Billy Kinsey – part genius, part philosopher and social critic, full-time insomniac, closeted rock drummer and heir to a lottery fortune – has decided that the best way to deal with an absurd world is to stay away from it. Especially when your twin sister Dorie has died, when your unhappy parents are at war with one another, when frazzled soccer moms in two-ton SUVs are more dangerous than atom bombs, when your guidance counselor keeps asking why you haven’t applied to college. But Billy’s about to learn that the world can be transformed by creative acts of the soul – the problem is that he doesn’t trust happiness. Learn all about it in “The Tragic Age,” San Diegan Stephen Metcalfe’s debut young-adult novel, as the author himself speaks on it at Warwick’s Books, 7812 Girard Ave., on Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. THE TRAGIC AGE: Tuesday, March 3, 7 p.m., Warwick’s Books, 7812 Girard Avenue, Tuesday, March 3, 7 p.m. Free. (858) 454-0347.