La manzana grande Mario here:

First off, thanks to Jeanne for covering for me while I was in The Big Apple for ThrillerFest.

This was my third trip to NYC in the last three years, my annual haj to visit my editor Diana Gill at HarperCollins and my agent Scott Hoffman with Folio. This time I combined the trip with ThrillerFest. Conferences are great opportunities to network and meet new friends, in this case, bestselling authors, the lovely and prolific Heather Graham and Gayle Lynds.


New York City is amazing. Our hotel was right at Park Ave and 42nd, next door to Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building.


I visited the Barnes&Noble on Fifth Ave where Melissa and Kenya not only had my books but recognized me as the author. How cool was that?


I played hooky from the conference to visit Denver expatriates Jennifer Mosquera and her boyfriend Rick who have an apartment in Gramercy.



Jennifer is an artist. In this view from her apartment, you can see the spire of the Empire State Building (right of the water tank) and her studio is north of that a couple of blocks.



What trip to NYC would be complete without a visit to Times Square? Here are several local breakdancers about to demonstrate some amazing street acrobatics.

What are your stories from The Big Apple?


And finally, on page 29 of the August issue of Playboy you'll find a brief review of X-Rated Bloodsuckers. This magazine has been my source of literary criticism since junior high school.  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 9:20 PM