Previously unpublished short stories by 18 writers...

Previously unpublished short stories by 18 writers are featured in “Writers Harvest 2: A Collection of New Fiction” (Harvest; $12). Among the authors: three graduates of UC Irvine’s acclaimed Graduate Program in Writing--Michael Chabon, Louis B. Jones and Jay Gummerman.

Coincidence?

Ethan Canin, the novelist and short-story writer who edited the collection and wrote the introduction, knows all three UCI alums.

“I met Ethan Canin when he was a visiting writer at UCI a couple of years ago,” says Gummerman, a San Clemente resident who teaches English composition at UCI. “He called me up and asked if I had a story to contribute.”

All of the writers featured in “Writers Harvest 2” donated their stories. A portion of the trade paperback’s sale price goes to Share Our Strength, an organization that supports literacy and anti-hunger programs throughout the world.

Publishers Weekly describes the collection as “excellent in its particulars and in its generalities. . . . This deserves to be received well.”

Gummerman--a 1988 Program in Writing graduate who has had one story collection, “We Find Ourselves in Moontown,” and one novel, “Chez Chance,” published--says he thought “Writers Harvest” would be “something that no one would see” but has gotten more reader response on it than on any of his short stories.

Chabon, a Los Angeles resident whose first novel, “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh,” created a national stir in 1988, also turns up in “Nothing but You: Love Stories From the New Yorker” (Random House; $25.95). Chabon’s 1989 short story “Ocean Avenue” is set in Laguna Beach.

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With Valentine’s Day only five days away, can Lee Mallory, Orange County’s “love poet,” be far behind?

Mallory and Shanon-Leigh Chapman are the featured poets at Erotic Poetry Night, 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Alta Coffee House, 506 31st St., Newport Beach.

Mallory says he and Chapman plan to “set the tone and spirit of sexual frenzy” preceding a contest open to anyone willing to share their “erotica and neurotica.”

Participants in the poetry contest must sign up by 7:30 p.m. They’ll each have five to seven minutes to read, says Mallory, and must designate which poem they want the judge--L.A. performance poet Caron Andregg--to consider. Music will be provided by acoustic guitar player Neil Miranda.

“I think that erotic poems should be love letters pushed to the amorous edge,” says Mallory, a poetry-writing teacher at Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana and peripatetic producer of Orange County poetry readings.

In a separate event, Mallory will present a performance of his poetry, “Both Sides of Love,” at a tea at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Huntington Beach Central Library, 7111 Talbert Ave. Cost: $8. Reservations: (714) 842-4481, Ext. 5.

Also this week:

* Edgar Award-winning author Aaron Elkins will sign “Twenty Devil Blue” at 2 p.m. today at Book Carnival, 348 S. Tustin St., Orange. Elkins also will discuss and sign at 4:30 p.m. today at Coffee, Tea & Mystery, 13232 Springdale St., Westminster.

* Linda de Villers, author of “Love Skills,” will read and sign at 4 p.m. today at Different Drummer Books, 1294 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach.

* Novelist Wilton Barnhardt, author of “Emma Who Saved My Life” and “Gospel,” will speak at the Manuscripts literary lecture series at 7 p.m. Monday at the Newport Beach Central Library, 1000 Avocado Ave. $5 for members of the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation; $8 for nonmembers. Barnhardt is a visiting writer in UC Irvine’s Program in Writing.

* Actor Buddy Ebsen will discuss and sign copies of his autobiography, “The Other Side of Oz,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Barnes & Noble in the Huntington Beach Mall, 7777 Edinger Ave.

* Janet Evanovich, author of “Three to Get Deadly,” will sign at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Book Carnival.

* Vick Knight will discuss and sign “Toasting Temecula Wines” at 7 p.m. Friday at Borders Books and Music, 429 Associated Road, Brea.

Send information about book-related events at least 10 days before event to: Dennis McLellan, O.C. Books & Authors, Life & Style, The Times, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.