Mario Acevedo Books in Order

Mario Acevedo was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Family visits to Chihuahua were part of his early life too, giving him a lasting connection to the Southwest and the borderlands that would later color his fiction.

His route to writing was anything but straight. Before his novels reached bookstores, Acevedo studied engineering, served in the U.S. Army, and worked in roles that included infantry officer, paratrooper, helicopter pilot, engineer, teacher, and software programmer.

He also served as a soldier-artist during Operation Desert Storm.

Acevedo has long worked in visual art as well as fiction. He has painted urban landscapes and served as an artist-in-residence with Arte Américas in Fresno, California. That visual side shows up in his writing through sharp settings, odd details, and scenes that move quickly from a familiar street or office to something much stranger.

Writing clicked for him in college after a technical-writing instructor stressed the value of communicating ideas clearly and simply. After graduating, he kept looking for chances to write while serving in the Army. Later, after moving to Colorado, he found a writing community through Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, which helped turn a long-held interest into a regular practice.

Then came Felix Gomez. The Nymphos of Rocky Flats introduced Felix in 2006 as an Iraq War veteran who returns home as a vampire and takes work as a private investigator. It is a wild setup, but Acevedo plays it with the straight face of old detective fiction, mixing conspiracies, government secrets, monsters, and jokes that know exactly how ridiculous the situation can get.

The Felix books kept building outward. In X-Rated Bloodsuckers, Felix heads to Los Angeles to investigate a murder connected to the adult-film business. The Undead Kama Sutra sends him after an alien conspiracy, while Jailbait Zombie and Werewolf Smackdown bring zombies and rival werewolf factions into the case files. Readers who enjoy pulpy mysteries, urban fantasy, and humor with a hard-boiled edge will find the series comfortably strange.

Acevedo has also moved beyond Felix. Good Money Gone, written with Richard Kilborn, is a financial thriller set amid an offshore Ponzi scheme in Panama. Forgotten Letters, co-written with Kirk Raeber, follows a relationship tested by war and distance between Japan and the United States. For younger readers, University of Doom follows Alfonso Frankenstein, a teen mad-science student trying to stop a family enemy with the help of monsters, robots, and a new friend.

The common thread is a liking for outsiders, high-pressure trouble, and the collision between ordinary worries and very unusual circumstances. Acevedo's stories can be rowdy and dark, but they keep their feet on the ground through working people, messy loyalties, and characters trying to do one decent thing in a bad situation.

He lives and writes in Denver, Colorado, and continues to work across fiction, short stories, and art. He has also taught and supported writing communities in Colorado.

For Acevedo, a vampire detective, a financial fraud, and a school for evil geniuses can all belong on the same shelf.