Alec Clayton, author of The Backside of Nowhere and art critic for the Weekly Volcano, recently published Return to Freedom, which begins where Backside left off - the day of the hurricane that wiped out the little bayou village of Freedom, Miss. Teenage hoodlums, who looted an electronics store during a flash flood many years ago, are now adults - one with an alcoholic wife and three teenage children, the other an evangelical preacher - living in the same condo overlooking the bay with an unicycle-riding street performer and single mother who owns a diner. Their lives are as stormy as the hurricane from which they are still recovering. Hear Clayton and local actors Pug Bujeaud, Michael Christopher, Heather Christopher, Jennie Jenks and Christine Goode read scenes from Clayton's new book at Orca Books (also Jan. 24 at King's Books). Discussion and book signing will follow.

ORCA BOOKS, 3 P.M., FREE ADMISSION, 509 FOURTH AVE E., OLYMPIA, 360.352.0123