My first Noir at the Bar, four reviews, a new knife

First, an announcement. On February 21st I'll be taking part in my very first Noir at the Bar in St. Louis. I don't know the name of the bar yet, nor who I'll be reading with, but I've been waiting for awhile for a chance to do this, and cannot wait. I'll post details as they come.

Satan is Real is still getting more press than I ever imagined it would have. The latest is that The Daily Beast picked it as one of This Week's Top Reads, the Hartford Courant was very kind to it, the Associated Press published a great in-house review that ran in a ton of papers, and Mary Colurso of The Birmingham News wrote one of the best pieces yet.

It has been a very good run, and I know I've been incredibly fortunate. Noting that, a couple of people have asked me how I've been celebrating. Well, the answer is that I haven't really. I've got another novel I'm working on, so I've been doing that. And I've been playing with a short story, which has been a lot of fun. But that's what I'm always doing.

So I finally went out the other day and did something specifically to celebrate.

I bought a new knife.

Here's a picture of it. With my carry gun, because, y'know, that's how you're supposed to do things.

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It's bigger than my usual Case knife, but not quite a tactical folder. I even went with the wood in hopes that it would look a little less tactical.

Frankly I don't have much interest in carrying a knife for self defense. I don't practice with a knife, and know next to nothing about fighting with one. Besides which, that's why I have the big L-shaped thing above it. But I wanted something a little larger, with a clip and a lock, so now I have one.

So far it's been hell on apples, cheese, sausage, and pencils — the staples of my diet.