Murder & Mayhem in Muskego - Part 2

Saturday is the main part of the Murder & Mayhem conference. This year's line-up of authors was another doozy so the entire day was filled with crime fiction goodness.

There was some kind of accident or something on the highway, so Judy Bobalik and I had to take the back roads route to the library and I was doing a slight panic on the way because this was the first year my duties were in the morning. Holy cow if I was late I'd have been mortified. But  no sweat, we made it in plenty of time for me to see a little bit of Bryan's first gig as panel moderator!

He led Marcus Sakey, Alex Segura, Sean Doolittle and Kieran Shea in a panel called "Flip the Switch." Bryan's last question to everyone was, "what would your last meal be?"

Pie!

And next came my interview with Gregg Hurwitz. What fun and how animated Gregg is. I've said many times, Gregg is simply a natural-born storyteller. He spoke about the beginning of his interest in writing, his research, his work on scriptwriting and of course his new book TELL NO LIES. By the way, I'm absolutely mortified to realize I never posted my review of the book here. I reviewed it for Shelf but wanted to add to the review...so I promise I will get that for you all. In the mean time, I have video of the interview if you care to watch. This year I managed to stay in the chair and Gregg even got me to blush at one point. It's the full interview, so give yourself some time and I hope you enjoy. Also a special shout out to my wonderful friend Larry who handled the activation of the video camera for this one. Thanks Larry!


Following our interview, Kate Malmon took the moderator's reigns to lead Duane Swierczynski, Howard Chaykin, Dana Cameron, Chris Holm and Harry Hunsicker in the "Riff Raff" panel. It started off in riff raff fashion with a phone interruption for Howard.

Sadly, Chris was not telling his bug story here.

Following lunch the noirish-types took the stage for the "Back in Black" panel led by Tim Hennessey and featuring Frank Wheeler, Megan Abbott, Reed Farrel Coleman, Frank Bill, Jedidiah Ayres, and Hilary Davidson. In the picture you'll notice Reed and Frank Bill in their matching hats. I would love to say those are for my Elyria alma mater, but in fact they were a "hat tip" to Rod Wiethop a prominent member of the crime fiction community who has had a stellar year with his sports teams at Effingham High School (hopefully I spelled that correctly).

Frank looks guilty and Megan looks livid - not sure how I managed the timing on this shot.

The rest of the panel is watching to see if a fight breaks out. Noir panels...whatdaya expect?

The rowdy group was up next. Katrina Holm moderated "Sink the Pink." Julie Hyzy dressed accordingly for this panel. Gregg, the Shakespeare "dilettante" and Dan O'Shea who has Shakespeare as his protagonist made for a interesting couple on this panel. Joelle Charbonneau talked about the differences in writing cozies and writing YA. And Tom Schreck, as usual, was the hit of the panel.

Tom's question was "Things that make you go hmmmm."

Even though the panel was "sink the pink" Julie stayed completely dry.

Gregg appears to be very confused. Could it be because of Dan's jacket?

The highlight of my day, second of course to interviewing Gregg, was watching Michael Koryta and Marcia Clark in conversation. They are funny, intelligent and great writers. The stories they shared were captivating. After almost 6 years now, I still haven't lost my interest and fascination in listening to great authors tell stories.

Who looks scary and prosecutorial? "Me. I do." Marcia intimidated Michael before he first met her.

Two wonderfully talented writers. An exceptional session at M&M.

I have to end with an apology because the final session of the day was William Kent Krueger's interview by Libby Fischer Hellmann. I didn't get any snaps of that session, but Kent started off the discussion with a grand praise of libraries and friends of libraries organizations.  A fitting way to cap the day held in a fantastic library.

I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to regularly attend this fabulous event for the last five years now. It's exceptional. If you have the chance to experience it, I encourage you to DO IT!!

Thanks for sticking through to the end of this post; hope you enjoyed it. Happy Reading friends!

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!

Crime Critters Caught Reading Crime - Wilbur

One of the nicest, funniest, most generous people I know in the crime fiction community is Tom Schreck, author of the Duffy Dombroski series. When it comes to empathy and kindness, he makes me look like Attila the Hun (and no comments from my sisters allowed).

Most people who know him, know about his passion for animals, especially basset hounds. Many have met Tom through various basset events, like basset waddles. That name just cracks me up, but it's apt for bassets.

Tom's own basset is Wilbur. Wilbur is a certified therapy dog and today Tom caught him reading...

"I called to Wilbur while he was reading an old school Dennis Lehane...he wasn't pleased I interrupted him...he tends to get lost in a good book.

Here he's enjoying Darkness, Take My Hand (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro)."

Those look like some strong specs there, Wilbur. Keep reading, pal!

You can enjoy Tom's novels and shorts stories. Find out more at his website or come out for Bouchercon or Murder and Mayhem in Muskego. He's a regular at both.

Thanks to Tom and Wilbur for today's entry in the Crime Critters series.

And today's pet tip: Remain as calm as possible during stressful or emergency situations - your pet is easily influenced by your behavior and will mirror your stress or panic.

Five on Friday: Tom Schreck

Happy March and Happy Friday everyone! I cannot tell you how happy I am to have February in the rear-view mirror. I try not wish my life away, but this February was a rough one. I'm super excited to be starting with a fresh new month; I have Left Coast Crime to look forward to and St. Patrick's Day. I like this holiday!

Before I get to our first Five on Friday of March, I have some odds and ends housekeeping info to share.

First is about Soho's contest for Cara Black's new Aimée Deluc mystery, MURDER BELOW MONTPARNASSE. I signed up earlier this week and got a notice today that I won some French post cards. Fun stuff! They have a Nook up for grabs at the end loaded with some Soho crime novels, so don't miss out on that!

I'm going to be working on my panel for Left Coast Crime, so if you are so inclined to share your feedback with me but you haven't done so yet, now's the time. Here's the link for the survey form. Many thanks to everyone who has already contributed their thoughts. Your contributions will help me to focus the panel in a way that will hopefully be beneficial to anyone who attends. By the way, are any of YOU going to be in Colorado, too?

Those Crimespree folks that I just love have a new website. Be sure to pop over and take a look. Also, they're sponsoring a new Friday Reads contest on Facebook, so make sure you enter for that this week.

In the interest of time...and the fact that I know you want me to get to this week's guest...I'll leave the updates at that.

Now let me move on to a man I've known almost as long as I've been blogging. Tom Schreck writes a series featuring Duffy Dombrowski, a social worker/semi-pro boxer, and Al, a basset hound (or a basket hound, depending on who you ask).  Those who know Tom might see some similarities. Tom has worked as a social worker, and while he doesn't box professionally, he does judge boxing professionally.  And Tom has a basset hound of his own--as well as a bloodhound and a mix-breed dog with a little of both blood hound and basset hound. Add in the cats and the Schrecks have a very busy house! It's a good thing that he has such a great sense of humor.

If you haven't checked out Tom's series before, there's a special starting (I believe today) on his second novel TKO. It'll be 99¢ with a snazzy new cover on Kindle. And the third book, OUT COLD gets its make-over starting today as well. If you're familiar with the original covers I think you'll be surprised to see the difference. Gives them a whole new tone! If you like dogs, funny, conspiracy theories, I think you'll like Duffy Dombroski.  But let me quit my yapping and turn things over to the man himself...Mr. Tom Schreck!

Tom with Jon Jordan and Joe Schmidt at Murder & Mayhem in Muskego

1. If I could tell my 16-year-old self one piece of advice, knowing what I know now, it would be: Relax, you’re not going to get in trouble and even if you do sometimes it’s worth it. Oh, and your zits will go away in twenty years or so.

2. The best gift I ever received was: My wedding ring. My father made it during WWII while he was in Europe. After he died my mom gave it to me before I got married and it symbolizes how lucky I am to have met Sue.

3. One thing I have no tolerance for is: Arrogant people. (note from Jen: and yet, he tolerates me!)

4. The most daring thing I ever tried (to date) was: When I was in my early 20’s my Dad and I weren’t getting along. Like many WWII, greatest generation types, he wasn’t the kind of guy who talked about emotional stuff. I decided to write him a letter and in it I told him I loved him but that sometimes he hurt my feelings. I expected him to ignore it but I figured as a man it was something I needed to do.

 That day he called me and he was in a really cheerful voice and told me he got my letter and that he had one for me. When I read it I couldn’t believe it. He poured his heart out to me and promised to change. He did and never broke his word. It changed our relationship forever.

5. The #1 item on my bucket list right now is: I really want to be able to play “Baby, What Do You Want Me To Do” on the guitar exactly like Elvis did on his TV special. I want to be able to do it on an electric with all the fills and solos and I want to be able to play it in front of an audience. I don’t necessarily need the black leather suit… But it would be nice. 

Oh yes, I guess I forgot the other similarity between Duffy and Tom (how could I have forgotten to mention THIS?): their love of Elvis Presley! In both cases, it's pretty legendary.  Despite knowing Tom for awhile now, I knew almost none of this! This is exactly why I love Five on Friday!

Tom's a regular at Murder & Mayhem in Muskego as well as Bouchercon, so if you attend a future event, be sure to say "hi" to him. You'll find a very friendly, kind, out-going guy with lots of dog stories! And until those events roll around, you can find Tom on Facebook. Thanks Tom for your wonderful responses this week. And thanks to all of you for stopping by to read! Have a wonderful weekend and I hope you have plenty of good reads to fill it!

Top 10 Things I Learned at Murder & Mayhem in Muskego 2012

As you already know, last weekend was Murder and Mayhem in Muskego. I have to admit that this was the best one yet since I've been attending. You know about my interview with Robert Crais. If you had problems viewing it here on the blog (some did), I broke it in two shorter segments and posted those on the Facebook page. So hopefully that will work better for folks who had problems.

And by the way, the Facebook page is an open page, so even if you haven't liked the page...or if you don't have a Facebook account...you should still be able to access the page and see the video if you want.

But believe it or not, other stuff happened at M&M this weekend! So here is my minor recap of a weekend full of wonderfulness.

The Top Ten Things I Learned at Murder & Mayhem in Muskego, 2012

10. Daniel Palmer thinks writing is like a boiling cauldron and his favorite character (that is not of his own creation) is Jaws. His least favorite character--not his own--is also Jaws. This man is hysterical; if you've never met him in person, remedy that at your earliest convenience.

9. Craig McDonald says the Prologue is the over-used device he likes the least. Down with the prologue!

8. Lisa Lutz once (unknowingly) told a New York Times bestselling author that his mother was a major pain!

7. Chris Holm can not start writing a story without a title. To date he has been fortunate. The titles he's picked for his books have stuck, no publishing changes there.

6. Brad Parks knows a lot about fracking--actually I learned that one at lunch on Friday, but still...

5. Marcus Sakey is making a new television show. It won't be Hidden City, but a similar concept for the Travel Channel. 

4. Lou Berney is ambidextrous....and smart....and funny...and talented...and kind...and...

3. Jeff Lindsey has some very scary fans, and his minister likes to sermonize about Dexter!

2. Most of the panelists with Ayo Onatade didn't want to fess up to a character they didn't like (that wasn't their own) but John Lutz had no problems proclaiming Susan Silverman...with the caveat that he loved the Spenser books.

1. George Pelecanos is even more amazing than I thought he was last week!

I wanted to save this last one to the end of my list because there are several things I want to share with you. You may know them already, but this was my first chance to meet George Pelecanos and I can't even put into words how in awe I was. And he's not the kind of person who makes you feel uncomfortable or like you need to bow down and kiss his ring. He's down to earth, funny, kind, generous...and oh my goodness so smart.

If you followed my tweets during the interview with George, you already know that he will be working as an executive producer (as will Dennis Lehane) for Boardwalk Empire following the end of Treme. He also has the sequel to THE CUT coming out next year and it's called THE DOUBLE.

But I just have to tell you how this man won my heart in his interview. I don't even remember what the actual question was that brought this up, but he told the audience that he was acutely aware of the fact that he would leave a nice job, drive in his nice car to his nice house and live a comfortable life as a result of his writing about people far less privileged than he. So, he felt a need to give back. He's doing that through writing and reading programs in urban schools and prisons. One of the most incredible statements he made was, "If you give a kid in prison a book, that's how he escapes the cell."

Each year this one-day conference reminds me of the power of the story...the inspiration, the friendships, the fulfillment, the fun. The world always looks a little brighter after this conference for me. I highly recommend making an honest effort to attend it at some point. Save your pennies, plan your vacation, and get here. You won't regret it!

I'm going to leave you today with the other video I recorded this weekend. This is the panel I moderated Friday night...really I just pointed to people and said, "you share your story now." The panelists did the hard part--and they did it well. I apologize profusely. I thought I had the camera set up to get all the panelists, but poor Marcus got cut off. He's off to the left of the screen, but you can hear him when he talks. A couple times he leans into the picture. I hope you enjoy the show!

The Pokey Little Bouchercon Post

Yes, I'm still blogging about Bouchercon. Yes, it is a little sad on my part. In my defense I had three other planned posts for last week, and the last two posts I have are totally worth waiting for. Why you ask? Well let's take a look at Friday in St. Louis!

The morning started bright and early with a very nice breakfast co-sponsored by the Midwest chapter of Mystery Writers of America and CriminalElement.com. The breakfast was held for librarians, bloggers, booksellers and other related conference attendees. Guests of Honor Charlaine Harris and Colin Cotterill spoke, while additional Minotaur authors hosted individual tables.

Brad Parks and Sabrina Ogden

Charlaine Harris

Colin Cotterill deep in thought about Charlaine's speech?

Ali is tweeting? Or Facebooking maybe?

Once we had full tummies, we could move on to the programming of the day. For me that started with a panel called "Shake and Finger Pop." It's a bit of a misleading title as the panel dealt with fight sports in crime fiction. The panelists included Jamie Freveletti, Tom Schreck, Christa Faust, and Frank Bill all moderated by Eric Beetner. It's fascinating to hear the way each of the panelists views fighting in relation to plotting and their characters. Tom Schreck and Frank Bill have more of a boxing background and Jamie Freveletti is a martial artist with a black belt in aikido. Christa Faust's character is a former porn star, and Christa pointed out parallels between the porn industry and professional fighting.

Jamie Freveletti and Christa Faust

Jamie Freveletti

Christa Faust and Tom Schreck

Tom Shreck and Frank Bill

The next session I attended was Ridley Pearson's interview by Jeff Abbott. I know from my own experiences interviewing Ridley, that he's a wonderful interviewee. Add to that Jeff Abbott is a fabulous interviewer and this session was outstanding! Jeff rocked the house with his self-deprecating sense of humor, his knowledge of his subject and his appreciation for Bouchercon as a fan conference. Sometimes participants forget that. This isn't a writer's conference. The fans come to know the writers more than the writing. The unfortunate part of this interview was its time slot. The charity bowling tournament was going on at the same time. I'm sad more people couldn't have enjoyed this wonderful interview. And sadly, I arrived a few minutes late, so I didn't get to record it. That was my biggest regret of the conference. But here are some pictures from the fun:

Jeff made Ridley really think on this question.

This picture says so much about the entire interview.

 

Ooooh, I think Ridley is telling a secret!

I just love this shot! Doesn't Ridley look like an excited little kid? So much fun!

Following Ridley's interview I opted to see Dark Angel: Morally Challenged Heroes. This was an extra special panel for me because two people I've gotten to know and really like through social media were teamed up here. Chris Holm was the moderator and Bill Cameron was one of the panelists. And I can attest that they are super great people and it was wonderful to get to meet them in person. Also on this panel were Blake Crouch, Theresa Schwegel, Michael Wiley and Leighton Gage. After a little unforeseen informercial, the panel was off and running and quite entertaining. The interesting outcome was that none of the authors really viewed their heroes as morally challenged.

Chris Holm and Bill Cameron

Theresa Schwegel and Michael Wiley

The programming element of the day ended with one of my highlights for the conference: Gregg Hurwitz interviewed Robert Crais. I'm not going to say a lot about this interview because I have it recorded for you to see yourself. If you didn't get to attend, here's your chance to see it. If you did attend and just want to relive it...here you go. What I will say is that Gregg Hurwitz did an exceptional job. He understood the idea of the fan convention and created an environment where the fans could know the man behind the writing. It was fun, humorous and enlightening. Gregg has given me much to aspire to in the realm of interviewing. And that's enough from me. Here's the video:










Finally, I'll wrap with our gift to Robert Crais. The Craisies did a little brainstorming and with the initiative of Naomi Johnson (The Drowning Machine) we got jersey's that said "The Craisies" across the front. Then we each picked an RC character and had the name put on the back. He was gifted the #1 shirt: