An author I wish I'd met

Last Friday, I stopped by the branch library near our house to drop off some books. I browsed the stacks and was delighted to find "The Long Home," William Gay's first novel and the only one of his titles I hadn't read.

In a chilling coincidence, I went home, logged onto the Internet and immediately found the first word of Gay's death. He was 68 years old, and apparently died of heart failure the night before.

I'd only recently discovered Gay, who's often compared to William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy. Gay's name kept cropping up in interviews with other authors I admire, but I hadn't gotten around to his books until a few weeks ago. I gobbled them right up. Not only are they beautifully written, but they're set in a South not that different from the place where I grew up. They spoke to me. I'm sorry he won't be around to write more of them.

You can find many tributes to Gay on the Internet. The USA Today obit is here.

You're doing it wrong

A tip for the Deputy Barney Fifes of the world: If you leave a suspect in your patrol car, make sure he can't drive it away.

Police in northwest Indiana are still on the lookout for a man who stole a cop car, then had the audacity to use the police radio to ask headquarters how to remove his handcuffs. He also asked whether the car had a cigarette lighter.

The car was later found submerged in water in a nearby county. No sign of the 22-year-old suspect, who presumably still was wearing the handcuffs.

Full story here.

Ready, aim, Kindle Fire!

Amazon.com says it sold more than 4 million Kindle e-readers in December, and I was one of the lucky ones who received a Kindle Fire from Santa.

I've played around with my new Kindle so much, I gave myself a pain -- aching neck and shoulders from hunching over the full-color screen. I've learned to look up occasionally and swivel my head around to keep from freezing up.

Already, I've downloaded mystery novels by Anthony Neil Smith, Paul Bishop, Ray Banks, Mark Terry, John Galligan and Reed Farrel Coleman. Most of those I got for free or at bargain prices.

(Blatant Self-Promotion: All my books are available on Kindle, most for $2.99 or less. Click here: http://amzn.to/cvTTMv. The Bubba Mabry mysteries remain 99 cents each, though the price is going up soon.)

My Kindle mania goes beyond reading e-books. I've got apps for Facebook and Twitter and Gmail, a slew of newspapers and magazines as well as The Associated Press and ESPN, music via Pandora, The Weather Channel, MapQuest, chess and Scrabble and Spider Solitaire. All in the palm of my hand.

I'd be interested in hearing what other apps are tops among Kindle owners. I'm sure I've only scratched the surface so far.

It's a beautiful day here in Albuquerque, and it's time to get outside and enjoy the non-virtual world. But I'll have my Kindle in my pocket.

Check out this Q&A

Author and book blogger Sean Patrick Reardon has discovered my crime novels, and he really likes them. He wrote about them on his blog recently, and today he features a Q&A with me. He asked good questions, and the answers are full of information about my latest books and upcoming projects.

Click here to read it.

Thanks, Sean!

Resettled in Albuquerque

We will now end radio silence and report that the Brewers' move to New Mexico has been a success. We're unpacked and put away, so it looks and feels as if we've been in our new house much longer than, um, five days.

Our house overlooks Summit Park, in a leafy neighborhood north of the University of New Mexico. Within walking distance of both Nob Hill and UNM, where I resume teaching part-time in January. The place is exactly what we were looking for.

Albuquerque's been hit with some big thunderstorms this week, and it's clear our arrival has ended the drought. You're welcome, New Mexico.

Other truly New Mexican treats: incredible sunrises, green chile chicken enchiladas, a roadrunner bobbing around in our front yard, and the International Balloon Fiesta filling the skies with hot-air balloons. The Land of Entrapment certainly knows how to welcome its own back home.

How I published 3 books in 3 months

My E-book Empire is complete -- for now -- as I've published LOST VEGAS, my latest crime novel, on Kindle and Smashwords.

LOST VEGAS is the story of a casino heist, but with a twist: The casino owner hires the robbers to rip off his establishment. Just when it looks as if he might get away with it, another small-town casino owner and his giant Samoan sidekick jump into the fray. LOST VEGAS is an action-packed thriller with lots of humor mixed in, and I think you'll love it. Only $2.99!

LOST VEGAS is the third original novel I've self-published this summer. Here's how that happened:

My agent had been shopping my manuscripts around New York the past few years, but having no luck in the ever-shrinking market. I optimistically kept writing away, and developed a backlog of unpublished material.

A year ago, I dipped my toe in the e-book waters by publishing a quirky hitman thriller called FIREPOWER. It was well-received, and the process taught me how to load books to Kindle and Smashwords. Soon, I secured the rights to my backlist and re-published all my earlier work as e-books.

This summer, I got tired of waiting on New York, and I asked my agent to reel in the submissions on LOST VEGAS as well as my novels THE BIG WINK and CALABAMA. While Kelly and I have enjoyed our foggy summer in Santa Cruz, we've also been busy publishing these books -- I did the proofing/formatting, and she did the cover art.

Self-publishing allows us to get books to market quickly (THE BIG WINK, with its medical marijuana storyline, is particularly timely), and to charge less for them. These novels are only $2.99. From each purchase, I earn about the same as I'd make on a $24 hardcover. And no trees died.

I haven't given up on New York publishing altogether, though my faith has been shaken. My agent is currently shopping around my latest manuscript, A BOX OF PANDORAS, and I hope some publisher picks it up. But if that doesn't happen, I'll happily publish it myself.

Can't top reality

There's some pretty broad comedy in my new crime novel THE BIG WINK, which explores the medical marijuana industry in far Northern California. But I didn't dare write a scene as outlandish as this:

This weekend, in Oakland, there's a huge marijuana festival scheduled to take place in front of City Hall. It's all legal. Just like the farmers market in your town, except all the products center on the one crop.

How is a comic novelist supposed to keep up with the real world?

Full story here.

You're doing it wrong

Today's tip for aspiring criminals: When fleeing after a bank holdup, it's a good idea to look over your shoulder once in a while and make sure no one is following you.

Two robbers in Brownsville, PA, forgot this important lesson, and were promptly arrested after a motorist followed them home from the robbery, then told police of the robbers' location.

Full story here.

Big e-book sale

Nearly all my published novels now are on sale as 99-cent e-books. Everything I read about e-books says successful self-published authors are the ones who use the 99-cent price point, and I want to catch that wave.

The sale features books published before 2010 -- essentially everything previously printed on paper. (The one exception is BOOST, which is offered as an e-book by a different publisher.) The 99-cent books include all the mysteries in the Bubba Mabry series, the two novels starring sportswriter Drew Gavin and such standalone thrillers as BULLETS, BANK JOB, WHIPSAW and CUTTHROAT.

My latest e-books -- the medical marijuana novel THE BIG WINK, the hillbilly noir CALABAMA and the hitman thriller FIREPOWER -- remain $2.99, as does my hilarious "1000 RULES FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING."

You can see all my e-books by clicking either of these links: Kindle or Smashwords.

Please tell all your friends. Thanks!

Calling Ryan Gosling

My hillbilly noir novel CALABAMA is featured on the latest posting of "My Book, The Movie," the website where authors speculate about the film versions of their books.

I suggest that the young actor Ryan Gosling, who has done such amazing work in recent years, would be perfect to play Eric Newlin, the slacker antihero of CALABAMA.

Click the link to see more.

Marijuana heists in fact and fiction

A cannabis collective in Redding, CA, has been robbed twice in the past few weeks by handgun-wielding bandits. I'd say it's a case of life imitating art, but the heists happened before the publication this week of my new crime novel THE BIG WINK.

In THE BIG WINK, handgun-wielding robbers knock over half a dozen marijuana dispensaries in Redding. The story follows the robbers as they go to ground after one of their robberies goes wrong. In my novel, the hunt for the robbers draws national attention, and people on all sides of the medical marijuana debate try to push their own agendas.

I wrote THE BIG WINK a year ago, in case you were wondering. I no longer live in Redding and can account for my whereabouts on the dates of the real-life robberies.

Full story here.

Please judge this book by its cover

Check out the terrific cover art for my soon-to-be-released crime novel, THE BIG WINK.

THE BIG WINK is my look at the medical marijuana movement. Set on the fringes of the Emerald Triangle in Northern California, the novel features a gang of misfit armed robbers who are knocking over cannabis dispensaries. When a local banker is shot during one of the robberies, the law can't look the other way anymore. The cops turn up the heat.

THE BIG WINK is the third in a trio of standalone novels set in and around Redding, CA; the others are BANK JOB and the recent hit CALABAMA. I poke a lot of fun at the "Ozarks of California," but the community reaction to the medical marijuana boom in my novel reflects what's really been happening across the country.

As for that brilliant cover art, it's designed by my wife Kelly Brewer, who's done several of my e-book covers. I think this one is her best yet.

Expect to see THE BIG WINK on Kindle and Smashwords by the end of the week. Don't worry, I'll let you know as soon as it's available. ;-)

You're doing it wrong

Two geniuses in New Mexico have been arrested for starting an 11,000-acre wildfire, sparked by a burning charcoal grill they were carrying in the back of a pickup truck.

The campers loaded the grill into the truck and drove off after being told to extinguish it by park rangers. Flying embers set the men's camping gear on fire, so they pulled off the road and dumped all the burning material off the shoulder. That started the larger fire.

Full story here.

You're doing it wrong

Case of life imitating art: In my novel Bank Job, which came out in 2005, a loser tries to rob a liquor store near Redding, CA, only to have the clerks chase him away by breaking bottles over his head. This week, a robber at a Redding liquor store was tackled by four citizens and arrested, even though he used a broken bottle to try to fend off the Good Samaritans.

The perp was identified by police as Otto Smalley, and if that's not a name from a Steve Brewer novel, I don't know what the heck is. Officers said the 45-year-old tried to use a knife to rob the liquor store/minimart where he was a familiar customer. Three guys suffered minor injuries from the broken bottle. Full story here. Be sure to check out the cool neck tattoo in the mug shot.

Oh, police say meth use apparently was involved. Surprise!

Bubba book bargains

All the Bubba Mabry mysteries -- seven novels and a novella -- are now on sale as e-books for only 99 cents each.

Bubba is my franchise player. Nearly half my crime stories have featured the bumbling Albuquerque private eye and his love interest, reporter Felicia Quattlebaum. Lonely Street was my first published novel and was later made into a Hollywood comedy starring Robert Patrick, Jay Mohr and Joe Mantegna. The seventh in the series, Monkey Man, was a finalist for the Lefty Award for funniest mystery of the year.

Three different houses published the Bubba series during its 12-year run, so it's been difficult at times to get the complete set in paper. But e-books make it a snap, and the price will never be cheaper.

Click here for the link to my Amazon page, where you can see all my Kindle stuff, including the Bubba books. For all other e-readers, link here for Smashwords. And remember: You don't need an e-reader to enjoy e-books. You can download the Kindle app for free and read books on your computer or smartphone.

Please tell all your friends about this limited-time offer. Thanks!

You're doing it wrong

Police in Albuquerque, NM, say two copper thieves got a big surprise when they cut into a live electric wire with a pair of garden shears.

The shears were scorched by the surge, police said, and whoever was holding them was almost certainly injured. The criminal masterminds were also captured on surveillance video while on the property.

Full story here.

CALABAMA now available!

My new crime novel, CALABAMA, hit the Kindle and Smashwords bookstores today!

CALABAMA has an "official" pub date of June 15, and it may be a few days before it's available on Nook and some of the other e-book platforms. But it's already up on Kindle and Smashwords. Only $2.99.

(Remember: You don't need a Kindle to enjoy e-books. The Kindle app is free for computers and most smartphones. It downloads in seconds.)

CALABAMA is the story of Eric Newlin, a slacker whose life is in a rut in Redding, California. Sometimes, a rut is the safest place to be. When Eric pushes against the bounds of day-to-day life, he quickly loses everything. He falls so far that a kidnapping scheme starts to sound like a reasonable way to make the money he needs to escape Calabama.

Award-winning author Bill Fitzhugh says, "CALABAMA is Steve Brewer at his absolute best."

Please check out my new novel, and tell all your friends!

You're doing it wrong

If you're in the middle of a high-speed chase and you're driving a stolen truck, it probably won't help to throw your prosthetic leg at the pursuing officers.

A man in Shasta County, CA, tried that very thing and, as you can read here, the cops still caught him after he ran over several spike bars and crashed the truck.

You can insert your own joke about how he'll do in court.

You're doing it wrong

Today's tip for aspiring criminals: After you've successfully knocked over a convenience store, it's a bad idea to go back to that same store for cigarettes the next day.

As reported here, an 18-year-old man in Florida forgot this important lesson, and was promptly arrested after the store clerk recognized him from the robbery the night before. The robber had worn a mask, but had let it slip and the clerk had seen his face.

Extra weird: The robber stole $500 and several packs of Newports. So why was he buying more cigarettes the next day? A nice, non-smoking jail may save this young man from himself.

Charlie gets an Edgar

Congrats to Charlie Price, one of my best pals, who won the Edgar last night in the Young Adult novel category. Charlie took the prize for his third novel, "The Interrogation of Gabriel James."

I got a brief e-mail from him, and he was on Cloud Nine, naturally. I look forward to hearing his entire weepy acceptance speech sometime soon. I'm sure it will be on YouTube.

Charlie's still in New York, which is why, I suppose, the news media in his hometown of Redding don't have the story yet, but I hope they make a big splash of it. Charlie's a terrific guy and deserves the attention.

The Best Novel Edgar went to mystery veteran Steve Hamilton for "The Lock Artist," which I just finished reading. Terrific book about a young safecracker.

Congratulations to all the winners (and the finalists, too)!