BOUCHERCON AND INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND OTHER STUFF

Hi folks,

Well, Bouchercon is just around the corner and I’ll be heading to Raleigh… dang! I can never remember if that's in South Carolina or North Carolina… anyway, it’s one or the other. I’ll be rooming again with my buddy Jack Getze who keeps me laughing the whole time.

 Jack with another of his always clever headbands and one of his fantastic novels!

Lots of stuff happening there! I’ll be reading some of my stuff at the Noir at the Bar event, organized by a great writer—Eryk Pruitt, author of HASHTAG and some other terrific stuff—and it kicks off at 7 pm Thursday, Oct. 8 a… you guessed it!... a bar! Looks like a special one—a bunch of old friends and a couple of soon-to-be-new-ones. If you’re in the right Raleigh, stop in for a great time!

The next day, I’m on a panel they’re calling “Rough, tough tales for tough readers” and it’s emceed by Eric Beetner and the panelists are myself, Chris Pavone, Tom Young and Trey Barker. This one’s gonna be really cool!

Sometime in the afternoon after my panel, Jack Getze and I are going to be interviewed by Tom Pitts for the world-wide show Authors on the Air. Rumor is that the lovely hostess of this series, Pam Stack, is coming up from Florida to see if Jack and I live up to our billing as “The World’s Most Handsome Writer and His Faithful Sidekick, Jack"… This is a big, big deal for us. Tom recently did an on-air chat with Benjamin Whitmer that got a quarter of a million hits! What we Texans call “high cotton.”

 Tom Pitts... being cool and bringing attitude...

After I get back, I’ll head on down to Naptown in December to do a booksigning with a bunch of Indiana writers, including an old friend, Michael Martone and a bunch of others. If you’re in town, stop on by!

My German publisher, Frank Nowatzke just let me know that The Rapist is going to be released very soon. I can't wait to hold it in my hot little hand!

Got some big news that should be coming any day now. One’s a supersecret project I’ve been asked to take part in and I’m sworn to secrecy but will let you know the minute I’m allowed to. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever been privileged to take part in and I’m dying to let everyone know what’s going on, but… soon!

Blue skies,

Les

NEWS--Beat to a Pulp, anthology LAST WORD, and an appearance in Naptown

Hi folks,

A few news items… I’m privileged to have a story in the just-released anthology, LAST WORD, edited by Liam Sweeny. All proceeds will go to the Nation Inside organization, a coordinating organization that unites national efforts to pass prison reform measures. I am proud to say that it was my own ugly self who recommended this group to Liam when he was casting about for a worthwhile charity to devote the proceeds to. So, for both a great read of stories from a truly all-star lineup of crime writers and to support a worthy cause, glom onto a copy today. Just click on the cover image.

And then yesterday… one of my personal favorite stories was published in the Beat to a Pulp webzine. I wrote “The Best of Friends” years ago and it appeared first in the prestigious High Plains Literary Review, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and nominated for Houghton-Mifflin’s “Best American Mystery Stories” series. It was also included in my first short story collection, Monday’s Meal, published by the University of North Texas Press and nominated for the Violet Crown Book Award.

So, swing over to David Cranmer’s superb pulp fiction site, Beat to a Pulp, and check it out.

Just got notified by the Indiana Historical Society that I’ve been selected to be one of the authors appearing at the 13^th Annual Holiday Author Fair at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center in Indianapolis, on Saturday, December 5. The address is the Indiana Historical Society, 450 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202. If you’re in town, it will be a free admission day and I’ll be signing books from noon until 5 pm. After that, just look for the closest bar. I'll probably be there, unwinding...

Blue skies,

Les