Going West

Bindle-stiffs and Hop-heads,

This is a cool time for a lot of my friends, who have books either just released or just about to be released.

Rot and Ruin, a YA zombie novel by powerhouse bestseller Jonathan Maberry, hit the stands last week and it's already getting a lot of well-earned praise.

The Damage Done, a powerful debut by ferocious writer and secret Canadian Hilary Davidson is out now - so cool to see Hilary on her way.

Solomon Jones, who writes searing crime novels as well as an award-winning column for the Philadelphia Daily News will see his latest, The Last Confession, out in bookstores in November.

My buddy Scott Phillips, one of America's best writers and a hysterically funny storyteller, has a new book, Rut, which sounds like a Panic-in-the-Year-Zero-style blast in the same vein as a standout favorite of mine, Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse, by Victor Gischler.

This week I'll be out to Roswell, New Mexico for Roswell Reads on October 7th and 8th. I'll be hosting some workshops and joining some discussions of writing and the Dashiell Hammett classic, The Maltese Falcon. I'll be staying at the New Mexico Military Institute. I'm hoping they'll let me write some new cadences.

On Sunday, October 10th, I'll be putting on my world-famous Crime Fiction Workshop at the Poisoned Pen bookshop in Scottsdale, AZ at 2:00pm.

And don't forget, Level 26 Dark Prophecy is out now from CSI creator Anthony Zuiker and my friend Duane Swierczynski, author of this year's standout thriller Expiration Date.