Reading and book signing, Sat., June 24, 1 p.m., free, Moravian Book Shop, 428 Main St., Bethlehem, Pa., 888-661-2888

Author Sarah Strohmeyer is headed back to her hard-scrabble, steel mill roots in Bethlehem to scoop up some more gossip for her bimbo bombshell of an alter ego, Bubbles Yablonsky.

And to sign a few books.

Yablonsky was created by Strohmeyer to dye hair, wear tube tops, drive a Camaro, track down news stories and solve mysteries. The duo have sleuthed their way through five Bubbles novels, all done buxom Barbie style, with another on the way. Though she now lives in Vermont, Strohmeyer is coming home to plug her latest effort, The Cinderella Pact (Dutton Adult, $24.95), which tells the story of Nola Devlin, an overweight advice columnist who uses her column to talk about how easy it is to lose weight. Eccentric characters and quirky stories ensue, which are the sort of literary nuggets Strohmeyer hopes to find during her visit.

It's a place where a lot of people come together. It has a historical section, steel mills, a blue-collar part, a white-collar part, a country club part. There were Puerto Ricans, Hungarians, Amish, Mennonites. I meet so many people from the corridor between Bethlehem and Philadelphia. I don't know if everyone flees or if they just procreate a lot.

[Back in the 1980s] I remember a bunch of gay guys standing on the street at 3 a.m. They'd be spaced evenly, down the block, in a very uniform way. The story was that they were waiting for pickups. If I were going to write about Philadelphia, that's what I'd go back to.

I try not to blame the poor newspapers because I was a reporter for many years and it's the one profession where people have no problem coming up to you at a party and telling you how much your job sucks and you suck.

I just went to my 25-year high school reunion, which I recommend everyone do. Who knew that one of the guys from my class has gone on to lead a movement against masturbation? He's even got a Web site that says, "18 years masturbation free!"