Where Jen's Book Thoughts' Readers Are Reading

We shall kick off the March segment of this feature with a humorous contribution from Brad Parks. I know you're stunned that he'd submit something humorous, right? Well the Shamus/Nero/Lefty award-winning author of the Carter Ross mystery series--and upcoming thriller, Say Nothing--doesn't let us down.

That’s me with Catriona McPherson’s outstanding THE CHILD GAME, wearing my favorite T-shirt from Aunt Agatha’s Mystery Bookshop. I’m being photographed on the shore of the Rappahannock River, which I’m happy to say also serves as my front yard. And, yes, before you can ask: Those are REAL imitation Crocs.

I'm sure with his shoe fashion sense we'll be seeing him on the Paris runways soon. In the meantime, I'm still waiting for my Elvisgram from the Interns. Have a fabulous weekend, friends, and happy reading!

Left Coast Crime (A Little Tardy)

I sincerely apologize for my tardiness in getting this post written for you. Left Coast Crime was such a wonderful time this year (except for transportation back to the airport, but we'll not go there--I might cry). I think I said this last year, but in case you weren't around then or I am mistaken, this is such a great conference and if you enjoy mystery and crime fiction, you need to attend at least once. It's the perfect size, the programming is wonderful, you have great opportunities to interact with others. It is really a gem in the crime fiction world. I hear say that Hawaii is the destination in a few years. I might be starting to save up for that one! Anyway...let's talk about Monterey.

If you follow the Facebook page, you may have already seen the video of Toastmaster Brad Parks introducing Guest of Honor Sue Grafton for her interview. For those who did not see it, I give you, "Keep Away from Alphabet Sue":



Throughout the course of the interview Sue Grafton shared many fun stories. She was animated and engaged. She talked about her frustrations writing in Hollywood--and not selling the rights to Kinsey Milhone, the books that came before A is for Alibi, the trouble she's having with her present novel (X), and the great support she gets from her publisher. She spoke about "Shadow" and the "death cookie" and how she knows someone is the child of an alcoholic. Sue wowed the crowd and Brad did a stellar job giving her the platform to do so. An exceptional interview indeed!

Brad didn't get much of a break on that Thursday as he had to turn around and MC opening night. Here he put on his liturgical robes and led the convention in the crime fiction reader's prayer.  You can see the prayer in its entirety here and pray it yourself tonight.

As always, opening night was a nice chance to mingle and chat. A very special treat this year was getting to meet my online friend Sarah RH.  I've made some of the best friendships online but getting to meet the people in person is always the ultimate treat.

In an effort to keep from writing a mile long blog post, I won't detail all the panels I attended. It's kind of late for that and I'm sure you'd get bored anyway. So I'm going to give you a Top 10 list of things I took away from Left Coast Crime panels:

10.  There's now a frozen yogurt shop in Buffalo, Wyoming called THE COLD DISH. I want to visit it!

9. Tim Hallinan was motivated to be a writer after he wrote his teacher a love poem.

8. There is a humor ghetto in crime fiction. Did you know that? I love humor in my books...topic for another blog post later, so tune in again on that topic.

7.  Lou Berney used Trip Advisor as a weapon in his novel Whiplash River. A lot of readers like to use Goodreads or Amazon that way, don't they? Wielding the powerful review!

6. Tim Hallinan, David Morrell and Sophie Littlefield all agreed that bad sex writing is worse than any other bad writing. Amen to that!

5. Lisa Brackmann, in a discussion on gender in crime fiction, said PTSD is PTSD regardless of gender. The difference comes in the additional obstacles women have to overcome in the military.

4. In a screenwriting panel, I learned there's a saying in Hollywood: "It's the only place on Earth you can die of encouragement."

3. Kent Krueger said he never understood winter until he moved to Minnesota--through his books, he wanted to help anyone anywhere understand that winter. (I'm sure that's especially true after this winter, right?)

2. One of Marcia Clark's goals in writing the Rachel Knight series is to depict the reality of female relationships.

1. And the top item goes to Kent Krueger who gave kudos to mystery readers saying they love to do a lot of the work in the reading process. So the writers only have to provide them a snippet and they take it from there.

A special award must be noted for Johnny Shaw. He made Brad Parks swear in front of his mother during their panel.

As a teacher I assured my students there is no such thing as a stupid question. As a panel attendee, I've learned how very untrue that really is. *sigh*

The programming was truly outstanding at this convention and I enjoyed every panel I attended, as well as the panel I moderated. We had standing room only--wow! So thanks to everyone who attended and to the great panelists with me: Janet Rudolph, Maddee James, August McLaughlin and Chantelle Osman. We had a great time talking about social media, but we could have talked MUCH longer.

The panels are always fun and I always take away interesting tidbits from them, but the true gems of these conventions come in the most unexpected encounters. I loved talking with Johnny Shaw and Erica Ruth before the awards banquet. I had the opportunity to meet several spouses--and parents--at this conference. So nice to meet people I hear about but haven't ever seen. I got to talk about dogs--and Harry Connick, Jr.!--with Lou Berney. Having dinner with Sophie Littlefield, Juliet Blackwell, Gigi Pandian and Maddee James was another highlight. I didn't have near enough time with my dear friend Lesa Holstine, but even if I had spent every minute with her, it wouldn't have been enough time. :-)

So, when you make your plans for your next convention, attend the panels--they're definitely great fun. But make sure you snatch up your own little gems as well!

Happy Reading, my friends!

Looking Forward to March

Since I've been going through the books I have for March and growing more and more excited, I thought I'd do a highlight post of the four I'm most looking forward to. At least so far! I'm hoping to be able to read them all, although they may not all fit into March--don't forget about Left Coast Crime!

The first book on my radar is Brad Parks' next Carter Ross mystery, THE PLAYER. The series has only continued to get better, so I'm excited to delve into the new installment that has Carter investigating strange illnesses in a small neighborhood. This one sounds like a creative twist on environmental poisoning stories. THE PLAYER comes out March 4th from Minotaur.

The next book is a non-fiction. And it's a memoir. Those who know me well know I usually run screaming at the mention of a memoir, but the basis for this young man's story is a cause near and dear to my heart: education. So I'm intrigued and looking forward to THE PROMISE OF A PENCIL. Adam Braun, the book's author, has been named to Forbes's list of 30 under 30 because of his work creating this non-profit that builds schools and trains teachers in impoverished areas around the world. So, I have high hopes for this memoir from Scribner. THE PROMISE OF A PENCIL comes out March 18th.

The third gem for March is the second book for Orest Stelmach. THE BOY WHO STOLE FROM THE DEAD is the follow-up to his 2013 debut THE BOY FROM REACTOR 4. Despite the boy titles, Stelmach's continuing character is Nadia Tesla. In THE BOY WHO STOLE FROM THE DEAD, Nadia has to take on an international investigation when a mysterious young hockey phenom is accused of murder in New York City. An added bonus on buying this book is Stelmach's continuing donation to Chernobyl Children International. I'd be excited to read it without the charity connection, but it sure is nice to see someone reaching out for others, isn't it? THE BOY WHO STOLE FROM THE DEAD comes out March 11th from Thomas & Mercer.

Then a book I've been waiting for! Louis Bayard isn't as prolific  as some writers (in novel-writing, he does quite a bit of additional writing, though) so whenever something new comes out, it's cause for celebration. This March his book ROOSEVELT'S BEAST will be out from Henry Holt. If you visit his website, he has a short audio clip about his writing of the book. Bayard is so fascinating and I'm psyched about this book. This is an alternate history story of Teddy and Kermit Roosevelt's Amazon voyage in 1914. The two Roosevelts are kidnapped by a native tribe. I've come to learn that a book from Louis Bayard is absolutely worth the wait. ROOSEVELT'S BEAST comes out March 18th.

O.k. so those are the books I'm most looking forward to in March. What has caught YOUR eye?

THE GOOD COP - Brad Parks

First line: "The exchange started with nothing more sinister than an ad on Craigslist."

In the fourth installment of Brad Parks' Carter Ross series, Carter is secretly investigating the suicide of Darius Kipps, a Newark police detective. After interviewing the officer's widow and friends, Carter isn't convinced Darius committed suicide. He had everything to live for and was even planning a trip with his children to Disney World.

But Carter's editor, Tina Thompson, strictly forbids him to continue investigating the case for the paper. He has an article about public housing to write and he is to stay far, far away from Darius Kipps. The Newark Eagle-Examiner does NOT cover suicides.

Telling Carter Ross to stay away from a story is akin to a double dog dare. And housing story or no housing story, Carter was determined to dig deeper into this suicide and find what exactly smelled so darned rotten.

With this fourth book in the Carter Ross series, a new audiobook company and narrator were used. I wanted to love this narration because the series is such a great one for audio. There's so much entertainment tied into the mystery and suspense. The characters have rich color and personality that lend themselves to performance. However, I was very disappointed in this narration by Adam Verner.

In any of the Carter Ross novels there are a range of ethnicity, dialects and cultures. The Good Cop was no different. However, the entire cast sounded like a middle-age Midwestern male. This was especially unfortunate for the fiesty Jewish "warrantied product reseller" Uncle Berney, as he lost an element of his humor rendering him less likeable. And on the flip side it was unfortunate for Pastor Al, the shady minister whose UN-likeableness was diminished.

Parks employs a high level of sarcastic humor in his writing, and it wasn't readily apparent that Verner identified it. He seemed to be reading flatly through the sarcasm, losing the corresponding humor. If you're familiar with Parks' work, you're likely to recognize the sarcasm and visibly cringe at the interpretation of it (or lack thereof), as I did. If this is a first experience with Parks' work, you're likely to lose the impact of that humor on the social issues and characters throughout the plot.

I wanted to love this narration because I did indeed love this book. I think it's Parks' best work to date. He employs humor in a way that strengthens the social issues, especially the issue of gun ownership. He displays a rainbow of characters that are distinctive and naturally quirky. It's hard to read this book and feel indifferent about anyone. Personally, I'm thinking I just don't like this Kira too much, but oh was I excited to see Tommy again. I'm going to stage a campaign to get some of the previous interns back. It's hard to let them go.

I was listening to this audio in order to prep for my Bouchercon panel with Parks. Had I not needed to finish it in a specified time period, I would have stopped the audio and returned to the book when I could. Sadly, that's the recommendation I'll make on The Good Cop. Read it. It's a great book. Use your audio time on something different.

The Good Cop is available in hardcover (ISBN: 9781250005526) from Minotaur Books. The unabridged audiobook (ISBN: 9781624064128) narrated by Adam Verner is available from Dreamscape Media.

Bouchercon Recap - Part 2

The first official day of Bouchercon was Thursday the 19th. Everyone is raring to go. There are panels to watch, authors to see, books to be signed, friends to catch up with....and only a few days to do it all in. So we pack in as much as we can.

The first panel I attended was a panel from the folks at William Morrow who have started an ebook first crime fiction imprint called Witness, thus the panel was called "Can I Get a Witness." The panel was composed of an editor, a publicist, an agent and an author.

Now I know I'll get the "ebooks aren't as good as real books" feedback, but the content of their panel was very good. And their rationale is obviously well thought out, and the business plan seems solid. Genre sales in ebook format are still very much on the rise. And their lower price point offers new and lesser known authors a chance to break through because people are more willing to take a chance on an author at a lower price point. A $25 hardcover is an investment for most folks and they want to feel confident they're going to spend that $25 well.

Some concerns that were addressed: reviewers will review ebooks, the Today Show even featured an ebook recently. From a reviewer perspective the format isn't what keeps people from reviewing, it's whether it has been vetted by a publishing house, an editor, etc. With this imprint, WM isn't going to put out more books than they have the resources to promote. So they are going to be well edited, well promoted, etc. Their ebooks will be available on all platforms, so regardless of the device you wish to use, the ebook will be available. They also have the technology to provide signed ebooks.

eBooks can be produced quickly so WM can put an author's backlist out in a short amount of time, but new books will still go through a thorough editing process, new cover art is created, promotional plans are constructed, so those will go to market slower in order to accommodate all the necessary preparations.

And ultimately the books can go to print depending on demand. And all of the titles will be available for Print on Demand.

So I think this is exciting and I'm looking forward to what Witness will have to offer.

The next part of my day was my own panel. All the panels were assigned Billy Joel song titles to go with their descriptions. This one was "You're Only Human" and our description was "Secret powers and other little-known talents that would make us great Super Heroes...or Villains."

My superb panelists were Catriona McPherson, Zoë Sharp, Daniel Palmer, Brad Parks, Michael Wiley and Tom Schreck. They were all amazing. I can't say enough about their good sportsmanship, their humor, their enthusiasm. It made for such an entertaining panel.

Tom shared how he does not have super powers when it comes to his dogs, that they actually have the power over him. Zoë has developed her self-defense powers because she's the "world's slowest runner."

Brad Parks employs his super apology powers when it comes to making mistakes with his wife and Catriona has incredible driving super powers when it comes to round-abouts.

Michael Wiley separates the day job from his crime fiction writing, but murder is often on the minds of both he and his students. And believe it or not, Daniel Palmer really CAN make up a blues song on the spot about any topic. Here's the evidence. With no forewarning about the topic I was choosing, he sang a blues song about meerkats!

We talked about (and laughed about) everything from bad reviews to super powers listed in the authors' obituaries. Everyone on the panel engaged and shared. As an added bonus, Brad Parks pulled a Clark Kent sans the telephone booth. And I had my pronunciation of Albany corrected.

I could not have asked for better panelists. Everyone gave me content to work with for my preparations and the show came off beautifully. I hope the audience had as much fun as we did...I think they did.

The last panel I attended on Thursday was called "An Innocent Man" and their description was "Making the Law Thrilling." This one was moderated by Ken Isaacson with panelists Laura Caldwell, Marcia Clark, Adam Mitzner and Matthew Quirk.

The first question that was offered to the panel was "do you have to MAKE the law thrilling or is it already so?"

Marcia Clark says she feels that there's an inherent drama in the court room and she offered up jury selection as an example. If you haven't read Marcia's newest book Killer Ambition, she shows just how much that's true. The jury selection is where lawyers win or lose their cases.

Adam Mitzner finds fascination in the defendant. He says that person has either crossed a line...and maybe he/she is just your average, everyday good citizen, but something caused them to cross that line. OR the defendant is innocent and their life is about to be changed forever because people will never be able to look at them the same way, simply because they were accused and their character is being called into question.

Laura Caldwell pointed out that for writing purposes, authors pick out the "sexy" cases. So they do a little filtering of the "unthrilling" to begin with.

And Matthew Quirk said the ambiguities of law and the legal process offer intrigue.

Another fascinating question that came up with this panel was whether being able to watch court cases on TV has made the legal thriller more popular. There are pros and cons. The celebrity affects witnesses. Some people come forward who really know nothing but want the attention, while others who may know something won't come forward because they want to stay far away from the limelight. Judges have also been found to pander to the celebrity.

On the flip side of that, when cameras aren't in the courtroom, the great travesties of justice can be more easily hidden from the public.

Also, it was cautioned that Court TV is a representation of how court really is, Law & Order is not.

The panel as a whole came to the conclusion that while sometimes authors have to fictionalize to maintain pace and keep the reader engaged, it's ultimately the kernels of reality that "make the books sing." Interestingly the question of why these authors don't attempt true crime came up and they were pretty much in agreement that true crime is challenging because you can't veer at all from the facts. So being able to employ that creative license is pretty important to these panelists.

Another great, informative and entertaining panel.

The opening ceremonies took place on Thursday night, but I had an outside commitment and then I had more prep work to do for my Friday panel, so I missed those. So we're off and running...stay tuned for my report on my final panel and the remainder of Bouchercon.

Also I want to give special thanks to my wonderful friend Christine McCann who took the great pictures from our Superhero panel. Isn't she talented?

Bouchercon 2013!

I'm sure many of you know that the panel schedule for Bouchercon 2013 was posted yesterday, so now I can officially talk about the panels I'll be moderating this year (and beg you to come if you're attending).

I've had tremendous experiences moderating and interviewing at Bouchercons and Murder & Mayhems, and each experience has been special in its own way. What makes this year extra special is that I was very generously given a significant say in setting up my panels. So if they flop, it's all on me!

O.k. Forbus enough mumbo jumbo, get to the point, right? Here we go.

I have two panels. The first one will be Thursday at 1:20 and it's "You're Only Human: Secret powers & other little-known talents that would make us great Super Heroes...or Villains." My incredible line-up of authors for this panel includes Catriona McPherson, Daniel Palmer, Tom Schreck, Zoë Sharp, Michael Wiley  and the villain part of the panel...Brad Parks. :-) Capes and masks are optional. I have a strong suspicion that there will be much laughing going on in this panel. Plus I'm brainstorming a contest so there will likely be extra incentive to attend!

The second panel is Friday at 3:10. This one is "Stop in Nevada: If the IRS asks, it's research: places we've visited, people we've met and boneheaded things we've tried, all in the name of a story." My stellar authors for this panel include: Lou Berney, Alafair Burke, Dana Cameron, Sean Chercover, and Chris Holm. Holy freaking cow, right? I'm hoping to unearth some unusual, exciting and entertaining stories from these masters. I hope you'll join us. I'd like to do something creative with this panel, too, but an idea hasn't hit me as quickly as with my other panel. We'll see what I can conjure up.


If you're attending, I hope you'll put us on your schedule. I'm committed to providing everyone...panelists and audience alike...a fun time. If you've been sitting on the fence about whether to attend or not, take the plunge...come join in the fun. 

And in other regular Friday news, I'm still working on the new schedule for 5 on Fridays. I've sent out some new invites and am sending out more, so stay tuned on that front. We will be continuing!

Contests this week:

There's still time to enter to win the entire Agatha Raisin series at Criminal Element.  They also have a children's graphic novel up for grabs: Revenge of the Lizard Club.

Friday Reads has Charles Todd's A Question of Honor this week in their giveaway.

Grand Central Publishing is giving away three copies of Psych's Guide to Crime Fighting. I haven't watched TV in ages, but I loved that show when I did watch. As goofy as it was, it always made me laugh.

And William Morrow has a JA Jance sweepstakes going on their Facebook page.

And I have two other links I want to share with you before I turn you loose for your weekend. First is Pop Culture Nerd's Stalker Award Voting. Be sure to mosey over there before the 20th at 9PM Pacific and vote.

The other link is this one from BookRiot that absolutely cracked me up this week. If you didn't see my post of it on Facebook, it's a must read! Shit Book Snobs Say - A Translation

That's all for me this Friday. Have a super great weekend and happy reading, my friends!

Spring and Summer Events

I've sort of fallen behind in my event recaps. I've collected some fun video and pictures, so I think it's time to give you a run down on where all I've been this spring and summer.

Following Left Coast Crime, I made a drive up to Ann Arbor to see Brad Parks at Aunt Agatha's Bookshop. He talked about concealed carry permits, struggling to make things up and how his daughter christens a new book. In addition, he performed for the crowd both of his famous....er, notorious...serenades:

And his reading was also quite entertaining!


In May, I took a trip to Columbus to see Carla Buckley. She was appearing at The McConnell Art Center, a beautiful facility, prior to the Ohioana Book Festival. Carla spoke about both her debut novel, The Things That Keep Us Here and this year's highly successful follow-up, Invisible.

Nice backdrop for Carla, right?

Carla shared how she decided on the ideas for each book and how the subjects terrified her personally. There were several aspiring authors present, so she answered questions about her writing process and schedule. She discovered a great problem when she had a guest and was trying to write...it simply didn't work; she felt obligated to tend to her guest. So she started going to the library, which turned out to work very well for Carla. She's since moved out of Ohio, so I hope she's found a great replacement library near her new home!

Also in May I met Tim Green. I didn't have to travel far for this event. If you're a regular blog reader you'll remember me talking about the Young Author's Program that takes place in Lorain County each year. I've helped with the author the past two years and again this year. You may know Tim from his adult legal thrillers (although it's been several years since he published one of those) or from his time on the football field, but Tim was coming to talk to the Lorain County young'uns because he also writes sports stories for young readers.

During an open house, Tim signed books for his young fans!

Tim's enthusiasm with the kids was electric. He was all over the stage, animated and energetic. He told them stories about how hard he had to work to be a professional football player, how hard he had to work to be a writer and a lawyer. But in the end, he emphasized that all of that takes a back seat to how people treat each other.

Tim started his presentation in a jacket.

The kids laughed at his antics, ewwwww'd at his story of vomiting and wanted to know when he would write a soccer book. It was a highly successful Young Author's Conference.

By the end of his presentation, though, the jacket was gone...too hot!

June brought about my first trip to Nashville, TN, to visit friend and blog reader, Chris. We visited the Nashville Zoo (my favorite thing to see when visiting a new city) and a new-to-me mystery bookstore, Mysteries and More.

We drove into downtown Nashville where I almost got us in an accident when I squealed out loud because I saw Tootsies Lounge, which I had just recently encountered in Whistling Past the Graveyard (yes, I get a little goofy when I see landmarks from my books). We didn't go in; seeing it from the outside was sufficient for me.

TOOTSIES!!!

But the great highlight was attending Craig Johnson's signing and meeting Rhonda, another friend and blog reader, in person for the first time. Here we are altogether. We didn't have near enough time to hang out together, but it was still a highlight of my year to be with these two special friends.

Books bring people together!

I did, however, manage to call Chris by ANOTHER friend's name and was thereafter the butt of all the jokes...from Craig, too. I don't even know who my friends are!

But in all seriousness, Craig's event was very enjoyable. I heard some old stories but some new ones as well. It was heartwarming to hear how the entire cast of Longmire showed up for his Santa Fe event. Robert Taylor had to film that day, but in the midst of the event the audience got all excited...through the windows behind Craig, Taylor had pulled up in the truck from the show and was waving to everyone.

Craig explained that he knew Robert Taylor was the right for the role of Walt
because he was the only one who removed his hat during the audition!

Craig also admitted his wife informed him that he falls in love with each of his female characters. He acknowledged that she was right! All the women in Walt's life serve as a pride of lionesses, each responsible for her part in Walt's upkeep.

July involved a trip to Washington D.C. Last time I visited the Crime and Punishment Museum and this time it was the International Spy Museum. The museum was fascinating, but I have vowed never to visit D.C. during a holiday again. Oh my goodness the people. [Begin public service announcement] And please folks, if you have children under the age of say 4, they don't understand the museum and they don't want to be in those crowds anymore than anyone else. However, they ARE more likely to throw a temper tantrum in the crowd. Please reconsider taking them, for your sanity and the sanity of all those around you. [End of public service announcement]

The museum was full of fun facts and displays, all the cool gadgets and paraphernalia--like a "dog doo transmitter" (honest to God). It was also rather interesting to learn that the Bond car from Goldfinger inspired intelligence agencies to incorporate similar features into their high security vehicles. There were displays about hot air balloons, homing pigeons, Pinterton (his logo inspired the term Private Eye), female spies and The Red Orchestra. I was fascinated with The Red Orchestra because they were a Russian spy ring that used codes based on obscure works of fiction. Smarties!!

And of course the special event at the museum was the James Bond Villains exhibit. I'm not a big Bond junkie, but I did find it fascinating that Ian Fleming described Bond as a compound of all the secret agents and commando types he had met during the war. And that he chose the name James Bond from the author of the 1947 Field Guide of Birds of the West Indies because he thought it was the dullest name he'd ever heard.

Sorry no pictures from the museum because I followed the rules that said, "no photography in the museum." Evidently I could have taken my camera as there were quite a few others there snapping away. Ah well.

And finally, this month I was able to see Hank Phillippi Ryan here in Cleveland. She was here for a library/Sisters in Crime event that kicked off with an interview of Hank.

It's a small world: Hank's interviewer was my instructor for
American Lit in a summer course I took one year!

She spoke about how her first idea for a book came from a spam email that she received at the age of 55. And as she began to develop Charlotte McNally, Hank gave her protagonist the same concerns she was facing: a woman married to her job, successful but worried about what happens when "the camera didn't love her anymore."

With The Other Woman, Hank's most recent, and incredibly successful, novel came from an idea Hank had that just seemed too big for Charlie. And it came from a line Hank read in PEOPLE Magazine, "You can choose your sins, you can't choose your consequences." However, she assured the audience that there will be more in the Charlotte McNally series.

Since the event was sponsored by the Sisters in Crime of NE Ohio, there were plenty of aspiring writers in the audience, so questions about her process ran rampant during the Q&A session. Hank imparted this little nugget for everyone: "There's no secret way to writing. There's only the way that works for you."

Yes, it has been quite a busy and wonderful summer. And of course I'm still super excited because the grand finale is coming next month with Gregg Hurwitz's visit to the Strongsville Library. I'm very hyped to share with you about his new book, but that will come later. And of course I'll share with you about the event, for everyone who's too far away to join us. PLUS, I'm going to have a extra special surprise from the event. Stay tuned! Remember if you're planning to attend the event, you need to register. It is free but they need to know how many people will be there.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and tidbits from my summer of events. Have a super Tuesday and happy reading!

Left Coast Crime - The End??

O.k. I'm going to make every effort to wrap up the Left Coast Crime recap today. Next week you'll be bombarded with reviews!

On Tuesday I left off after the panels during the day on Saturday. Saturday night involved the Awards Dinner and the Craig Johnson interview.

The dinner was lovely and the food was great, and poor Lou Diamond Phillips arrived in the middle of the meal. The man had been stuck in the airport ALL. DAY. LONG. But he was determined to come. He worked some kind of magic and made it to Colorado Springs. I think that says a lot. He could have easily said, "Hey y'all, my plane is grounded, I'm going home." But he didn't. He persevered and made it!!

Lou Diamond Phillips (center) with Craig and Judy Johnson

Following the dinner, the guests of honor were recognized. Laura Lippman made a very gracious speech and then ended with, "a reader emailed me and asked me to hug Lou Diamond Phillips for her, but I said that would probably be awkward since he doesn't even know me." And like a flash, LDP jumped up from his seat, darted up onto the stage, off the other side--because Laura was walking off--and wrapped her in a big bear hug. The audience was in stitches!

Parnell Hall ended the guest of honor portion of the dinner with a song called "Murder is the Last Resort" a la the theme of the conference. There was a CD copy of the song in our book bags, so if you know someone who attended you can hear it for yourselves.

Parnell Hall sings "Murder is the Last Resort."

Next they conducted the auction with the awards announcements still to come--for future event planners, this is NOT a good idea, especially if your auctioneer is rather luke warm. The auction was slow going until the next to the last item. Craig Johnson had a proof copy of the short story collection that he has coming out from ASAP publishing. The proof copy included signatures from Craig and the various contributors, including Margaret Coel, Lou Diamond Phillips and William Kent Krueger. There are illustrations and photographs and of course the shorts, plus some non-fiction pieces from Craig. I ordered one of the finished copies, but they had a proof that was being auctioned off. And bidding started but it was ho hum until Lou Diamond Phillips jumped up and took on the role of auctioneer for this article.

What'll ya give Lou Diamond Phillips for this book?

Ham that he is, he rubbed the book all over his body and cracked jokes, enticing the bidding all the way up to $775. Auctioneering requires an entertainer! The audience was enthralled. And here we thought we were only getting an interview from the man!

So now it was time for the awards! If you haven't already heard, the winners included:

Brad Parks and Catriona McPherson proudly represent Minotaur

Bruce Alexander Memorial Award for historical fiction: Catriona McPherson
Watson Award for best sidekick: Rochelle Staab
Lefty Award for humor: Brad Parks
Rocky Award for book set in the LCC geographic area: Craig Johnson

Rochelle Staab and her stunning Watson Award!

I know I've met Catriona before, but as with almost everyone at the Left Coast Crime Conference, I was able to actually talk to her a bit and she's just a lovely woman. And her speech was lovely as well. I do know Rochelle Staab--she's a xuni author--and she's a doll, so I was very excited for her.

I must point out that when Brad won his award, he lived up to the award. Humor does not stop at the man's books. First he walked up on stage and asked Lou Diamond Phillips if he could have a hug as well. LDP obliged.

Sorry for the blur--Brad gets his hug from Lou Diamond Phillips

THEN after he thanked Hilary Davidson and I for stuffing the ballot box, he did what Brad does best...he sang...a song...to Laura Lippman, to the tune of "You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'." Laura got up and danced with him and the crowd loved it.

With the wrap of the awards there was a short break so they could rearrange things in the room for the interview. I took the opportunity to snag a seat front and center. Had I known I would have such a great seat, I probably would have taken my video camera along. Alas, I did not. But I have some good pictures to share. AND I do have some audio from the session, so I'm going to include a snippet here. And boy was this an ordeal. I had always edited my audio on my PC, and this time I had to do it on my Mac...I like to learn, but not late at night when I'd just like to get done...anyway, the audio is about 9 minutes and hopefully it'll give you a good sense of the wonderfulness that was the Craig Johnson interview.

I know that my headline says this is the end for my Left Coast Crime recap, and it is, but there will be one more fun little post this weekend that is kind of my highlight moments and pictures. Yes, I have even more pictures. Don't ask how many I took in the Craig Johnson interview alone....

I know you're going to be thrilled with tomorrow's Five on Friday guest, so I'll meet you back here you then! Happy Reading!

Left Coast Crime - Part I

Rabbit, rabbit! Right? Kind of funny saying that the day AFTER Easter. I hope you all had a great weekend.

So, you know I traveled to Colorado to attend my first Left Coast Crime. And I have to say, it was a great experience. I liked the size of the conference and the resort was absolutely lovely. I personally would have preferred it in the summer, but some left-coasters who don't get to see snow very often enjoyed it. Here's a view of the scenery Friday morning:

This was the same view Saturday morning:

This was also the reason Lou Diamond Phillips had a difficult time getting to Colorado Springs, but more on that later. Despite the weather, we had a grand time.

Thursday was our panel on social media. I video taped the panel, but unfortunately the view wasn't wide enough to get everyone. So, it's only a partial view. When I have that available on YouTube, I'll let you all know. But we touched on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads (too bad we didn't have the Amazon topic to throw in), Pinterest and Google Plus. Time prevented us from addressing blogs, websites and newsletters, though. Our panelists were so wonderful and all had unique perspectives, so the conversation was great and we received many compliments. The greatest thing I heard from people was that they learned something something from the panel. Yay!

The next day started off with a panel about literary influences, followed by a panel on the anti-hero. The discussion on the anti-hero was rather fascinating and revealing. Questions such as "is there a line your anti-hero can't cross" and "should the reader judge the anti-hero" came up. I think readers are going to judge all characters no matter but whether they're justified in doing so is the real question. This brings to mind for me the idea that readers should first and foremost ask themselves if the author is doing what he/she set out to do. John Gilstrap says the problems arise when you have the anti-hero step outside his/her own code.

The panel was all male and I wonder what direction some of the questions would have taken if there had been a female on the panel. It was pointed out later in the panel that Zoe Sharp writes a female anti-hero. That may very well have changed the climate of this panel, but it was insightful nonetheless.

One of my favorite panels of the weekend was the "Lighter Side of Death and Dismemberment" featuring Deb Coonts, Harley Jane Kozak, Rochelle Staab, Brad Parks and Chuck Greaves. These folks know how to avoid taking life too seriously. While I had a hard time believing that Brad Parks is the shy quiet one in his family, the fact that Deb has made it her life's mission to embarrass her son sounded like a parental truth.

The idea of humor in the darker books of crime fiction came up and humor as a defense mechanism was discussed. Most professions that encounter regular horrors like law enforcement, the medical professions, etc. have a way of dealing with what they witness every day. To people on the outside that may come across as sick, but for those in the trenches, it's the only way to remain healthy. So humor is true to life for these people.

I have some video from this panel as well. I need to do some editing with it, but will hopefully have that done soon so I can share. I think you'll enjoy a little tidbit from this panel.

Following this humor panel, I attended another absolutely hilarious event and that was the Truth or Dare panel. The folks subjecting themselves to this were Brad Parks, Toast master David Corbett, Guest of Honor Laura Lippman and Parnell Hall.

The questions and dares were posed by Rhys Bowen. At first everyone was willing to respond to the truths: what non-living writer doesn't deserve their fame? What's your birth name? What's the worst thing anyone's ever said or written about you? But when the question of "What LIVING author doesn't deserve their wealth or fame" no one was willing to answer and the dares started. 

Several of the dares dealt with singing, but when they arrived at Brad, he was given a blind fold and then Jan Burke came to the stage and stood next to him. He had to determine who Jan was without looking. And yes, we were all a little concerned about this! No lives or limbs were lost, however.

To top off this night, Brad Parks and I went to dinner at a dive called The Hatch Cover. Brad had been in the "Concealed Weapons Fashion Show" as James Bond and was decked out in a tuxedo. I fit in much better in my jeans and sweatshirt. As Brad describes it, when we walked in the record scratched and everyone turned to look at the first tuxedo to grace the Hatch Cover. The tuxedo may also have been the reason the waitress carded Brad when he ordered a beer. He was astonished and had to brag to everyone that night about being carded. A success Friday at Left Coast Crime I would say!

I'll have more on Saturday tomorrow, so stay tuned!