Five on Friday - Jennifer McMahon

Yes! It is once again Friday. I hope everyone had a great week. It's been cold here but luckily the precipitation has stayed away for a bit. I'm sure it won't last long, but we've had sunshine and that makes me happy.

A couple house-keeping items. First, thank you to everyone who has left a comment on the blogiversary post. They have kept me in smiles all week. It truly warms my heart to know you're finding new books and authors here. I couldn't possibly ask for anything greater! If you haven't entered to win the anniversary contest, be sure you do that. The book collection that will be included grew a little more this week. You never know what may be in the box if you win!

Also, remember that I'm giving away the Sean Chercover/Trinity Game prize over on the Facebook page this month. I'll just be drawing a name from all the page friends at the end of the month. So if you already follow the page, you're entered!

I want to send out huge congrats to the 2013 Edgar nominees. They were revealed this week. I think I've read more nominees this year than ever in the past. I did have a couple of debuts that I'm sad didn't show up on the nominees' list, but you'll have that.

Wednesday I reviewed Bernard Cornwell's new novel 1356. On Tuesday Shelf Awareness ran my interview with the amazing writer. It was a great experience to chat with him, I hope you'll check it out.

If you hurry, you can still enter the contest at Criminal Element to win a copy of Snow White Must Die. I'm hoping to read this one myself. It looks very good. The contest is only open until tomorrow morning so go quick! But remember to come back and read today's Five on Friday!

I think that's all I need to share with you this Friday. So let's move on to the star of this show. Jennifer McMahon has been writing for awhile now, but my introduction came last year when I read her newest release The One I Left Behind. First, I was blown away by her writing. Then I had the opportunity to meet her at Bouchercon and she is just fabulous. (I thought that before I learned about Charlie!) Seriously, I wish she lived next door. But alas, I don't get that honor. I did, however, do a bit of a happy dance when she agreed to join us for this week's Five on Friday. Please help me welcome this very talented woman!

My favorite place to read is: On the couch with my dog, Charlie. He likes to curl up against me and put his head on my lap when I’m reading or writing. Very sweet. We both get cranky if we don’t get in our couch time together each day.

The last movie I saw was: I just watched Jaws again for the first time in years. It’s such a great story and the film is so well done. The early shark attack scenes are truly terrifying and the fact that we see so little of the shark during the attacks is an excellent example of less is more. And the music -- who can hear it and not get chills? I’m glad I watched it in the winter so I have a while to get over it before hitting the beach again!

My favorite kind of cookie is: Anything with M&Ms in them. I’m kind of an M&M junkie. I keep a bag in my desk drawer at all times. Add them to a cookie and I’m pretty much in heaven.

My favorite brand of athletic shoe is: New Balance running shoes. I’ve recently taken up running again and wore my trusty New Balances in a zombie run this past fall. I dodged zombies, climbed over stacks of hay bales, crawled through mud, jumped over fire and arrived at the finish line 5 K later with my brain intact. It was great fun and I highly recommend a zombie run as a goal for anyone thinking of getting into shape. If running for your life from zombies doesn’t motivate you, nothing will!

The #1 item on my bucket list right now is: traveling out of the country. I’ve been all over the US and to Canada, but have never been overseas. Top to-do items on my list this year are getting a passport and planning a trip! 

O.k. I've always said I don't run unless something scary is chasing me. A zombie might qualify!  What I want to know now, though, is if Charlie runs with Jennifer or if he just waits at home on the couch.

My sincerest thanks to Jennifer who took time out during the busiest time of her book cycle--the book launch--and shared some fun with us. If you haven't read her work before, I encourage you to pick up The One I Left Behind. For my audio friends, it's also available as an audiobook. I haven't had a chance to hear it, so if anyone listens to the audio, I'd love to know how it is!

I wish you all a wonderful weekend and I hope it is filled with equally wonderful reading!

Bouchercon - the end

As promised, I'll wrap up my Bouchercon weekend and pictures today. Before I get to that, if you'd like to check out an interview that's a little different for me, yesterday Shelf Awareness for Readers ran my interview with Simon Winchester who just published a book called SKULLS. Yes, that's correct, skulls, craniums, brain casings....whatever you want to call them, that's what this book is about. And it's essentially a coffee table book, so lots and lots of pictures of skulls. Mostly animal skulls, by the way. It really was a most fascinating interview, though.

Saturday started out with my second panel moderating and that panel was "Mysteries Made in the Midwest." I had a superb line-up of authors: Carla Buckley, Sharon Fiffer, Michael Harvey and John Rector. I have to admit that when I was first asked to moderate this panel, my thought was, "what the heck are we going to talk about with a topic like that?" But it actually turned out to be engaging and interesting because I had fab panelists. We talked about how the weather came into play in several of the authors' works. We addressed how Michael's setting in Chicago differed from the stereotypical "Midwest." And we talked about how the characters might be shaped and influenced by the Midwest. And the audience was extremely fun as well. I'm very glad I had the opportunity to be a part of the panel.

By the way, if anyone was there and took pictures of that panel, I'd really like to see them. 

The other panel I attended on Saturday was the "Heroes and Villains" panel. This panel I will admit was a bit on the disappointing side for me. I love all the authors who were on the panel: Mark Billingham, Martyn Waites, Karin Slaughter, Alafair Burke, and John Connolly, but I think I was expecting more - or maybe different. Some of the highlights though:

Alafair Burke and John Connolly

John Connolly mentioned that his hero is James Lee Burke, which made Alafair, sitting next to him, grin and maybe blush a little. Karin Slaughter said John was her hero for asking her to interview him for the Toastmaster interview. Martyn Waites' heroes are the people he worked with when he worked in the prison system. His appreciation of what they accomplished was very evident. I hope to sit down with Martyn some time and talk about his experiences working in the prison. They sound very interesting.

Karin Slaughter and Alafair Burke

Appropriate for the celebration of Banned Books Week, Martyn pointed out that he views people who ban books as villains.

Mark Billingham and Martyn Waites

John Connolly dislikes the animosity toward printed books. Personally, I've not really experienced that animosity. I've seen more animosity toward ereaders, but his ultimate statement that he'd like to see the two quietly co-exist is spot on!

As for what people prefer to WRITE, John says goodness is boring to write, so he likes his villains. Alafair says she strives to write characters who are hard to pinpoint as either good or bad.

Following this panel I was invited to a wonderful lunch with Jennifer McMahon. I was fortunate enough to be seated with Oline Cogdill and Janet Rudolph, who I don't get to see nearly enough. We had a great chat with Jennifer. That was a nice opportunity and I look forward to sharing with you about Jennifer's upcoming book in the next few months. I really enjoyed it!

Jennifer McMahon and Oline Cogdill

And the last day of the conference was short. I attended one panel and that was the Politically Charged Plots panel with Mike Lawson, Pete Morin, Allison Leotta, Stuart Neville and Lisa Brackmann as their moderator. Lisa, for the record, did an outstanding job moderating her panel. So kudos to her.

Lisa Brackmann, Pete Morin, and Allison Leotta

All the panelists were great and the content of their discussions was wonderful. I'm sorry more people didn't have a chance to experience it. One of the questions that arose with the panelists was if they get negative feedback feedback from readers on the politics in their books. Mike Lawson said his experience has been that he receives more feedback if he makes a mistake on a gun detail than anything about politics.

Stuart Neville and Mike Lawson

Stuart Neville explained that in Northern Ireland people are suspicious of every politician, yet they vote the same people back into office time after time.

Another question that arose dealt with how much political explanation has to go into books. The general consensus was to keep it lean. Mike Lawson says you'll bog the book down with too much detail and Stuart Neville said you have to trust your readers. They can Google what they don't know about or want to know more about. Allison Leotta said she starts out researching through interviews, then she fills in gaps with Google research and finally, she refers to all the collected data as little as possible so it doesn't come out as an info dump on the page.

I think my fascination with political crime novels has increased in the recent years. And really I credit part of that to Mike Lawson as his books have held me captive one after the other. So, I thoroughly enjoyed this panel. And afterward I was able to meet Mike, so that was fun for me. That was the first time I met him in person. And I was able to meet his wife as well. There's such a humanizing element to Bouchercon. There will always be people who intimidate me, but when you interact with the authors, publishers, publicists, other reviewers and readers at the conventions, it's rewarding and memorable.

I encourage everyone. If you haven't attended a Bouchercon, make an effort to go. If you need to wait for one closer to your stomping grounds, that's o.k., but don't miss the opportunity if it's close. It's really is worth your time and money if you're a fan of this genre.

And to throw in a little pitch for some other great events, I'll remind you that Murder and Mayhem in Muskego is next month up in Wisconsin. It's right outside Milwaukee. This will be my fourth year attending...wow! I can't believe it's been four years. I drive from Cleveland and I wouldn't miss it. It's wonderful. Great line-up this year. Very affordable. And best of all, there are great crime fiction fans there. Check it out.

I'll be going to my first Left Coast Crime in March. This one is in Colorado Springs and Craig Johnson and Laura Lippman are the guests of honor.  Special bonus, David Corbett is the toast master.

While I won't be attending this year - I do need to stay home some times I suppose - there is Love is Murder in Chicago in February.

And also be on the lookout for general book festivals. I love the LA Times Book Festival. I've been twice and it's amazing. I'm hoping to make the National Book Festival next year. I say that every year, so we'll see. And another book festival on my bucket list is the Tuscon Book Festival. I've heard wonderful things about this one as well. It won't be this year as it's very close to the Left Coast Crime dates, but someday....

O.k. so sorry, got a little carried away there with my book event love. Feel free to leave other events in the comments and let people know where and when they are! Thanks for humoring me. Have a great day and happy reading!