Celebrating Libraries

I'm blogging today about National Library Week at Inkspot, the blog for Midnight Ink authors. I hope you will read the blog, then share in a comment how YOU intend to celebrate National Library Week at your local library!

Summit County Library Event

Tonight from 7 - 9 PM, I will appear at the "Colorado Author Night" at the main Frisco, CO branch of my local library, the Summit County Library in Summit County, CO. I count two of the other three authors (Mark Stevens, Paula Scanland, and Greg Hill) as friends, so I hope those of you who are within driving distance will come to the program. The address of the Frisco branch is County Commons Building, 0037 County Road 1005, Frisco, CO 80443.

Good Times with the Highlands Ranch Library Mystery Book CLub

Recently, I visited the Highlands Ranch Library near Denver, CO, to meet with their Mystery Book Club. The club had chosen my Deadly Currents mystery, the first in my RM Outdoor Adventures series, to be their discussion book for the month of August. We started off the meeting with a Q&A session where members asked me how I got into mystery writing, how I wrote my books, about the whitewater rafting research I did for Deadly Currents, and what the life of an author was like. Then we got into the Discussion Questions that I provide on my website for the book, as I do for all of my books. We wrapped up with some socializing and book signing, then we posed for the group photos shown below. I had a great time with the group and hope to see at least some of them again at the Left Coast Crime conference in Colorado Springs next spring.

Would you like me to visit with your book club, either in person or via Skype or speakerphone? Contact me at my website and let's make it happen!

Mountain of Authors

Last Saturday, I participated in the 5th Annual Mountain of Authors program put on by the Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) at the East Library branch in Colorado Springs. The event began for us authors at 11:00 am, when check-in opened up. For that first hour, we registered our books with the Friends of the Library volunteers who would be handling book sales, set up our tables, helped ourselves to the author and staff lunch buffet, and schmoozed with each other. I ran around during this hour and took as many photos of the participating authors as I could (see below).


Alice Scott and Bev Sninchak, with guest.


Jeanne Stein and Rod Summitt.


Stewart Green and Mario Acevedo.


DeAnna DeAngelo and Rebecca Dunning.


Richard Gibson and me.


Nancy Mills and Terry Odell.


Carol Hightshoe and K. D. Huxman (Karin Huxman).


Evangeline Denmark and Donita K. Paul (daughter and mother).


M. J. Brett (Margaret Brettschneider) and Jim Ciletti, the Poet Laureate of the Pikes Peak region.


Doris Baker and Parker Blue (Pam McCutcheon).


Mike Hamel and Barry James Hickey.

Then at noon, the doors opened to the public. Three writer friends served on the 12:30 - 1:30 PM Panel on Paranormal Fiction: Mario Acevedo, Parker Blue (Pam McCutcheon), and Jeanne Stein. Kirk Farber moderated. The panel is shown below.

From 1:30 - 2 PM was the Author Showcase, when each attending author took 2 minutes to talk about their books, and the Golden Quill Award was presented to Stewart Green. After a half hour break, when attendees could visit the author tables, the second panel was held from 2:30 - 3:30 PM on Publishing. Moderated by Tim Blevins, the panel included Doris Baker, owner of Filter Press, Teresa Funke, owner of Victory House Press, and Nancy Mills, President of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association. Doris and I serve on the Mountain of Authors planning committee, she as a publisher representative and me as an author representative, so we've gotten to know each other well. The panel is shown below.


After another half hour break for schmoozing, selling, and signing, Keynote Speaker Jerry B. Jenkins, author of the Left Behind series, spoke from 4 - 5 PM. He's shown in the photo below. The event finished up with a final book signing and reception, complete with sparkling cider and treats such as chocolate-dipped strawberries, decorated cupcakes, cannoli, cheesecake and more. Yum!


The hard-working library staff put on a well-attended and well-run event. I'm already looking forward to next year's Mountain of Authors!