Mario Acevedo book signing at the Tattered Cover

Monday night, local bestselling author Mario Acevedo held a book-signing for his new book, Werewolf Smackdown, at the Tattered Cover Bookstore on Colfax Avenue.*

The event was attended by a crowd of fans and friends, including other local authors from Acevedo's writing workshop, Acevedo's sons Alex and Emiliano, and dedicated readers of Acevedo's Felix Gomez series. Also in attendence was VIP and fellow Examiner Rick Gustafson, the Colorado Rugby Examiner. Matthew Rose and Erin Stewart, a guitar and violin duo from the Castle Rock Orchestra, opened for the reading.

Werewolf Smackdown, the latest in Acevedo's Felix Gomez series about a vampire detective taking on the horror (and humor) of the supernatural underworld, focuses on the conflict between two rival gangs of werewolves. Felix gets caught in the middle, and to unravel the mystery he recruits the unlikely help of an ex-girlfriend. Acevedo's other books include The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, Jailbait Zombie, and The Undead Kama Sutra.

A former infantryman, Acevedo has had an interesting career to inform his writing. He has been a helicopter pilot and an engineer, and has taught art and writing to prisoners. His first novel, which takes place at Rocky Flats, has the distinction of being the first and only vampire novel in existence to be declassified by the federal government.

Acevedo's audience did not walk away from the reading empty-handed. The author gave out pins, autographed books, and raffled off the books of fellow Colorado authors.

Before reading a brief section of Werewolf Smackdown, Acevedo gave a talk on the process of publishing a novel. He showed the audience (some of whom were aspiring writers) his "foul matter." Foul matter is the detritus of publishing, and includes the unbound galley, uncorrected manuscript, and the first advanced reader copy (or A.R.C.). Besides giving the writers in the room great advice and insider knowledge of publishing, Acevedo made the audience laugh. This came as no surprise to anyone who has laughed through his humorous and exciting mystery novels.

To end the evening, Acevedo signed books for his readers. After we talked shop (zombies, vampires, werewolves, the usual), Mario signed my copy of The Nymphos of Rocky Flats: "To Jess: The future zombie queen of the nympos." That's right.

Stay informed, stay alive: I love local authors and I love zombies. If you're both, I'll probably shoot you in the head. However, if you're a local author who writes about zombies, I'd love to hear from you.

*Zombie reporting delayed due to ludicrous amounts of snowfall. My harrowing tale of survival shall be told at a later date.

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