John Sayles  PENMAN: Sayles Some Time in the Sun, set during
the Spanish-American War, ponders racism and imperialism.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)  For 40 minutes last month he
held them spellbound, reading about America in 1898. John Sayles
didn't just give the crowd a taste of his new novel, "Some Time
in the Sun" -- he performed a comedy about tabloid newsboys in
New York, playing 26 characters with thick, period accents.
"WAR!" Sayles boomed in the voice of a 13-year-old newsie
thrilled ("Trilled!") that the Spanish-American War had boosted
his daily street sales: "Remember the . . . Maine! Jeez, the way
they played it out -- Day 1, the ship blows up. Day 2, who blew
the ship up? Day 3, we think we know. Day 4, we sent down our
experts!"  When it was over, the audience at City University of
New York's Gotham Center gave Sayles an ovation. But then he was
humbled by a question from a woman in the front row: When would
the book be out?  "I've been done with it for six or seven
months, and it's ou