In the Dark Yonder

My short story, TOOTH, appears in the new issue of Dark Yonder magazine.

It's the first new work I've published since TROUBLE TOWN, nearly three years ago. Part of that hiatus was an intentional break, part of it was the demands of family and medical stuff and getting older. I think of myself as retired these days, but I got this story in my head and it wouldn't leave me alone.

TOOTH is the tale of a collections agent, a man who works with his fists, when he must choose between his boss' smart-mouth son and his dentist. And we all know how hard it can be to find a good dentist!

It's part of a stellar lineup in Dark Yonder Issue 6. Check it out here!

Happy birthday, Bubba!

This month marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of LONELY STREET, the first novel starring bumbling Albuquerque private eye Bubba Mabry.

LONELY STREET was my first published book, and it remains my best-seller over the years. It was initially published in 1994 as a mass-market paperback by Pocket Books. Thanks to small presses and the advent of easy self-publishing, I've kept it in print one way or the other since.

In 2008, LONELY STREET was made into a Hollywood comedy starring Jay Mohr, Robert Patrick and Joe Mantegna. I spent a couple of days on the set while they were shooting the movie, and the whole experience was a lot of fun.

Bubba Mabry has been featured in 10 of my books over the years and we consider him family now. 

I'm up to 34 published books now, but I (and this blog) have been on hiatus for the past few years. I recently wrote a short story and got it accepted by a magazine, so I'm still writing, but I'm enjoying semi-retirement, too. The family bookstore, Organic Books, keeps us busy, and there's always so much reading to do!

Body of work

Back in February, when I announced there would be a 10th Bubba Mabry book, I posted on this blog a list of the previous Bubba tales, in order. Now that the new one, TROUBLE TOWN, is only 10 days away, I thought it might be useful to post a list of all my published work.

It's quite a list. I've been publishing crime fiction since 1994. A lot of the titles are standalone "books about crooks," but there's also the Bubba series and a couple of other characters who went two books each. The list also includes the short stories I've published.

Where the publisher is listed as "Amazon," that mostly means I published it myself. At our house, book publishing has become a cottage industry -- I write'em, my wife Kelly helps me with editing and cover art, and we sell them at our Albuquerque bookstore, Organic Books, as well as the usual places online.

So here's the list. I'm not going to link to every one of these, but they're all available in paperback and/or Kindle. You completists out there might want to bookmark this post. ;-) 

BY STEVE BREWER 

"Lonely Street," 1994, Pocket Books 

"Baby Face," 1995, Pocket Books 

"Witchy Woman," 1996, St. Martin's Press 

"Shaky Ground," 1997, St. Martin's Press 

"Dirty Pool," 1999, St. Martin's Press 

"End Run," 2000, Intrigue Press 

"Crazy Love," 2001, Intrigue Press 

"Cheap Shot," 2002, Intrigue Press 

"Trophy Husband," 2003, University of New Mexico Press 

"Bullets," 2003, Intrigue Press 

"Fool's Paradise," 2003, UNM Press 

"Boost," 2004, Speck Press 

"Sanity Clause," a novella, in "The Last Noel," 2004, Worldwide

"Bank Job," 2005, Intrigue Press 

"Whipsaw," 2006, Intrigue Press 

"Monkey Man," 2006, Intrigue Press 

"Payoff," a short story in "Damn Near Dead," 2006, Busted Flush Press 

"Cutthroat," 2007, Bleak House 

"Limbo," a short story in the Mystery Writers of America anthology "Crimes by Moonlight," 2010, Berkley 

"Firepower," 2010, Amazon 

"1500 Rules for Successful Living," 2011, Amazon 

"Calabama," 2011, Amazon 

"The Big Wink," 2011, Amazon 

"Lost Vegas," 2011, Amazon 

"Surf City," a short story in "West Coast Crime Wave," 2011, Amazon 

"Party Doll," a novella, 2012, Amazon 

"A Box of Pandoras," 2012, Amazon 

"Showdown," a short story, 2012, Amazon 

"Found Money," a short story, 2012, Amazon 

"Yvonne's Gone," a short story, 2012, Amazon 

"Cemetery Plot," a short story, 2013, Amazon (reprinted in the 2019 anthology “Knucklehead Noir,” Coffin Hop Press) 

"Shotgun Boogie," 2016, Amazon 

"Homesick Blues," 2016, Amazon 

"Side Eye," 2017, Amazon 

"Up the Chimney," a short story in "It's a Weird Winter Wonderland," 2017, Coffin Hop Press 

"Cold Cuts," 2018, Amazon 

"Babbling Brook," a short story in “Trouble & Strife,” 2019, Down and Out Books

"Black Friday," a short story in “A Beast Without A Name,” 2019, Down and Out Books 

"Upshot," 2020, Amazon 

“Rules for Successful Living,” 2020, Amazon

 

Writing as MAX AUSTIN:

"Duke City Split," 2014, Alibi 

"Duke City Hit," 2014, Alibi 

"Duke City Desperado," 2015, Alibi 

 

Happy reading!

Sneak peek at the new Bubba book

Boy, it's been a long time since I last posted on this blog. Partly, that's because I was busy writing a new crime novel.

Now, I'm pleased to announce that my 34th published book will be out next month. It's called TROUBLE TOWN, and it's the 10th outing for my bumbling Albuquerque private eye Bubba Mabry.

I hadn't written about Bubba since 2012's PARTY DOLL and I thought I was probably done with him. But I got an idea earlier this year, while republishing some of Bubba's early adventures, and that idea eventually became TROUBLE TOWN.

In the new novel, Bubba is hired as a security guard for a private poker game. After the game is robbed, a local racketeer demands that Bubba recover the stolen valuables. Naturally, since this is Bubba, things soon spiral out of control. 

I set the book in 2012 because I didn't want to deal with the craziness of the pandemic or recent politics. The only time you'll find the word "trump" in the book is as a verb.

I really like the cover art, which features downtown Albuquerque's two pointed skyscrapers. The shorter of the two is the Hyatt, which is scheduled to host Left Coast Crime next April.

We're looking forward to Left Coast Crime because it gives us a chance to show off the family bookstore, Organic Books. The bookstore is thriving and it's become a popular destination in historic Nob Hill. I hope all my mystery conference pals will visit the store when they're in town.

Happy reading to you all!

Bubba's back!

Thanks to ebooks and self-publishing, I've kept all my 33 books available in one form or another, but some editions have become increasingly hard to find. So it was with the first two Bubba Mabry books, which had finally slipped out of print.

Those novels, LONELY STREET (1994) and BABY FACE (1995), were my first published books. Pocket Books brought them out as mass-market paperbacks. Years later, the books were reprinted by Intrigue Press. Later still, LONELY STREET was made into a Hollywood movie starring Jay Mohr, Robert Patrick and Joe Mantegna.

Now, the books are freshly available in new trade paperback editions with stellar new covers. You can find them here and here. And, of course, we have them at Organic Books, our two-year-old family bookstore in Albuquerque's historic Nob Hill neighborhood.

Publishing the new editions required me to re-read them, and that got me thinking again about Bubba Mabry, my bumbling private eye. It's been nine years since I last wrote about Bubba, in the novella PARTY DOLL, and frankly I thought I was done with him. But a new idea has been nibbling at me, so there might be another Bubba novel in the future. If so, it would be the 10th in the series.

Here are the Bubba books, in order:

LONELY STREET

BABY FACE

WITCHY WOMAN

SHAKY GROUND

DIRTY POOL

CRAZY LOVE

SANITY CLAUSE (novella)

MONKEY MAN

PARTY DOLL (novella)

In recent years, I've mostly written standalone crime novels rather than a series character like Bubba. The latest was the heist novel UPSHOT, which came out early last year.

I did some publishing work during 2020, but I took off from writing. Too many distractions during the worst of the pandemic, and I needed to pour my energies into our bookstore. Organic Books is doing better than ever now, and I feel my attention slipping back toward fiction. We'll see how it goes.

Hope you and yours are healthy and safe and finding lots of wonderful books to read.

Drumroll and . . . rimshot!

Need a laugh in these trying times? How about 4,000 laughs? Would that help?

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my 33rd published book, RULES FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING, available now on Amazon and at Organic Books in Albuquerque (505-553-3823).

 

As most of you know, I've written daily Rules for Successful Living since 2009, distributing the addled adages via Facebook and Twitter. In 2012, I assembled 1,500 of the Rules into a self-published collection. 

 

Lot of Rules under the bridge since then. The master list is at more than 4,400 now, and I'm still writing a new one every day. Around 4,000 made the cut for the latest collection, which is 220 pages in paperback.

 

A few of my favorites:

 -Never argue with a man whose tattoos outnumber his teeth.

-A watched pot never boils, and a boiled watch isn't much good, either.

-Looking down your nose makes your head look fat.

-When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's myopia.

-It takes two to tango, but you can pirouette all by yourself.

-Circus people always refer to the lion tamer as "the new guy."

I often use the summer months to write a new novel. But like a lot of writers, I've been sort of frozen during the COVID quarantine. It's hard to concentrate on fiction while the world is going nuts all around you. Instead, I poured myself into editing and publishing the RULES FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING, and into work at our family bookstore. Organic Books reopened to customers on July 1, and business has been brisk.

 

Tomorrow, I'm back to school, teaching my weekly writing class in the Honors College at the University of New Mexico. The class will be taught mostly in person, and we'll all wear masks and keep our distance in an oversized classroom. It promises to be weird, but I've gotten accustomed to wearing a mask from my shifts at the bookstore.

 

I hope you and yours are healthy and happy and getting the laughs that you need.

First time in paperback!

One of my personal favorites, my crime novel BANK JOB, is now available in trade paperback here.

BANK JOB was published in hardcover in 2005, but a paperback contract fell through. I subsequently published an e-book version, but print copies were getting hard to find.

For most of its 15-year life, BANK JOB has been under movie option in Hollywood. The current option holder is Peter Ettinger, who made my novel LONELY STREET into a 2009 film. Things are shut down in Hollywood right now, but we hope to one day see BANK JOB on the big screen.

The novel features a trio of knucklehead criminals who stumble upon a retired bank robber named Vince Carson. They take Vince's wife hostage in an attempt to make him rob a local bank for them. But Vince has other plans.

It's a fun, action-packed novel with geriatric heroes. Maybe that's why I like it so much. More and more, I can relate to the old folks.

I hope to use our quarantine time for more of these re-publishing tasks, including new trade paperbacks of LONELY STREET and other early Bubba Mabry novels. I'll keep you posted as they become available.

Our Albuquerque, NM, storefront, Organic Books, remains closed by order of the state, but we're selling books online via bookshop.org/shop/organicbooks or call us at 505-553-3823.

We're beating this virus. Stay home and read!

Safe at home

Like most of you, we're hiding out in our house, waiting for the experts to tell us the worst of the coronavirus plague has passed. Here in Albuquerque, the peak is expected in late April.

We've been sheltering at home since March 14, when we returned from a quick road trip to San Diego. The Left Coast Crime conference was canceled by health officials six hours after we arrived. We went home the next day, and have been there ever since. As near as we can tell, we're healthy.

The family enterprise, Organic Books, was hit by the closures ordered for retail stores throughout New Mexico. We're still doing business online and by phone, but the Nob Hill storefront remains closed.

If you'd like to help us, you can order new books from bookshop.org/shop/organicbooks and they'll be delivered to your door. Independent booksellers like us get a percentage of the sales. Same goes for audio books at Libro.fm, where you can type "Organic Books" in the bookstore field so we get a cut. Finally, and this especially applies to local customers, if you're looking for a used book, call us at 505-553-3823 and we'll see if we can deliver it.

It's a strange time in publishing. Here's this enormous audience, trapped at home, looking for something to read, but the virus restricts movements and cancels events, so it's difficult to get the word out about new books.

I published my latest crime novel, UPSHOT, in late January, just in time for it to be roundly ignored as the whole country focused on the contagion. I brought out the Kindle version in March and sold a few, but I think UPSHOT and a lot of its contemporaries will get lost in the COVID shuffle.

UPSHOT did get a nice review in the Albuquerque Journal last Sunday, but of course all the stores were closed so it's hard to tell if it did any good. You can read it here, but beware, there lies spoilers.

I've got other publishing projects to pursue during the quarantine. (Next up: a trade paperback edition of BANK JOB, which was published in hardcover and e-book, but never in paperback.) But I'm not trying to write anything new and I'm glad. Too many distractions right now.

Take good care of yourselves during this crisis. Stay home. Wash your hands. Order a bunch of good books. Time passes quickly when you have a book to read.

New heist thriller!

UPSHOT is now officially available on Amazon, via independent booksellers and at our family-owned Albuquerque, NM, bookshop, Organic Books.

My 32nd published book, UPSHOT is my first new novel in nearly two years. The last one, COLD CUTS, came out in April 2018.

In the new novel, set here in Albuquerque, a heist crew knocks over an armored van belonging to a cannabis courier company. The owner of the company is determined to get even, and things escalate.

UPSHOT is out now as a $9.99 trade paperback. Expect a Kindle version in a few months.

On March 8, we'll celebrate the new book with a 3 p.m. party at Organic Books. Y'all come!

Later that week, I'll be at Left Coast Crime in San Diego. I'm looking forward to my Saturday morning panel, which is called "Fiction Writers are Professional Liars: But can they do it to your face?" Terry Shames will be the moderator of the panel, which also features Bill Fitzhugh, Donna Andrews and Ellen Byron. Should be fun!

In April, I'll be part of the faculty at the annual writers' conference sponsored by University of New Mexico Continuing Education. My workshop is called "Polishing Your Prose."

On May 19, I'll give a talk on humor-writing at SouthWest Writers.

Busy times. And all these events come on the heels of three short-story anthologies that came out in in the last few months of 2019. I had stories in collections called KNUCKLEHEAD NOIR, A BEAST WITHOUT A NAME and TROUBLE & STRIFE. Check 'em out.

Happy reading!

Read my shorts!

I'm still working on my new novel, UPSHOT, and I'm beginning to doubt whether I can get it published before Christmas, as hoped. I'm on my fourth draft, and there's still more rewrite to come. Plus, there are beta readers and cover art and proofs. Let's say, sometime this winter, there should be a new novel available.

But you can still get some Steve Brewer reading this holiday season. I've got short stories coming out in three different anthologies later this year.

Two of the collections are scheduled to come out at the end of October. KNUCKLEHEAD NOIR will be published by Coffin Hop Press. And A BEAST WITHOUT A NAME will come out from Down and Out Books.

 A short story I wrote a few years ago, "Cemetery Plot," will be featured in KNUCKLEHEAD NOIR. It's a twisted tale set in an Arkansas cemetery, where a low-level criminal is being forced to dig his own grave.

A BEAST WITHOUT A NAME is the second anthology this year of crime stories inspired by the music of Steely Dan. Both were edited by mystery stalwart Brian Thornton. My contribution is a dark vengeance tale called "Black Friday."

In early December, Down and Out will publish TROUBLE AND STRIFE, a collection of crime stories inspired by British rhyming slang and edited by Simon Wood. My story is called "Babbling Brook" and it's set inside a prison.

I'm still devoting a good chunk of every week to the family bookshop, Organic Books in Albuquerque's Nob Hill neighborhood. My wife and I mostly work on weekends, while our two sons manage the place during the week. I'm in charge of author events, and I try to go to all the booksignings and poetry readings we host.

A key scene in UPSHOT happens on Carlisle Boulevard, less than a block from Organic Books. Easiest research ever.

Hope your autumn is filled with great books!

Summertime news

You're more likely to drive too fast on an exit ramp/frontage road because you've become accustomed to the higher speed of the freeway. Psychologists call this being "velocitized."

I'm feeling velocitized this week because my busy, busy life abruptly slowed down, and my brain hasn't caught up yet.

With the arrival of summer, a few items disappear from my schedule, including the class I teach at the University of New Mexico's Honors College. But the big difference is that I finished the first draft of a new crime novel, which had consumed me for the past nine weeks. I always take a little break between "The End" and the rewrites, during which I try not to think about the new book at all. That way, I have fresh eyes when I start editing it.

Hiking expert David Ryan talks at Organic Books.

The novel, currently called UPSHOT, is about a heist crew that hijacks cannabis couriers. I had a lot of fun writing it.

Our family-owned bookstore in Albuquerque's historic Nob Hill neighborhood, Organic Books, remains busy and growing, and I've been putting in extra hours there because one of our two sons is on vacation. We host events by local authors and poets on weekend afternoons, and I'm usually at the store then. Check out the schedule at our website.

My summer slowdown means more time for reading, and I've recently devoured books by William Gibson, Blake Crouch, Tana French, James Ellroy and Adrian McKinty. Next up is a Jim Harrison novel I somehow overlooked in the past.

One of the best parts of owning a bookstore is that it serves as your personal library. I can take home a different book every night if I want. How cool is that?

Hope you have a summer full of great reading!

Work, work, work, work, work

When you're a novelist, you do lots of things that aren't writing novels. For most of us, writing won't pay the bills, so we find part-time work to fill in the gaps.

Over the past three decades, I've worked as newspaper reporter, humor columnist, freelance editor and college professor, all while busily cranking out novels and short stories. During most of that time, I also was a househusband, doing the lion's share of the housework and yardwork while my wife pursued her careers.

These days, I'm essentially working FIVE part-time jobs:

1) Still a househusband. Doing laundry right now.

2) Looking after things for my Mom, who has Alzheimer's disease. She lives in a nursing home in Hot Springs, AR, and I drive there every three or four months and spend a few days. I'm on the phone a lot.

3) Still teaching my writing seminar at the Honors College at the University of New Mexico. The class meets only once a week, but it produces a lot of papers that must be graded.

4) Still an author, though I took a break from writing for much of 2018. I've started work on a new novel, but even when I'm not writing, I'm busy BEING an author -- email, social media, signing contracts, managing my e-book empire. (All my e-books are currently on sale on Kindle for 99 cents each!)

5) Working as one of the clerks/co-owners of Organic Books, the new used bookstore in Albuquerque's historic Nob Hill neighborhood. Business is good, and we just updated our website. We host events with local authors and poets nearly every weekend.

My pal Cecilia Wessinger stopped by the other day and snapped a photo of me with the prominent display of my books.

Though we've been open less than five months, Organic Books is one of the finalists for Best Bookstore in the Weekly Alibi's "Best of Burque" annual poll. You can see all the nominees (and vote) here. I'm also nominated in the Best Local Author category, which has never happened before. Guess it helps to have your own bookstore.

I'm just starting on the new crime novel (tentative title: HIJACKERS), so publication is probably a year away, but I will have short stories in three different anthologies during 2019. I'll update this blog with more info as we get closer to publication dates.

In June, we'll celebrate the 25th anniversary of the publication of my first novel LONELY STREET (the Bubba Mabry debut later made into a movie). Assuming I can finish it, HIJACKERS will be my 32nd published book.

Not bad for a part-time job.

Happy reading!

Time flies when you're selling books

Wow, it's been five weeks since I posted about the grand opening of Organic Books, our family bookstore in Albuquerque. The time has sailed past. The store has been busy with holiday shoppers and folks from the surrounding neighborhoods. Old friends and local authors stop by to visit. Next thing you know, it's nearly Christmas.

The photo shows our sons Seth (in hat) and Max working at the counter at Organic Books. They mostly staff the store day-to-day, though I'm usually there on weekday mornings and Kelly (who still has a full-time job!) fills in on weekends. We've been so busy, we often need two people manning the store.

Since the grand opening, the bookshop has been featured in super write-ups by the Weekly Alibi and the University of New Mexico news service, and we're all over social media, thanks to our supportive friends. You can join the fun by following Organic Books on Facebook and Twitter.

The Facebook page is a good way to keep up with coming events at Organic Books. Starting right after Christmas, we have lots of author signings and poetry readings scheduled at the store. I'm in charge of that calendar, so local authors who want to do events should write me at abqbrewer@gmail.com. I'm booking February now!

Hey, that's one of the points I'll make in my Jan. 5 speech at SouthWest Writers. The talk is called "I've Looked at Books From Both Sides Now." Though we're still new to retail, I've got some ideas about how authors can help themselves when dealing with bookstores. And the story of how things fell into place for Organic Books is a story worth telling. As with any successful startup, there have been lots of little miracles.

Happy holidays to you and yours. And happy reading!

Organic Books has its debut

The grand opening of our new bookstore on Saturday truly was grand, with hundreds of customers visiting and welcoming us to the Nob Hill neighborhood.

Other booksellers in town also visited, bearing gifts, which was much appreciated. We already feel like we're part of Albuquerque's book-selling community.

We sold a ton of used books, as well as lots of new books by local authors. Many of the authors stopped by for the grand opening and brought more books. Our 10-foot-long "Local Authors" table is groaning under the weight.

We've also received a number of donations -- dozens of boxes of used books -- that we're cleaning and pricing and preparing for the shelves. We have a trade-in policy for store credit, but most of the donors said they just wanted to help a new bookshop get started.

It's been many years since Nob Hill had its own bookstore, so residents are eager to support us. We feel like we've found the perfect niche.

Organic Books' Grand Opening Nov. 10

Organic Books is taking shape! We've worked furiously for the past week, getting 10,000 books onto shelves, and it's starting to look like a real bookshop.

We've still got lots of work to do, but we anticipate a "soft" opening in a week or so, in advance of our official Grand Opening on Nov. 10.

The store has been getting lots of interest from passers-by since the signs went up in the front windows. That's Max Brewer in the photo, posing with the logo he designed.

All those shelves in the background? They're full of books now!

Mostly, we'll carry all kinds of used books. But we have a long, antique table in the center of the store that we'll keep stocked with new books by local authors.

The Albuquerque Museum hosts its annual Author Fair on Nov. 3, and I'll be there as usual, but this time I'll be talking up Organic Books and encouraging local authors to drop by the store afterward to sell us their books.

Our website is still under construction, but you can see our origin story at www.organicbooks.net.

Nob Hill hasn't had a bookstore in years, and we're getting a great response from the neighborhood. Please help us spread the word.

The latest on Organic Books

Our new family-owned bookstore in Albuquerque's Nob Hill neighborhood draws closer to a reality with every passing day.

We now have a logo, designed by Max Brewer with input from the rest of us:

We love the open-book artwork, which fits with the Art Deco decor of the historic Nob Hill Business Center. We plan to put this design in our large front windows, and it'll be featured on our bags, bookmarks, etc.

Last weekend, the Albuquerque Journal carried a business story about our plans to open the store. You can read it here.

The store is almost ready for us to start filling with books. Electrical, paint and plumbing work was done this week, following some minor demolition and renovation. The 1,300-square-foot space, on the Carlisle Boulevard side of the shopping center, was formerly a nail salon.

We hope to move bookshelves and other furniture into the store next week. Once we take occupancy, even before we're officially open, we'll be taking books in trade and buying from local authors. I'll let you know when we're ready.

Lots of paperwork involved in starting a new business, and we're trying to get it all done quickly so we can have a Grand Opening in early November. Stay tuned.

We're opening a bookstore!

Wouldn't you love an airy, well-lighted bookshop with a great selection of used and new books? My family is opening just such a store in Albuquerque.

Kelly and I signed a lease yesterday for space in the historic Nob Hill Business Center on Route 66. In keeping with Nob Hill's all-natural hipster vibe, the independent bookstore will be called Organic Books.

Our two sons, Max and Seth, will work at the store, so it'll truly be a family business. We're a family who loves real books, and we hope Organic Books will become a gathering place for book lovers.

As the author of 31 books, I've visited stores all over the country, doing book-signings and talks. We plan to have a busy calendar of such events at Organic Books, where we'll feature new books by New Mexico authors as well as a curated selection of thousands of used books.

The Organic Books space has a 13-foot ceiling and huge front windows that let sunshine pour inside. It was formerly a salon, so there's a makeover under way, with some interior walls and fixtures being removed. We should move shelves and books into the shop by mid-October, and hope to have a grand opening in early November.

Photos and more details soon. Whee!

Summertime news

Other than social media posts, including my daily Rules for Successful Living, I haven't written anything in more than a month. And I'm okay with that.

All the writing advice says you should write every day, and that's good practice when you're starting out. But veteran writers -- I've been trying to write fiction for 30 years -- occasionally need a break to recharge the mental and physical batteries. Also, life intrudes. Sometimes, you've got to stop dreaming about your next story and deal with leaky roofs and family traumas.

My wife and I have reached that age where our parents are dying or making end-of-life decisions about assisted living. Our days revolve around their care and the required government and medical paperwork. I've driven to Arkansas, where my mom lives in a nursing home, seven times in the past year and a half.

Summer is often when I write a new novel. I disappear into the book for a month or two, and come out with a first draft that I polish during the school year, when part of my time and attention is devoted to teaching at the Honors College at the University of New Mexico.

Not this summer, though. Not only am I not writing a new book, I'm not even thinking about a new book. I wrote a couple of short stories last spring, but my head is pretty much empty of story at the moment. And that's okay. Because I've been doing this so long, I'm confident the next story will show up when it's ready.

My latest crime novel, COLD CUTS, is still fresh on the market, but I've been too distracted to give it the full promotional push it deserves. It did get its first Amazon review: Five stars!

Speaking of Amazon, I'm running regular sales on my backlist on Kindle. I try to keep at least one of my Kindle books on sale for 99 cents. Currently on sale is BANK JOB, which is in development in Hollywood. Give it a read and visualize who should play the roles in a movie version!

I should note that it's not all grief and drudgery at our house. 'Tis the season of the cookout, and we have wonderful friends. Our younger son is getting married next month, and the outdoor wedding should be an occasion of great joy.

The summer monsoons have arrived in Albuquerque, which reminds me of the climactic scene in COLD CUTS. But you'll have to read it for yourself.

Until next time, happy reading!

BETTER CALL SAUL, y'all!

Here's something fun: One of my books will be featured (ever so peripherally) in a future episode of BETTER CALL SAUL.

BETTER CALL SAUL is the prequel to BREAKING BAD and, like that enormous hit, it's filmed here in Albuquerque. They're filming the fourth season at locations around town now.

One scene is being filmed at the Monte Carlo Steakhouse, a local institution which I used as a setting in my crime novel BOOST. The Monte Carlo is one of those restaurants where every square inch of wall space is decorated in memorabilia -- model cars, Elvis statues, sports pennants, you name it. Unbeknownst to me, the folks at the Monte Carlo made a big display of BOOST sometime after it was published in 2004. The wall display, which includes the cover of the book, my photo/bio and the three pages that feature the Monte Carlo, apparently will be in the background of a scene in the final episode of Season 4 of BETTER CALL SAUL.

I don't know anything else about the scene or the episode, but I wouldn't blink when I'm watching, if I were you. You might miss my moment of fame.

Pre-order COLD CUTS now!

My latest crime caper, COLD CUTS, is now available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle. If you pre-order, the ebook version will appear in your reader automatically on the official pub date, April 30.

The Kindle version is only $2.99. The trade paperback version, available at Amazon here, is $9.99.

COLD CUTS was inspired by a real-life situation: people smuggling Mexican bologna across the border because it's illegal to bring it into the United States. Rookie smuggler Lucky Flanagan gets into all kinds of trouble when he tries it.

I'm scheduled to do a booksigning for COLD CUTS on May 20 at Treasure House Books here in Albuquerque. Details here. I hope to see some of you there.