Noir at the Bar roundup

I finally made Noir at the Bar last night. Finally. I got to see Rod Wiethop, who drove two goddamn hours to make it to the event, meet some new people, including Sonia Coney, Jason Makansi, and the great Robert Randisi, and, of course, do a little reading.

Maybe it's just because I don't actually live there, but the sense of community among writers and readers seems palpable in St. Louis. The best example I can think of is in the relationship between the Noir at the Bar folks and Subterranean Books, one of the great independent bookstores. Not too long ago, Subterranean Books were in some financial trouble, and to help out, Scott Phillips and Jedidiah Ayres published a collection of short stories by Noir at the Bar alumni, and sold it exclusively through them, with all the profits going back into the bookstore. As I learned this morning, it was their #2 bestseller last year.

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I had a hell of a time. Huge thanks to Jed and Scott for having me, for not letting me pay for a damn thing while I was down there, and, best of all, for hanging out after the event, shooting the shit. I've been wanting to do it bad for a long time. There's nobody more generous or thoughtful than Jedidiah Ayres, and it was every bit as great as I'd hoped.

The only downside was that I got stuck in the airport for a couple of hours, thanks to high winds in Denver. But even that turned into a blessing. See, I'd had the foresight to pick up Scott Phillips' The Adjustment the night before. It's the funniest, darkest, most brilliant noir novel I've read since Jim Thompson, I think. Don't believe me? Here's just one snippet of dialogue:

"Fern was a mean woman, and her daughters all three mean and crabbed as she was. I'll tell you something on the QT. I was married to that woman thirty-seven miserable years, and she only let me make a woman out of her eight times, and the last three of those was by force. I didn't care no more about it, I was done with her. When she hanged herself, you know what I said? Good."

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Needless to say, I finished it before landing this afternoon. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Of course, I didn't sleep at all, so that's where I'm headed now. Again, I can't say how much fun I had.