Family Affair?
You don't really want to know - but if you must know, you'll read about in Death in California.