Get yours from this round-up of Spring/Summer titles by California authors.

City Lights celebrates the 50th anniversary of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind. “With one million copies in print, A Coney Island of the Mind is one of the best-selling and most popular books of poetry ever published,” says the bookstore of its founder’s seminal work. New: two special anniversary hardcover editions — including a limited print of 200 signed, numbered and slipcased copies. Both anniversary offerings include an audio CD of Ferlinghetti reading his work. Learn more at City Lights. Read an excerpt — Poem 15: “Constantly risking absurdity” — at New Directions Publishing.

In Fiction:

God of War, by Marisa Silver. California author Susan Straight says of this novel set on the Salton Sea: “The God of War is such a stunning dive into a desert landscape few have understood and loved as deeply as Marisa Silver. It is no man’s land, and every man’s land — there, her people wage epic battles for their lives, for their loyalties, and for their very fierce versions of love.” Read an excerpt on this bookstore page. Read the Los Angeles Times review here.

Hallam’s War, by Elisabeth Payne Rosen. Publishers Weekly praises Hallam’s War as a “thoughtful historical novel” of the Civil War and an “auspicious debut” for California author and hospital chaplain Rosen. Read the Washington Post review here.

Odd Hours, by Dean Koontz. Koontz’ popular character Odd Thomas, who communicates with the dead, returns for a fourth book with a premonition of epic evil in a California coastal town. Can’t get enough of Odd? Del Rey releases In Odd We Trust — a manga-style graphic novel prequel to the Odd Thomas series — on June 24. Koontz teamed with Australian manga artist Queenie Chan to produce this completely new work. Read a preview at ActiveAnime.com

From Crime to Crime, by Dennis Palumbo. A collection of mystery short stories from the Hollywood screenwriter-turned-therapist/author. Read an excerpt (.pdf) from Tallfellow Press.

Non-Fiction:

How To Cheat in Sports, by Scott Osler. A funny/sad look at cheating in pro sports from the San Francisco Chronicle columist and 11-time winner of the California Sportswriter of the Year award. From the jacket: “It’s no secret that pro athletes cheat. But how exactly do they do it? Original interviews with former professional athletes and coaches reveal step-by-step instructions and technical drawings on how to throw a spitball, become an unblockable linebacker, foul a jumpshooter without getting caught, and other ways to gain an advantage over opponents.”

Writings for a Democratic Society: The Tom Hayden Reader, by Tom Hayden. This anthology of Hayden’s writing spans four decades. From the Los Angeles Times review: “Writings for a Democratic Society gathers almost 50 years of Hayden’s work … Some earlier views are reconsidered, but there’s no apostasy concerning causes espoused and led, which assuredly will lead to Hayden being denounced as ossified or worse by one-time comrades who have vaulted to the right. Yet Writings offers a considerable counter-record to official misrepresentations such as Tonkin Gulf and ‘Mission Accomplished’ — as well as a surprisingly personal account of how one activist has tried to remain consistent, relevant and truthful across his own long, strange trip.”

Not Much Left: The Fate of Liberalism in America, by Tom Waldman. A look at American liberalism during the conservative ascendancy from 1968 through 2006 — using “reportage, anecdotes, and analysis,” including interviews with Southern California pols. Publishers Weekly says it’s a must for “election junkies.” Read an author interview at the Sun Community Newspapers.

All for a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora, by David Rensin. From a San Francisco Chronicle review: “To get to know Dora, Rensin interviewed more than 300 people, constructing the book as an ‘oral history’ in which both friends and enemies weigh in with their remembrances of the man alternately known as ‘Da Cat’ for his uncanny moves on a surfboard and as the ‘Black Knight’ for his sometimes anti-social behavior both on and off the long board.” Read more at the sfgate. Read an author Q&A on this bookstore page.

Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food, by Pamela C. Ronald and Raoul W. Adamchak. One author is a scientist working on genetic engineering of pest- and flood-resistant plants, the other is a 20-year veteran of organic farming and they’re suggesting that marriage of organic farming and genetic engineering is the answer to the growing world food crisis. P.S. The authors themselves are married. From the publisher: “Part memoir, part instruction, and part contemplation … [the authors] take the reader inside their lives for roughly a year, allowing us to look over their shoulders so that we can see what geneticists and organic farmers actually do.” Read an interview with the authors at US News and World Report.

King of Shadows, by Aaron Shurin. A collection of twenty-one essays about the author’s gay and literary life in San Francisco. Read the San Francisco Chronicle review here.

Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us, by Jack Mingo, Erin Barrett, and Lucy Autrey Wilson. A book to answer all those nagging little questions: Do crocodiles kill more people than alligators? Are we more prone to commit suicide or murder? Can the condition of your toenails predict your mortality? Has irony ever killed anyone? You get the picture.

Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex, by Ellen Sussman. From the publisher: “A playful take on bedroom talk—a smart, funny encyclopedia with entries written by notable contemporary writers.” About 100 entries including work from writers Steve Almond, Patricia Marx, Phillip Lopate, and Antonya Nelson.

Chalked Up: Inside Elite Gymnastics’ Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams, by Jennifer Sey. Just in time for The Games. The title says it all. Read a review at oneminutebookreviews.com and an author interview at the California Literary Review.

Somebody’s Always Hungry: Essays on Motherhood, by Juliet Johnson. From imperfectparent.com: “Cleverly disguised as a collection of anecdotes by a harried new mother who might be just like someone you know, the book is a lighthearted but gutsy meditation on time, mortality and surrender.” Read more.