About this Event
Sidetrack Bookshop presents author Cedric Drake, writing under the pen name Tiān Yòu, to chat about his new novel.
Date: Saturday, November 14, 2026, 6:30pm - 8pm. Doors open at 6pm.
Location: Sidetrack Bookshop, 325 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak, MI 48067
Tickets:
- RSVP Only
- $20.25 - Includes one RSVP to the event and signing line and one copy of The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye.
Additional copies of The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye will be available for purchase at the event (while supplies last).
Parking in the Center Street Parking Garage located just north of Sidetrack Bookshop with entrances on both Washington and Center Streets is free for the first two hours and costs only 75 cents per hour thereafter, Monday through Saturday.
About The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye
The camera doesn’t capture faces. It exposes sins.
When Noah Wright inherits his late mother’s antique Polaroid, he thinks it is nothing more than a strange family relic—until the first photograph develops. On the back, written in cold black letters, is the truth its subject has spent a lifetime burying.
Later, Noah meets Cello: fearless, wounded, magnetic, and dangerous in ways Noah does not yet understand. Where he sees a curse, she sees a weapon. Los Angeles is full of predators, frauds, and monsters hiding behind perfect smiles. With the camera in hand, Noah and Cello begin pulling their secrets into the light.
At first, exposure feels like justice. Then justice begins to feel too small.
As their obsession grows, Noah must decide whether he is finally becoming powerful—or whether the camera has revealed the darkest truth of all: the monster was never only on the other side of the lens.
About Tiān Yòu
Cedric Drake (天佑, Tiān Yòu) is an award-winning educator, researcher, and author whose work bridges psychology, education, and storytelling. Raised in Southern California and educated at Loyola Marymount University, he began his career with the Los Angeles Opera before pursuing international education throughout China, where he taught at Sichuan University of Science & Technology and wrote extensively on culture and learning, including for PBS SoCal/KCET. His research focuses on educational and clinical psychology, student engagement, artificial intelligence in education, and mental health, with work published in peer-reviewed journals.
As a novelist, Cedric crafts psychological thrillers and speculative fiction that explore memory, identity, technology, and human consciousness through the lens of both Eastern and Western philosophy. Whether teaching, researching, or writing, he is dedicated to fostering empathy, critical thinking, and cross-cultural understanding through education and storytelling.
Event venue & nearby stays
Sidetrack Bookshop, 325 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak, United States
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