So … I did attend Bouchercon after all and had a great time. I got to attend Lee Child’s Reacher’s Creatures party. CBS News was there, doing a special on Lee. He was kind enough to give me a hug and it ended up on-camera. Imagine that! He’s one of the kindest, most generous people I know.
I also had a solid meeting with my agent, Lukas Ortiz, and spoke to some wonderful folks, including Jason Starr, Walter Mosley Alafair Burke, Reed Farrel Coleman and Twist Phelan.
When I returned, I went back to work on the galleys for Black Orchid Blues. Johnny Temple and his team at Akashic Books have done a wonderful job at editing the manuscript. I made my deadline, November 1, and got the edits back on time.
Meanwhile, I can hardly wait to see what the fantastic Owen Smith does with the cover. I think it’ll be beautiful when he’s done. The man’s work is phenomenal. Visit his site and get a treat.
Last, but far from least, I got a nice little surprise today. After reading an item on Kindle Nation about TitleZ.com, a free book sales tracking site, I went to sign up. I plugged in my name to see which books would show up and there, to my happy surprise, was Black Orchid Blues. I don’t know how TitleZ did it, but they found a listing for it on Amazon.com, with a publication date of April 1, 2011! (Do me a favor: Follow the link, ignore that horrid temporary cover, and pre-order the book!)
Somehow that makes it all the more real, you know?
