There’s a soft spot in Henry Alley’s heart for a person scrambling through hard times. It was evident in the author’s six previous novels, and it shows itself again in At Large , which he will read from and discuss Oct. 25 at Tsunami Books. “I’m always fascinated with people trying to get on their feet,” Alley says. “Once I start a novel, I’m dedicated to the characters.” Known for incorporating intimate gay themes in his novels, Alley steers away from that in At Large . “It is a balance in gender,” he says. At Large is also more sweeping and longer than Alley’s previous works. Set in two parts, it starts with Sue Doerrer, a poet and eventual lyricist, leaving Seattle in 1968 and working as an admissions secretary in a county hospital in upstate New York. There, with her ex-lover D

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