Poisoned Pen Book Signing for Grunt Traitor

The Poisoned Pen Bookstore will host Weston Ochse for a signing, reading, and conversation on Sunday, December 6th at 2 PM. Weston is a military veteran with 30 years experience and will be signing copies of Grunt Life, Grunt Traitor, SEAL Team 666, Age of Blood, Reign of Evil and FUBAR. This will also mark the first signing and appearance of his book, Red Palm, which is set in the shared-world Apocalypse Weird Universe. For those who would like to attend or order a signed copy in advance, please contact The Poisoned Pen at 4014 N Goldwater Blvd #101, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 or 480-947-2974.

The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, founded in 1989 by Barbara G. Peters, is an independent bookstore specializing in fiction. Discover with us current and classic works of mystery, thrillers, historical and literary fiction, and literature of the American Southwest, much of it offered in Autographed First Editions and imports. Our Book Clubs bring exciting new work right to your door. Located in Old Town Scottsdale’s Art District, The Pen is celebrated for its schedule of author and literary events and its global outreach through webcasts and worldwide shipping. 

If you haven't been to Old Town Scottsdale, this is a great opportunity to go. Lots of good restaurants. I especially like the Cornish Pasty Company which is right next to the bookstore. Check out their menu. If you know me, you know I love the Lamb and Salmon pasties!

Hope to see you there!

Southern California Signing Tour for SEAL Team 666, Grunt Life, and many more

For the third year in a row I have the privilege of signing books in Southern California. In what has become an annual tradition, I'll be signing books next week at stores and libraries from Ventura to San Diego and points in between. Along the way I'll eat some great food, meet some fans, new and old friends, and booksellers, and be witness to the spectacular Pacific Ocean. This year I'll have my wife with me which will make it even more special. Gosh knows we've taken some personal hits recently and this time away from things will serve to rejuvinate us for the new year.

I'm posting my schedule below. Please come out and join me. You'll find that I'll be more than eager to talk about writing, books, and publishing. I'm linking

these to my Facebook Events Pages, in case you need more information.

 

Sunday Dec 7

4 - 7 PM

Barnes and Nobles, 4820 Telephone Rd, Ventura, California 93003 

Link to Event

Mon Dec 8 

4 - 6 PM

Gatsby Books, 5535 E Spring St, Long Beach, California 90808

Link to Event

Tue Dec 9

7 - 9 PM

Dark Delicacies, 3512 W Magnolia Blvd, Burbank, California 91505
Link to Event

Wed Dec 10

4 - 5 PM

San Gabriel Library, 500 S Del Mar Ave, San Gabriel, California 91776

Link to Event

Sat Dec 13

Mysterious Galaxy at their NEW LOCATION 

5943 Balboa Ave, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92117

Link to Event

 I hope to see everyone. Come see me in person. I don't get out much and this might be your only chance.

SEAL Team 666 Invades WEST COAST

After more than 1900 miles and 16 bookstores in 8 days, my West Coast Booksigning Tour is over.

Malibu

I've been to bookstores in Scottsdale, Burbank, Beverly Hills, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Encinitas, Huntington Beach, Santa Monica, San Diego, Rancho Panisquitos, Ventura and Coronado Island.

I've met readers, distributors, store clerks, community relations managers, store owners, event planners, event coordinators, and people just shopping for presents.

I've been asked about my book, where the restrooms are in the store, which Nook is the best one to buy, if I can get them a glass of water, which romance novel is the best one, where I get my ideas, did you know how fast you were going, if they could use my chair, if they could borrow my pen, could I sign their book, could I sign their body parts, could I sign a piece of paper, how to be published, how to get an agent, how to write a novel, how to self publish, where Bill O'Reilly's book is, and if I was single.

I felt like I encountered the full breadth of humanity, and although the recent political climate brought out the beasts in many of us, I found the majority of the people I met people I am proud to share the planet with.

Special thanks to Dirk and Barbara Foster, Greg and Eunice Magill, and Hal and Gene for opening their homes to me.

In Ventura

Special thanks to Barbara and Will at the Poisoned Pen, Del and Sue at Dark Dels, Maryelizabeth for both Mysterious Galaxys, Erna for Bay Books, and the CRMs at all the Barnes and Nobles that had me in to sign books.

Some highlights include-

• Selling more than 25 book in Ventura
• Chatting with Amber Benson
• Staying at the Peirpont in Ventura
• Eating late night Korean with Hal and Gene
• Eating Korean pork belly with Dirk and Barbara
• Waking up to Santa Monica Pier
• Driving the Pacific Coast Highway through  Malibu
• Yvonne joining me on Friday
• Hanging with Eunice and Greg
• Lunch with Gini Koch
• The young man from VCU deciding to ditch 50 Shades of Grey in favor of Triple Six

I was asked several times how much the publisher was paying me to do this book tour. I explained that I was being paid nothing, and that I felt that it was part of my job to promote the book. They said why not just do it from your webpage. The answer is all of what I said above. If I had stayed at home, I never would have had those highlights. I also wouldn't have a smiling agent and publisher. And let me assure you, my agent and publisher smiled with every signing, every update, every shared photo, and every blurb.

L-R: Nancy Holder, Eunice Magill, Yvonna Navarro, and Me

Yep. SEAL Team 666 invaded the West Coast.

And the West Coast is better for it.

I wonder who will be next.

As The Tour Ends

I've already covered more than 2000 miles. I've been to bookstores in Scottsdale, Burbank, Beverly Hills, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Encinitas, Huntington Beach, Santa Monica, Ventura and Coronado Island. I've stayed with friends, in hotels, and once, I was so tired it was beside the road.

But this isn't about being tired.

This is about fifteen years of writing, nine novels, more than a hundred short stories, and god knows how many conventions.

This is about me finding my stride.

This is about walking into stores and having clerks excited to see me.

This is about seeing old friends who know how long and hard you've been working and seeing the love in their eyes.

This is about meeting new people and watching them as they get excited about what they are about to read.

You know, Charles Dickens went around America, reading his novels in installments, often writing them just before he presented them. He sold his books and looked into the eyes of the readers. I get why he loved doing it. I also get how tired it must have been.

This is a great life. I do not take it for granted. This morning I awoke in a suite with an ocean view and wrote 3500 words on Age of Blood, the next Triple Six book. I also talked with my agent about a possible signing of a few more books (more later). I have other projects. And it occurs to me I could just start playing video games and never write another word. It might be cool for about three weeks. Then I'd go crazy. You see, I have to write. I love to create. It's part of my DNA.

Yeah. It's a great life.

Now on to tomorrow.

Say, do you have Triple Six?  If not then WTF? How can the NY Post, USA Today and the Denver Post be wrong?  Lol.

Thanks for listening.

Ignore my blather.

Ciao.

----
Hotel Room
Torance, California
1152 PM

IndieBound, Independent Bookstores and SEAL Team 666

Have any of you ever been to IndieBound?

Those of you who have know what a terrific resource it is. Those who haven't need to keep reading.

Essentially, IndieBound is a community of independent bookstore owners, writers and readers. It's a way to find bookstores near you, whether you are at home or traveling. It's also a way to get to know bookstores and booksellers and order books from them without leaving your home. Sort of like Amazon, but a lot more personal.

But don't listen to me, here's their mission statement in their own words:

IndieBound is a community-oriented movement begun by the independent bookseller members of the American Booksellers Association. It brings together booksellers, readers, indie retailers, local business alliances, and anyone else with a passionate belief that healthy local economies help communities thrive. Supporting local, indie businesses means that dollars, jobs, diversity, choice, and taxes stay local, creating strong, unique communities and happy citizens.

It's a powerful tool for booksellers to communicate their part in a national movement supporting independents--and lets everyone know just how many independent bookstores there are. It's powerful for authors to show their dedication to indies nationwide, easily done through linking to thousands of indie bookstores through IndieBound.org. It's powerful because IndieBound encompasses and supports all types of independent retailers, not just booksellers--and local or regional shop local campaigns and independent business alliances, as well. And it's powerful for consumers to feel a part of a larger movement, to know that their choices make a difference and that others are working toward the same goals.

I've been a member for years. I love IndieBound.

What'd you say? What about Barnes and Nobles? No, they're not the enemy. They're booksellers just like the rest of them and deserve absolute respect. One of the differences, though, between an Indie bookstore and Barnes and Nobles is that an Indie can choose what so sell and how to sell their books, while B&N decides that through corporate decision making.

I've found some of the neatest bookstores through this...

Book Soup in West Hollywood has write-ups for all their books done by the staff

Myself, Sam Sykes coolly admire the swirls James A. Owen uses in his autograph while signing at The Poisoned Pen

Atalanta Books is in Historic Bisbee. Just a terrific location. And the author sits outside and gets to talk to everyone.

And if you join and if you have a hankering to, add SEAL Team 666 to your IndieBound wish list. It doesn't mean you have to buy it, but it shows the community that there is interest in this book. The more people who see that there is interest, the more likely they are to stock SEAL Team 666 in their stores.

You can do that here- SEAL Team 666.

Or just click on over to INDIEBOUND and support your independent book seller.

Please do it today.

Thanks!

Zombies Attack Barnes and Nobles - Authors Survive... barely

Metropocalypse 2012

It was meant to be a fun day of book signing, zombie walking, costume contesting, and general undead frollicking. No one anticipated it would turn out the way it did. No one thought it would be so devastating to the community. As of current count, 177 Barnes and Nobles customers were turned into zombies this past Saturday. On one hand, the undead population of Phoenix rose by a fraction, allowing the undead to join  the new minority of the un-taxable, but on the other hand, 177 Barnes and Nobles customers stopped reading. They exchanged their voracious hunger for books for a voracious hunger for the other white meat-- People!

 Shown here is a man who once read Hardy Boys, loved books on the Civil War, and had a subscription to Cat Fancier.

No More.

He can now be found downtown, feeding on the homeless.

And these young zombies. They meant well. They'd planned to come for the scavenger hunt and maybe check out some new Adam Nevill or David Moody books. Then they were infected, and all they wanted to do was a cha cha out the door to flavortown.


Probably the saddest of all is this young wanna be Barnes and Nobles customer turned into a zombie before she even knew what the letter Z was.

Okay. He's waayy to cute for me to continue this lie. In truth, no one really died or became undead or whatever.

It was all part of Metropocapylse 2012. Put together by Sarah and Dallas at the Metro Barnes and Nobles, it was everything zombies and apocalypse. I was asked to come because they love me to death, and I was asked to bring some other partners in zombie and apocalyptic crime.

Joe McKinney, Joe Nassise, and myself were on hand to sign a ton of books. (ashamedly I forget the other gentleman's name)

At one point there were more than 150 people in the store for the event. It went over tremendously well. I know a bunch of my fans came. They already owned my books, but left with other swag.

It was a terrific day all around.

They want to do it again next year... this time, bigger and better and more undead.

I plan on being there.

What about you?