This week, Deke and I ditch the guests (fabulous as they are) and return to our secret, undisclosed San Francisco location to talk about . . . our new book: Photoshop Elements 8 One-on-One. The existence of this book comes as no surprise to anyone who’s heard me whining about writing it all summer. In its honor, and happily ensconced in our comfy home turf, we brought back that old favorite, the Shameless Plug, because whose plugs are more important to us than our very own?

In a matter of minutes, the conversation veers away from the book and dangerously toward the product itself, Adobe Photoshop Elements 8. After all, what other application offers you half of Photoshop’s power for about one-tenth the price?

Well, next thing you know it’s time for another old favorite, the Secret Handshake. Because for those of you who don’t need the full-blown power of Photoshop CS4, this is one handy $79 application with lots of gadgetry inside. And who better to reveal those secrets to you (or your enthusiastic relative who wants you to treat them to some Photoshop expertise) than the master of all Photoshop secrets, Deke himself.

Yes, you can get layers, healing, a goodly supply of selection tools, color correction, 99% of Photoshop’s filters, photo-stitching, and even a slightly scaled-down version of Camera Raw. And much more. Amazing! Plus you get the powerful features of the Organizer (in the PC version) or Bridge CS4 (Mac version) as part of the deal, so you can manage metadata and perform other organizational tasks. Did we mention it’s only $79? And the book costs even less. And it comes with the usual hours of honest-to-goodness, down-home Deke video.

And although many of our veteran dekeTopians are mired knee-deep in knowledge of Photoshop-proper, if you’re anything like me, you have friends and family who are always knocking on your door for help. So teach them to fish, my friends. And in time, they’ll be able to process next years holiday photo on their own!

Meanwhile, I’m just happy to publish my first book (with my name on the cover, shared with my best friend and cohort), and although Deke starts the show jaded and yawning over publishing yet another masterpiece, by the end he’s pretty damn jazzed as well. To the point of breaking our code and toasting me! I let it slide because I love the love.

Come help me celebrate! Here’s the regular-quality (128kbps) audio file. You can stream, or for best results, right-click and choose Download or Save. Be sure to download, don’t stream. And don’t forget the usual suggestion to subscribe via iTunes. Cheers until next week, Martini Hour hipsters!