I have a book signing today at Borders Books - 2 pm - at 1201 S Hayes St, Arlington, VA. Then tonight we welcome the holiday that over the years has transformed from a day of evil to a day of magic to a day of fun.  This is perhaps how we defeat evil – by laughing at it.
 
It is also the day we are authorized to pretend we are someone else.  I’ll admit that one of my best memories of Halloween is having a grandmother who would pretend she didn’t know who I was on Halloween. 
 
I’ll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween.  But I hope you all still own enough whimsy to don a disguise and have some fun.  Let us all eat, drink and be scary.

I’ll start my Halloween celebration Saturday afternoon at a book signing in Borders Books.  It will begin at 2 pm at the store is at 1201 S Hayes St, Arlington, VA.  I’m thinking of doing the signing dressed as Hannibal Jones.  Or maybe a Hawaiian hula hula boy.  Come by the store and see.

I like to share the feedback I get from fans about my writing, and sometimes that feedback leads to good additions to our libraries.  This week’s example is from Richard Gazala.

Richard’s first novel, Blood of the Moon, was released this month.  Before Richard’s top notch political thriller hit the shelves he read my nonfiction book, Successfully Marketing Your Novel in the 21st Century.  He found it so useful that he wrote a wonderful review of the book on Amazon.com.  I was so flattered by the review I’ve made it the featured review on my website.  Thank you, Richard, for your kind words about my book, and I wish you great success with yours.

Read Richard Gazala’s review of Successfully Marketing Your Fiction in the 21st Century on my main web site, then look for Blood of the Moon on Amazon.com.

I had a wonderful surprise at Borders in the Boulevard at the Capital Center Friday. Aside from the books bought that evening, a woman came in with four books she bought earlier in the week. She returned Friday just to ask me to sign them.
 
Also this week I got a mention on one of my favorite blogs:  Criminal Brief: The Mystery Short Story Web Log Project. Author John M. Floyd talked about his great time at Bouchercon, including meeting me and some of the other writers in the holiday anthology he edited.  Read the Criminal Brief blog at http://criminalbrief.com/?p=9387

And you can read a good review of the aforementioned anthology, “The Gift of Murder” on the Blogger News Network, a high-quality source of analysis and editorial writing on the news.  Read this review of The Gift of Murder at ttp://www.bloggernews.net/122736

Tonight my book signing is at 6pm at Borders on the Boulevard at the Capital Center -  931A Capital Centre Blvd. Largo, MD.  The last time I was there I met Andre McGuinness.  He picked up a copy of Russian Roulette then, even though he said he wasn’t a mystery fan. He e-mailed me later with many nice things to say about the book which I of course appreciated. At the same time he took me to task for not putting more action into the book. He wanted more shootouts and a few more bloody fistfights. Then he said that the book felt like an old P.I. story, which I took as a compliment.
 
I hope Andre reads The Payback Assignment or The Orion Assignment to get more action into his reading diet. Meanwhile I was flattered enough by his note to post much of his e-mail as this week’s featured review on my website – http://www.ascamacho.com.  Take a look!

My latest self-serving blog post is about the latest trend in publishing and how I’m jumping on the bandwagon - http://ascamacho.blogspot.com

I’m recovered from my travels and ready for a great book signing at Borders in the Boulevard at the CapitalCenter. Come by after work - I’ll start signing books at 6 pm.  The store is at 931A Capital Centre Blvd.Largo, MD.

Another reader has sent me some wonderful feedback.  I’d like for you to meet Andre McGuinness.

I met Andre the last time I visited the Capital Centre’s Borders. He picked up a copy of Russian Roulette then, even though he said he wasn’t a mystery fan. He e-mailed me later with many nice things to say about the book which I of course appreciated. At the same time he took me to task for not putting more action into the book. He wanted more shootouts and a few more bloody fistfights. Then he said that the book felt like an old P.I. story, which I took as a compliment.

I hope that Andre reads The Payback Assignment or The Orion Assignment to get more action into his reading diet. Meanwhile I was flattered enough by his note to post much of his e-mail as this week’s featured review on my website. Thank you Andre, for your kind words, and even your criticisms.

Good news for those of you who would like to sample the flavor of Hannibal Jones without investing in an entire novel. Now you can purchase a Hannibal Jones short story, “A Little Wildness,” and download it as an e-book.

Last night I returned home from Bouchercon and my head is still spinning.  I wanted to share the joy before it faded. My plan was to begin a sentence with “The highlight of the conference was…” But the whole thing was one long series of highlights, including:

The panel I moderated Thursday was standing room only and the authors I worked with - Jack Fredrickson, Greg Herren, Adrian Magson and Michael Wiley - were spectacular. Afterward we went to the book sellers’ room and signed a pile of novels.

Bouchercon took over GameWorks, which is basically a huge arcade for grownups. Great food, all the games were free, and a rocking DJ too. We were up too late Thursday night.

Publisher Karen Syed gathered 15 or so Echelon Press authors for a fine lunch! It was great to sit and chat with my fellow authors for a while.

The Private eye Writers of America Banquet was in a left-over prohibition-era saloon called the Slippery Noodle. That was worth two highlights. I was asked to present the award for best short story on stage, and spent the evening having drinks with Sue Grafton!

At the end of Bouchercon I joined what looked like 100 writers at the Author’s Bazaar, handing out free copies of one of my Hannibal Jones mysteries. It was a 2-hour event, but I signed 50 copies of Collateral Damage in 45 minutes! That final ego blast was a great way to end the ultimate mystery weekend.