The Labor Day weekend is just around the corner, and with summer vacation heaving its last gasp, we’ve got slim pickings as far as area author events go.

MONDAY
Jennifer Egan’s latest novel, The Keep, blends meta-fiction, intimations of revenge, high-tech weirdness and claustrophobic creeps in a story of two cousins who reunite in Eastern Europe to refurbish an ancient castle. One of the characters in the book can apparently detect the presence of Wi-Fi homeostatically, so you just know DCist Tommy is going to be there. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW., at 7 p.m.

TUESDAY
Matt Gaffney returns to Washington D.C., this time to Olsson’s Books to chat about his book Gridlock: Crossword Puzzles and the Mad Geniuses Who Create Them, and once again to call out Sudoku fans for their weak-ass game. 1307 19th St. NW., at 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY
Hey, fellow citizens. How’s that process of alleviating all of your free-floating, existential anxiety coming along these days? Good? That’s excellent. Just so you know, hurricane season is back and Mike Tidwell is in town discussing and signing The Ravaging Tide: How Future Katrinas Will Be More Frequent, More Ferocious, and More Fatal to American Cities. Yeah! Awesome! 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW., at 7 p.m.

Also, Richard Benedetto will be out at Riderwood talking about his new book, which asserts that Politicians Are People Too. Which is funny, because when the President visited Riderwood earlier this year, he got to pre-screen the attendees so that he needn’t have been bothered by the “people, too.” Good luck explaining that one, Dickie. 3140 Gracefield Road, Silver Spring, at 7:30 p.m.