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HR 2799, the Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriations Bill of 2004, which, pending an amendment by U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, Ind.-Vt., could slightly depower PATRIOT in terms of cutting off Justice Department funding for searches of bookstore and library records, has been tabled after two days on the floor as "unfinished business" at this writing. This might give you more time to answer the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression's call to contact your local representatives, wherever you are. For more information, visit www.house.gov or www.abffe.org... The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has released its findings from the recent "America's Most Literate Cities" study, which relied on statistics from the U.S. Census, the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the American Booksellers Association, Yellow Pages Inc., the American Library Directory, and the National Directory of Magazines to rank this country's 64 largest cities in the categories of Education, Publications, Newspapers, Libraries, and Booksellers. Overall, Austin ranked 22nd in its "commitment to literacy" vaulted mainly by its ranks in Education (No. 2) and Booksellers (No. 13). Unfortunately, because book sections in Newspapers (Austin ranked 38th) and Publications (53rd) are shrinking and/or vanishing across the country, there's no room for analysis here. Not that so conceptually nebulous a study (www.uww.edu/cities) demands it... Not included among UW-W's categorical factors was a city's performance in the 2003 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, San Jose State University's annual ode to the overwrought. If it were a factor, Austin would surely have ranked in, what, the Top 15? It would at least have overtaken Birmingham, Ala., at No. 19. In any case, after responding to SJSU's 21st challenge to "compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels," four Austin residents found mention in the contest's results (www.sjsu.edu/depts/english/2003.htm ), with Tracy Edmondson leading the way atop "Western": "The Hoss eyed the deserted town square like a hungry mother vulture hoping to catch a decaying carcass to feed her squawking young, for he knew that as sure as a norther would blow in from the Rockies, though actually the northers in these parts were usually coming from Canada, sort of up around Lethbridge but not all the way to Banff, he knew that Jimmy One-Tooth and his band of toughs would be back for their gold"... More accolades: Austin literary agent Jim Hornfischer has a book deal of his own. Ship of Ghosts: The Gallant Last Mission of the USS Houston and the Three-and-a-Half Year Ordeal of Her Survivors in Captivity has recently been purchased by Bantam. Mayhaps he could maximize that title by entering it in the 2004 Bulwer-Lytton contest? ... Recommended events for the week: Two Note Solo's "All Good Stuff," featuring readings, film shorts, live music, and more, on Sunday, July 27, at the Drafthouse Downtown; former Chronicler and current author of the acclaimed Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters (Back Bay Books, $15.95, paper), Robert Gordon, on Tuesday, July 29, and Tim Gautreaux (The Clearing, Knopf, $23), as part of the Texas Monthly Book Group on Thursday, July 31, both at BookPeople; also on Thursday, 9pm, at the Austin Yoga School (1122-C S. Lamar, 916-4499): Sumericabachbones, a "voco-visual performance" with world-renowned poet and translator Pierre Joris, multimedia artist Nicole Peyrafitte, and composer Holland Hopson; and Sharon Bridgforth discussing her novel in progress, big bill's/blues, on Friday, Aug. 1, 7:30pm, at Book Woman.