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Come Celebrate Charong's Novel, Random - And My Birthday - Friday January 27th

Charong Chow: photo by Alexander Chow-Stuart.

This Friday evening, January 27th, between 6pm - 8pm in the private room at the Starbucks at The Junction in Sonora, Charong Chow will be hosting her book launch party for her first novel, Random...and I will be celebrating one thousand years on the planet (or something like that): my birthday!


Inspired by the death at 26 of our best friend, Jeremy, who first introduced us at one of my book readings in Miami's South Beach, Random is a Young Adult "teen noir" love story and thriller, set in contemporary Los Angeles.


Tierney is a sixteen year old high school co-ed who's neither the Bad Girl in school, nor exactly your average student, either. Excited by the arrival of Tom, a handsomely mysterious new kid, Tierney skips classes with her best friends, Jeremy (who's openly gay) and Maya, taking Tom along for a drug-fueled truancy that foreshadows darker things to come.

Written with an energy and razor-sharp dialogue that mixes teen angst and ennui with the shadows of a Hollywood long past - a Hollywood explored in a visit to Tom's grandparents and to the Griffith Observatory (famous for a key sequence in Rebel Without A Cause) - Random is powered by the sense of loss of the author's best friend, creating an energy that is part contemporary noir mystery and part emotional catharsis.


Charong will also be appearing tomorrow morning on KVML 1450AM in an interview by Mark Truppner that will be broadcast at 6:45am, 7:45am and 8:45am.


The cover of Charong Chow's Random, designed by Nancy Choe.


10% of all sales of Random between now and the end of the school year in June, will be donated to the Sierra Waldorf School in Jamestown - a progressive school that is dedicated to nurturing the individual capabilities of each child from pre-school to eighth grade, following the inclusive and inspirational teachings of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf Education.


Charong Chow's Random is available both as a paperback from Amazon, priced $8.88 (eight is the luckiest number in Chinese), and as a Kindle download, priced $5.99 (or free if you are an Amazon Prime member).


Please note that you do not need to own a Kindle to read a Kindle book. You can download a free Kindle app from Amazon for your Mac, PC or smartphone at this Free Kindle Reading Apps page.

Charong and I hope you can join us Friday night between 6pm - 8pm at the Starbucks at The Junction for a joint celebration.

Warmest wishes,
Alexander and Charong
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