Naked Skydiving Author,Jordan Schaffner will sign copies of his autobiographical novel, and conduct an open reading at Borders,Las Vegas,2323 S. Decatur Boulevard,March 26, 2006 5:00 PM.
“Naked Skydiving," author Jordan Schaffner, nominated for the $10,000 Koret Jewish Book Award, will read from his autobiographical novel about the personal life of a dream interpreter,traveling through the west coast, before 9-11, at Borders, Las Vegas, 2323 S. Decatur Boulevard, March 26, 2006 5:00 PM.
The event will also include an open reading, where writers in the Las Vegas audience will be encouraged sign up and perform their own work. The event may feature a surprise psychedellic accompanying guitarist, Johnny Solo also from San Diego. His music fits the surreal flavor of the book.
For Schaffner, a San Diego writer, this is his first out of state appearance, taking the book on tour, to a major city like Las Vegas. He is very excited about the potential of a booksigning in a dynamic city like Las Vegas.
He will also read from his new works, a short story that he wrote from his last vacation to the city, "Xmas in Vegas, It doesn't have to stay in Vegas," and "Rap Is Crap" which can be read on his blog, "Naked Skydiving," on www.blogit.com.
Though not much of a gambler, Schaffner finds Vegas more exciting because of the live entertainment possibilities and attractions, than the town he lived most of his life in, Los Angeles. He finds Las Vegas to truly be the entertainment capitol of the world, not Hollywood. "The gambling has attracted money with less beauracracy which has the potential to be supportive of more eccentric entertainment than the mass produced, formulaic, archetypal product that Hollywood turns out in factory-like manner," he added.
Schaffner has had previous booksigning appearances at Borders in downtown San Diego, and other San Diego cafes and bookstores such as Hot Monkey Love Cafe, Ducky Waddles Emporium and participated in a book fair for local authors at the San Diego Jewish Community Center,hosted an Egyptian Halloween Party, at the San Diego Egyptian Tea Room and Hookah Lounge,where the audience shared nightmares with Schaffner. The booksigning party included belly dancers, videos of the last two remakes of “The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns,” costumes, karaoke and dancing to such songs as “Walk Like an Egyptian,” Steve Martin’s “King Tut,” “the Purple People Eater,” and many others.
Schaffner wrote "Naked Skydiving" as a cathartic way to find meaning in his own life, to transcend the mundane, to entertain readers, and empower their own creativity. "Naked Skydiving" pays homage to two of Schaffner’s favorite writers; Henry Miller and Kurt Vonnegut. Miller taught Schaffner how refreshing honesty and humor can be in literature, so he began to value the autobiographical novel, and fantasized about writing his own. Vonnegut taught Schaffner the art of short chapters for short attention spans. "Naked Skydiving" is also inspired by the daring of the human spirit and nature's beauty,
In 1981, poet Schaffner created a poetry booklet called "Tsunami Tikis" when he found himself stranded in Hawaii. Two of his poems from the booklet were then published by a Hawaiian newspaper called the "Kauai Times." He sold the booklets to tourists on Maui and the Big Island and also when he returned to Los Angeles at the magazine store where he worked in Westwood. They were quite popular as an impulse buy in front of the counter where he worked as a cashier.
Recently, since the publication of his autobiographical novel, "Naked Skydiving," from www.iUniverse.com for $18.95, Jordan decided to print more copies of "Tsunami Tikis," mainly because people would ask him if he had written anything else besides "Naked Skydiving." Ironically, a few weeks after reprinting Tsunami Tikis in late 2004, the now infamous Tsunami struck.
When this happened, he watched the news in horror and thought about how he could help. He looked up a website to see which organizations were taking donations and decided that for every copy of "Tsunami Tikis" he sold for $8.00, he will donate $2.00 to the Direct Relief International,which gives 95% of donations directly to assisting the Tsunami victims.
"Tsunami Tikis" is about how the dangers of nature on the Big Island of Hawaii protect the land from human overdevelopment,in much the same way that unfortunately the Tsunami may be protecting the earth from global warming since the polar ice caps started melting. Yet Schaffner believes that we must have compassion for the victims in this tragedy, just as we drastically need to continually protect the earth. "Tsunami Tikis" is also about the Hawaiian spiritual forces of the ancient Tiki gods and their influence on modern Hawaiians. Signed copies of "Tsunami Tikis" and "Naked Skydiving" are available directly from the author at the Borders Las Vegas signing at 2323 S. Decatur Boulevard,March 26, 2006 5:00 PM.,or from www.amazon.com You can also interview the author by calling him at 858-405-5306.
