On the back flap of “Anyway’s*” cover, it says:

“Arthur Salm is a former book review editor and columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune. He lives in San Diego, California, with his wife, daughter, dog, and two cats.”

Oh, right – that’s interesting. Actually I shouldn’t complain, because I wrote it. (Not much room on that flap.) There has to be something about me that’s more interesting than that. I’m not sure what, though, so I’ll just write some stuff down:

• I’ve already finished another book, and I’m working on a third. Max is in them, and so are most of the other people in “Anyway*.” But the books are very different from “Anyway*,” and different from each other. You’ll see.

• I’m addicted to dark chocolate. So’s my wife. We hide it from our daughter, and lie about it. My wife doesn’t know that I also hide some from her.

• In the years I worked for a newspaper I interviewed a lot of authors. A lot of movie stars, too. The authors were more interesting. Not even close.

• Here’s a song I sing to my dog, stolen from a song by The Pretenders that goes “It is time for you to stop all of your sobbing.” I sing, “It is time for you to stop all of your barking.”

• Although I understand that I’m about an average athlete, some part of me believes that I’m actually above average.

• I wrote – co-authored, actually – my first book when I was nine. It was science fiction. Naturally the main character was captain of a spaceship. I named him Jim Beam, which I thought was brilliant. When gave it to my mother to read, she sighed and showed me a full-page magazine ad for Jim Beam whiskey. I gave up writing science fiction.

• I’ve lived in California since I was ten, but I was born in Indiana. In a lot of my dreams I’m back there, in my old house or my old neighborhood.

• A movie in which lots of people get killed is no problem for me. But if somebody’s dog or cat is even threatened I can’t stand it, and I get up and leave.

• When I got out of college I lived in Israel for about a year, on a communal farm called a kibbutz. Mostly I worked in the olive groves. I used to speak Hebrew so-so, but I’ve forgotten a lot of it. I still dream about harvesting olives.