Bouchercon - Day 2

Friday at Bouchercon started with a fabulous panel at 8:30, led by Crimespree brother Jeremy Lynch. Jeremy and I share the bond of first time moderators this year and I threatened to sit in the front row and make faces at him. I did sit in the front row, but I was so captivated by the panel that I forgot to make faces. And anyway, he would have just made faces right back at me!


The panel was called "The Hard Breed" and featured Gregg Hurwitz, Duane Swierczynski, Robert Ward, Lou Berney and Hal Ackerman. The great connection with all of these men is that they all do more than write novels. Some write for TV or movies, some write comics/graphic novels, some teach the craft...Gregg, he does it all. They compared the formats they write in, talked about how one may or may not influence another, and they joked with each other through it all. It was lively, informative and fun. Kudos to these men for managing all that at 8:30 in the morning!

Following the panel, I made my way down to the bookroom, moseyed around and then took a turn manning the Bouchercon 2011 table. While I was doing so, I got to meet Daniel Woodrell! And he is fabulous! He's a bit on the quiet side, very personable and FUNNY! I'm looking forward to seeing him again in St. Louis.


A few minutes later, I look over and see my friend Judy Bobalik hob-nobbing with none other than audio book narrator, Scott Brick! Yes, he too was in attendance at Bouchercon. You just never know who you're going to run into at this conference.


Val McDermid came to hang out at the Bouchercon 2011 table, decked out in her St. Louis Cardinals jersey. Meeting and talking with Val was definitely a major highlight of this conference for me. She'll be the International Guest of Honor in St. Louis.

After lunch I made my way to the Mulholland panel, "Murder by Proxy." This was my first ever opportunity to experience both Mark Billingham and Daniel Woodrell in the panel setting. They are both flat out AMAZING. Whenever you have the chance to see either one, don't miss it. Their insights into the genre, writing, and life in general are fantastic. Daniel Woodrell's deadpan comments about his neighborhood were hilarious. His outlook on his writing style is simple and exquisite. He simply never thought to write any other way.

I definitely enjoyed the peek into Mulholland's new line-up of crime writers. John Schoenfelder and Miriam Parker did a fine job of highlighting all of the talent on this panel, which also included the very humorous Duane Swierczynski, Marcia Clark, and Sebastian Rotella. I'm looking forward to keeping a close eye on Mulholland Books.


To continue the Mulholland themed Friday, Judy Bobalik and I headed over to their party at the Gordon Biersch Brewery. We were only able to stay a short while because we had tickets to the Shamus awards, but it was enough time for me to meet Jeff Pierce from The Rap Sheet, chat with Ali Karim and Roger Ellory, and get this fun picture with Mark Billingham, thanks to Miriam Parker, photographer extraordinaire.


Judy, Jeff, Ali, Roger and I caught a cab to China Town next for the Shamus Awards dinner. The room was filled to capacity, but Reed Farrel Coleman and S.J. Rozan had saved us seats at their table with Michael Wiley and Parnell Hall. We had an excellent time.



The dinner was wonderful, seeing Brad Parks win his Shamus for Best First P.I. Novel was even better.

We returned to the hotel where the Reacher Creature party was in full swing at the hotel bar. I met up with Alafair Burke and got to ring in her birthday with her. I think that's a pretty darned awesome way to end an incredible day!

Bouchercon Day 1

A week ago today kicked off my second Bouchercon and my first experience moderating a Bouchercon panel.

First of all, the weather was stunning and I felt as though my summer was being extended a few extra days. Thanks to Mother Nature for that little surprise gift.

I am happy to report that the panel went very well. For whatever reason, the room we were in did not have microphones, but all of the panelists adjusted well and projected for the room full of people in attendance. I heard a few different opinions from folks in the back of the room; some said they could hear just fine, others said they had some trouble. But that was the worst we had to deal with and I think that's pretty minor in the whole scheme of things.

Brad Parks, Roger Ellory, Hilary Davidson and Douglas Corleone talked about how their characters and stories come to life. They joked with each other and the audience. We had some great questions from the audience and a person who wanted to know the "magic tools" to writing a book. *sigh*

Thanks to the generosity of Lauren O'Brien, I have a video recording of the panel, and as soon as I get it all edited and ready, I'll share that with you, so you can experience the panel for yourselves. I also want to thank Kathy Ryan who is responsible for the photos from the panel.

Lauren and Kathy are the next part of the Bouchercon experience I wanted to mention. Meeting my "virtual" friends in real life. That's when you're assured that "virtual" friends and "imaginary" friends are not one in the same! So thanks to everyone who made sure they said "hi": Robin, Les, Stephen, Alex, Toby, Todd...I know I'm missing gads more so thanks to everyone. It's never enough time, is it?

In between panels I spent some time in the dealer room buying books and visiting with folks at the Crimespree/Bouchercon 2011 table. Stephen Jay Schwartz was there, as was Meg Gardiner, and my awesome panelist Roger Ellory.

The other panel I attended and monitored was the "Year of the Locusts: Books to Screen" panel. This panel was moderated by Kelli Stanley and included panelists Derek Haas, Paul Levine, Val McDermid and Alex Sokoloff. This was a fun, animated group. And as I mentioned in my top 10 list, if you have the chance to experience Val McDermid, don't miss out. She's energetic and colorful and witty. Pair her up with Paul Levine and it's an extra special treat!

The opening ceremonies were Thursday night and here the Macavity and Barry Awards were announced. TOWER by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman walked away with a Macavity, as did Hank Phillippi Ryan. Jamie Freveletti and Bryan Gruley both took home Barry Awards.

Also at the opening ceremonies was Duncan, a.k.a. Jack Reacher. Duncan won Australia's Jack Reacher look alike contest, so he was present at Bouchercon. Since my good friend Judy was making friends with Duncan, she introduced me.

Of course every night at Bouchercon has to end with a trip to the hotel bar. It's always a great opportunity to just mingle and chat. Steve Hockensmith was in attendance and he even slipped me an arc of the upcoming Holmes on the Range book, WORLD'S GREATEST SLEUTH. It is one sharp looking book! I can't wait to dig into it.

So, this was Day One. The whole trip follows suit, so make sure you stop back for more posts on this most wonderful trip. In the meantime, though, you can head over to the Bouchercon 2011 site and register for next year's event in St. Louis. There's no better way to ensure you go then to make the commitment and register. Then just work on planning up to next September. It's a wonderful time. Don't wait any longer to experience it yourself! Plus, register before January 1st and get the added benefit of a $25 savings on the registration fee AND be entered into a drawing for free books!

Dead or Alive

Bouchercon 2010 is quickly approaching and this year I will be moderating a panel. OH. MY. GOD! The title of the panel is "Dead or Alive" and it will be held at 11:30 on Thursday morning. So, I hope if you are attending the Bouchercon by the Bay this year, you'll come lend some moral support. I'm equal parts excited and nervous.  I'm also going to need a volunteer to sit front and center and get the pictures to prove this event actually happens!

I have quite a bit to be excited about since my panel of authors is simply magnificent. I'm supposed to sit up there with them and act professional when what I'll really want to do is go all fan girl. But, I have been practicing my professional behavior and I think I can do this. ;-) I thought I'd share a little about them with you today.

People keep telling me that as the moderator I'm in charge. Can someone make sure they tell Brad Parks this? I'm just kidding. I'm thrilled to pieces to have the author of FACES OF THE GONE as part of the panel. A former journalist, Brad released his debut novel in 2009 and the sequel is due on bookshelves in early 2011. Brad is smart and funny. He's an exceptionally talented writer AND singer. I don't think we'll be doing any stage shows during this panel, but you never can tell. FACES OF THE GONE is also a Shamus Award nominee this year. We'll learn the outcome of those awards Friday night.

It's hard to read this blog and not know I think Hilary Davidson is amazingly talented. So, to say I'm over the moon that she is also on the "Dead or Alive" panel is no exaggeration at all. Hilary's fiction debut, THE DAMAGE DONE, is on bookstore shelves tomorrow! But of course she's been writing freelance, travel writing, short fiction, and gluten-free information for some time. Hilary will shed some light on the female writer/female protagonist vantage point for the panel.

Douglas Corleone is also a debut author this year. His novel, ONE MAN'S PARADISE, won the MWA/Minotaur First Crime Novel Award this year. You'll be hearing more about that book here when I catch up on my reviews! In the mean time, though, Doug is a former lawyer from New York, now living in Hawaii writing about a lawyer. If Doug is as humorous in person as he is in his writing, we're going to have to put he and Brad at separate ends of the table. They will most definitely find trouble if they're together.

And my final panelist is R.J. (Roger) Ellory. If you caught last week's audio book review of A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, you know how amazing I think Roger's writing is. You'll be hearing a lot more about his books here in the future. I picked up a couple of his books as soon as I knew he would be on my panel and I will be forever grateful that he was included in the "Dead or Alive" panel. I am now addicted to Ellory's work. Roger is our veteran crime fiction author. The people in the U.K. may be a tad bit more aware of how wonderful he is, but we're going to work on fixing that on this side of the pond, o.k? His books are standalones and most definitely blow genre definition to smithereens. They don't fit neatly into any one package. There's crime going on, so he qualifies to be on our panel and that's all that's important.

This is such an eclectic group and I'm so excited about that. I think it is going to make for great discussion. So, as I said, I hope you'll join the fun if you're attending Bouchercon. The more the merrier. Come help me celebrate four wonderfully talented writers.