I think probably the most stressful thing about being on a book tour (besides leaving your iPhone charger in the hotel room in San Francisco, and then housekeeping there tells you to just borrow one from housekeeping at the next hotel, but then the hotel in Portland says no, they don't give them out because they get stolen, and then so when you get to Seattle you're nearly out of juice...) is being worried that the stores don't actually know who the hell you are, you're just Author #425 for the year, or whatever, and you stumble in and sign and then stumble out again into the blinding light of an uncaring publishing universe.
But here I am at SMB where not only do they have my new book on sale (COUNTDOWN CITY, in which Det. Henry Palace is solving a missing-person case three months before the world ends), but they also have my previous novel (THE LAST POLICEMAN, in which Palace is solving a murder, eight months before the world ends), and my mystery novel for kids, THE SECRET LIFE OF MS. FINKLEMAN. So they know who I am, they know my books, and I've actually had the sublime pleasure of watching Fran here hand-sell a dozen or more copies of my books. With friends like this, who needs a working phone?
And here's Ben winning and being presented with the 2013 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original
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