THE WHEELMAN in Los Angeles

Damn straight Skippy!

Let see, where to start.....

Well, I picked up my package, you know, the author, Duane Swierczynski, at his Hollywood hideout. Duane was all fired up and ready to go to his first drive-by or I should say, drop-in signing at the Mystery Bookstore in Westwood. Only operating on a few hours of rest, as he was up late into the early morning hours soaking up the nightlife of Hollywood and Sunset. Since I was there, I can speak to any of the noctural activities, so I will let Duane tell ya where he was, who he was with and what they did. Back to the blog....so I picked up Duane in the new LA Wheelman special, my wife's van with carseat in tow. Duane felt right at home.

Here he is being 'booked by Bobby. This is the usual custom for authors upon thier first visit to the store. You are going to have to ask LeBlanc, as he is known by us fellow Cabana Boys as to what was placed in the ledger.

While signing stock and the requests of several discerning book buyers, Linda keeps Duans busy with small talk and such. Duane hand sells Linda on reading his book and as you can see it is all in fun.

I bet you didn't know that Duane was left handed? Notice the fine and studied signature in invisible ink!

Linda kept telling me that I needed to stage the picture. Well, if you read The Wheelman you will understand the irony of this picture.

Finally I manage to get the book in the proper orientation and stage the booksellers in the photo. Ah, not bad for the driver, if I say so myself.

Yeah, that's me in the purple. As you can imagine Duane was like a kid in a candystore. When he finished signing his stock he became losted in all those books.

THE WHEELMAN...the day continues!

Our next stop was South Pasadena to catch up with Jan Long and to visit Bookem'. Jan is a diehard Philly's fan and made the mistake of asking her if she liked the Eagles too (I really meant the rock, but she was thinking football). We all went to lunch at a great sandwich shop down the street before Duane I piled back into the notorous minivan and headed northwest to Thousand Oaks for his next signing.


Along the way I pointed out the fire damage to Duane and showed him where fire jumped over the 118 freeway. He was shocked and amazed.

We arrrived at Mysteries To Die For and it was rock and roll time. As you can see the effects of jetlag and Friday night Los Angeles are having their toll on our man. Yes, that is water.

Lee Lankford rounded up a few of his buddies to make Duane feel right at home. In da house was Robert Ward of Red Baker fame, Kevin Burton Smith of Thrilling Detective fame, Alan Ormsby Writer of Cat People, My Bodyguard and the Substitute series. I can tell you here and now, they all went easy on him.

Duane was right in his element and started off my a fine reading....

Here is Robert Ward.....












Robert Ward and Kevin Burton Smith. Bob and Kevin were discussing the famous female Canadian bank robber. These two guys were funny as hell. Later at the pub across the street you can only imagine what the conversation was like. My hats off to Kevin who drove all the way from Palmdale to come to this signing. Hey Kev, when is the next edition of Thrilling Detective gonna be up?

NaNoWriMo Update #3

This weekend was a busy one and I didn't get much of a chance to write. I'm not complaining! In the post above you can see that I had the opportunity to be The Wheelman for Duane Swierczynski around Los Angeles.

I'm up in the mid 30,000 word count and starting to babble again. I hope that the 4 day Thanksgiving weekend will be productive. So for the time being I'm gonna give it a rest and read, read, read.