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Bouchercon in retrospect
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Thursday:I slept like a log and felt refreshed this morning. Thursday is usually a half day, but they started at 10:00 trying to squeeze everything in.
My first panel was Most likely to succeed with Ali Karim, Chris Aldrich, Sarah Byrne, Janet Rudolph, and Andi Schecter. They are reviewers who discussed their favorite books. Not a lot of surprises except for the fact that Ali Karim never mentioned Steig Larsson.
Dead or Alive Jen Forbus, Brad Parks, R.J. Ellory, Hilary Davidson, Douglas Corleone. Making stories come alive. Hilary Davidson is a new author and there has been a lot of buzz about her book The Damage Done and I made my first trip to the book room to buy that. I have already read Ellory and Parks.
A Good Cop...But Robin Burcell, Colin Campbell, Mike Black, Connie Dial, and Matt Hilton. 3 American cops, 2 British cops. Interesting comparisons of technique and philosophy. Colin is a friend of mine and was meeting with his agent here. Lee Child has gotten behind him and sent his lastest book to several publishers. When I said goodbye Sunday morning, he said that he thought he would have good news soon, and that I was going to be one of his first readers.
That evening was the opening ceremonies and reception. They presented the Barry and Macavity Awards and introduced all the special guests. William Morrow sponsored the reception and the food was amazing. Usually you just have appetizers, but they had roast beef and mashed potatoes. Their authors gave away copies of their books and signed them. Among them was Wendy Corsi Staub. I've known her a long time. She usually only goes to Tfest and Romantic Times, but she was here.
Thanks, Cheryl, I'm imagining I was there....
Friday:For some reason, everyone knew where to find me this morning.
The Glass Dart Board David Corbett, SJ Rozan, Mark Billingham, Gayle Lynds, Barry Eisler. I got my hug right off the bat. Sat next to Paula Lanier. I met her at TFest. For anyone who has read INSIDE OUT, she bid on naming a character after herself. She is the female lead with a SEX scene. One of the Bay area Rainiacs was there to say HI, but Barry lost out to the Nancy Drew panel for her. The panel itself was political and handled very well by David Corbett. It could have been a touchy subject.
Talked to Barry a little later - he was off to lunch with some publishers. He is looking for a new contract; not everyone leaves Random House of their own free will.
Death and the Favored Few Keith Kahla, Gary Corby, Lindsay davis, John Maddox Roberts, Styeven Saylor. Books about ancient Rome and Greece. I have always liked Steven Saylor and follow Gary Corby on Twitter.
Ten Dollar Murder CJ West, Lee Goldberg, Bill Fitzhugh, gary Philips, David Hewson, Wendy Hornsby, Boyd Morrison. A very informative panel on e-books. CJ had a Nook, Kindle and ipad there so people could see.
The day culminated with the Reacher Creature party in the hotel Atrium. I can't imagine the cost of drinks for 1400 people for three hours.
Cheryl:Thanks for the run down of the panels you attended at B'Con; it sounds like you hit the ground running!
Cheryl wrote: "Well, I'm back - with jet lag, a sore throat and a broken furnace - but I'll try to give a run down of the events of the last few days."
Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Thanks, Cheryl, I'm imagining I was there...."ditto that!
I always love reading about your adventures at the 'Cons, Cheryl! Hope to see you in St Louis next year, with my shiny new hip!
Sounds like you went pretty much non-stop. Thanks for posting all the highlights.
Cheryl wrote: " A very informative panel on e-books. CJ had a Nook, Kindle and ipad there so people could see. ..."
I'm actually thinking about buying an iPad. I read in bed. Never outside. I still don't know if Kindle, Nook or an iPad would be the best option for me.
Love reading the highlights. Thanks for sharing. Hope you feel better soon.
Thanks for the highlights, Cheryl.
Still have two more days to go!!Saturday:
Letters from the Grave Les Klinger, Steve Hockensmith, Laurie King, Michael Kurland, Graham Moore. You might have noticed that these authors have a Sherlock Holmes connection.
The Drop Mark Billingham, John Connolly, Denise Mina, Karin Slaughter, and Martyn Waites. My advice - don't ever miss a panel that Connolly and Billingham are on. Non stop. This time most of the stories involved their experiences on the road with their books.
I missed the premiere of Lee Goldberg's movie Remaindered which I would have liked to see because I was meeting a group for dinner. Author CJ West borrowed a group of Barry Eisler fans that found him on FB and met them for dinner at a pub called The Castle and the Elephant. Great place, good food and once the SF baseball game was over, quiet enough to have a fun conversation. (I was tagged in a photo from CJ on FB.)
Kimi and Amy wanted to go to the disco, and I had planned on getting them in, but we ran into JA Konrath. and Joe took care of it. I only stayed a few minutes, but I think they closed the place down.
Sunday:
I didn't get to the Sunday morning panel, but I did touch base with a few more people before the brunch. One was Karen Dionne. She and I had lunch at Grand Central Station a couple of years ago, and she slipped me an ARC of her newest book. Another was one of my favorite people, Tim Maleeny. He is finishing up his latest, but has fallen behind due to illness and moving the family from SF to NYC. He suggested that I nudge him ever so often, and he will send PDF files of his book as he completes it.
LAST, BUT NOT LEAST!!!!
Paula Lanier and I took BART to the end of the line and were picked up and driven to a Benihana's restaurant in Burlingame where we had lunch with a group of Rainiacs and Barry Eisler. We had one of the tables where they did all the cooking in front of you. Great fun!! And Barry treated.
Finally we went to a local hotel where one of the Rainiacs had a room and watched the Japanese movie Rain Fall based on Barry's book. One of the Rainiacs is a photograpeher and film maker and between him and Barry, we learned a lot about screen plays and films. I sat on the floor next to an easy chair where Barry was sitting and thought at times I needed to hold him down as he got worked up over parts of the movie.
I have chosen Killing Rain for my f2f book club, and Barry gave me autographed bookmarks for all of them before he left.
It was a great conference - next stop LCC in SantaFe in March!!
Wow, Cheryl, the dinner and movie viewing with Barry may have been the highlight of the conference!! What fun.Cheryl wrote: "Still have two more days to go!!
Saturday:
Letters from the Grave Les Klinger, Steve Hockensmith, Laurie King, Michael Kurland, Graham Moore. You might have noticed that these authors have a S..."
The dinner at Benihana sounds great!! Good food and Barry to look at across the table......don't get much better than that! ;-) I forgot about LCC in Santa Fe. That's just down the road from here.......
Cheryl wrote: "Well, I'm back - with jet lag, a sore throat and a broken furnace - but I'll try to give a run down of the events of the last few days.I didn't sleep the night before I left; I had to be at the..."
Hope your furnace situation is being resolved and you start feeling better soon.
Had a great time in San Francisco. It is a really great city and I hope to return sometime so I can see some of the many things I missed.
Thanks to Marcy for suggesting a great place for all of us to meet and to Mary for handling the logistics. The food was really good and the company even better. It was so nice to catch up with everyone again and to meet Marcy, Shomeret, Susie, and Robert for the first time.
Melodie wrote: "The dinner at Benihana sounds great!! Good food and Barry to look at across the table......don't get much better than that! ;-) I forgot about LCC in Santa Fe. That's just down the road from here...."Not across the table; he was sitting next to me - even better. :-) It's so different from the formalized world of signings and panels where you get 5 minutes and have to move on.
Yes, Come to Santa Fe!!
Like Cheryl, my first panel Thursday was Most Likely to Succeed. I always enjoy this panel and did get a few new suggestions for books. Some of the ones I jotted down were:Burial and Captured by Neil Cross
Bolt Action by Charlie Charters
Three Seconds by Anders Roslund
Disappeared by Gary Alexander
A Thousand Cuts by Simon Lelic
and the works of Dennis Tafoya
Then I also went to the Dead or Alive panel. I had not read any of the authors before but came away impressed with all of them (though I was surprised to learn that Brad Parks' background was print journalism. He was almost a little too slick and I would have pegged him as a TV guy, lawyer, or in politics.) I did get annoyed though when an aspiring author asked what seemed like a ten minute question and then, when he did not get the answer he wanted, decided that he needed to rephrase the entire thing. A moderator smack down would have been nice.
In the afternoon I went to The Stamp of Death-crime fiction from overseas panel which included Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Christopher G. Moore and the Michael Stanley team Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. I was happy to see Michael Sears for the first time and this was a well moderated and enjoyable panel.
Last on Thursday was High Anxiety which included Juliet Blackwell, Carla Buckley, Sophie Littlefield, and Christopher Rice. This was not really a favorite. The premise of the panel was for the audience to guess the actual first lines of a famous book. The author's all wrote fake first lines so it was a multiple choice quiz. The idea was different and there were some pretty funny lines but overall the execution was a bit lacking and the candy the authors were throwing as prizes darn near took out a couple of eyes.
Enjoyed reading the great time all of you had.
Day 1:Hard to believe it’s now Thursday and another BCon is over. It was so much fun. I don’t know if it was being in San Francisco or that I’m more comfortable with more people, but it was a blast!!
Let me start by saying I really enjoyed getting together on Wednesday night with our M/T buddies. It was great to meet Marcy and Shom in person and to meet an online friend of Mary’s, Susie. I also enjoyed meeting Mary’s hubby, Robert. The meal was great and the walk back very pleasant after a 91 degree day.
The panels all had titles taken from various episodes of the old tv show, The Streets of San Francisco with Karl Malden and a young Michael Douglas.
I also attended the same panel as Cheryl and Sandi on Thursday morning – Most Likely To Succeed.
Next up at 11:30 was one called Hall of Mirrors which was moderated by Rebecca Tope and had Gar Anthony Haywood, Meg Gardiner, Alan Jacobson, Adrian Magson and Nadia Gordon. Maybe we weren’t in the mood, but Sandy and I were bored so we snuck out the back. Bad, I know, but we were practically falling asleep.
At 3:00 we attended The Stamp of Death as well. Since Stanley Trollip is a friend of ours we wanted to go to his panel. This year Michael Sears came along so we got to meet him. I agree with Sandi that the panel was well done and interesting.
At this point we called it a day and headed to the room. Later headed out for a bite to eat. Turned in early.
Day 2: FridayBright and early at 8:30 we attended Breakup, moderated by Reed Farrel Coleman, and had Nancy Martin, Meg Chittenden, Heather Graham and Brenda Novak. These people were very funny (especially Heather Graham). They told us humorous stories.
At 10:00 we also attended The Glass Dart Board. I go to any panel that has Mark Billingham. Some people walked out, but I think they were offended by some strong political opinions, but it was a full house.
At 11:30 we went to Deadline which had Don Bruns moderating and featured Mary Stanton, John Gilstrap, Gayle Lynds, Debbie Atkinson and Bill Moody. Don handed out portions of the Chronicle to about 4 people in the audience. They picked a story and read a few lines from it. Then we picked one and brainstormed the beginning of book. This particular story was about a phone conversation that had been taped and revealed to the public where a California political figure (unnamed) was showing support to a Mexican Drug Lord. We had hotel rooms, Hilary Clinton, murder, the wife of the drug lord. It was pretty funny.
At 3:00 I attended Murder by Proxy. It was presented by Mulholland Books and had Mark Billingham, Marcia Clark (yes, that Marcia Clark), Duane Swierczynski, Daniel Woodrell, Sebastian Rotella and well as representatives from Mulholland )Miriam Parker and John Schoenfelder). Right now I’m drawing a blank, but I stayed so it must have been interesting.
We skipped the 4:30 panel and opted to eat and then I enjoyed the Reacher Creature Party that Cheryl already mentioned. If I’d know about the 4 Jack Reacher dudes I would have taken my camera. They had tee-shirts that said “Do You Know Jack?”. I stayed until about 11:00 but I heard Mary stayed even later! Very fun. Thank you Lee Child.
Day 3: SaturdayOops, I made a boo boo on Friday. I did attend the 4:30 panel called Crossfire. The moderator was a Berkeley librarian named Randal Brandt and right off the bat he had some people booing when he said he didn’t like the Giants! Ouch – just when the whole city is going crazy! Probably not the best thing to say. Anyway, the rest of the panel included Lori Armstrong, Dianne Emley, James Rollins, James Thane and Karen Olson. I chose this panel because I wanted to hear Karen Olson. She’s the one who writes the tattoo series in Las Vegas that Melodie and I have read. She admitted she knows nothing about tattooing but has enjoyed researching. Then someone told me she’s only going to do a total of 4 books. The last will be called Ink Flamingo. I guess the publisher didn’t pick up any more for the series.
Back to Saturday. I wanted to go to In the Midst of Strangers but slept in instead. I wanted to see Chelsea Cain and Wendy Corsi Staub. Oh well, next year.
At 11:30 was the best of the whole conference for me because of the hilarity of Mark B. and John Connelly and Karin Slaughter playing off each other. This year two new funny people were added – Denise Mina (Scottish) and Martyn Waites. Both added to the panel and we heard very funny stories.
I didn’t attend again until 4:30. (Wanted to check out the Ferry Building-fun). This panel was Act of Duty (Sense of honor). This was a nice panel with a very, very lovely moderator, Hilary Davidson. She did a great job and was very gracious. The panelists were Lou Allin, Mike Black, Mike Lawson, Doc Macomber and LJ Sellers (from my hometown of Eugene, Oregon). Good panel.
Sandy and I decided to sit in on the auction which was where the Disco was being held. Some people bought the right to have their name in a future Reacher book and one of Laurie King’s future books. At 8:00 the disco started and they had a live band and a DJ. Great old songs. Very fun, lots of dancing, visiting. Later in the evening Stan Trollip joined us and we all had a great time. They had a photo booth and lots of hilarious photos with props were taken. Fell into bed at midnight!!
Sounds like you had a blast, Jan. Glad you and Sandy got to see some of the city as well. The area is in the midst of Giants mania right now - even my librarian here in Oakland could talk of nothing else.
I made the effort to get up early Friday to see Endgame a panel on endings. Hank Phillippi Ryan was the moderator and she really knows how to wield a microphone. The others on the panel (Bryan Gruley, Kevin Guilfoile, Sam Reaves, and John Shannon) were all very interesting. Afterwards I was able to speak to Sam Reaves who wrote some of my favorite books Dooley's Back: A Novel of Crime and Homicide 69, and under the name of Dominic Martell LYING CRYING DYING and The Republic of Night. He was extremely nice and mentioned that he was born in Indiana. He also was telling me how he might be going to release some of his older work in the e-format.My second panel of the day was Flags of Terror which featured Lisa Brackmann, Stuart Neville, Jassy Mackenzie, Cara Black, Henry Chang, and James R. Benn who are all published by SOHO. At the end of the panel SOHO gave away prizes (free books and shirts).
After that, like Cheryl (who I did not see there), I took in the Death and the Favored Few which had all the big Roman mystery writers John Maddox Roberts, Lindsey Davis, and my favorite Steven Saylor along with Gary Corby who is writing a series set in ancient Greece. The moderator of this panel was their editor Keith Kahla.
Then I hurried over to the bonus lunch session with Declan Hughes and John Connelly for their take on the ten crime novels you must read before you die. They did a great job conveying a lot of information in an hour and you could tell that they are both extremely well read and passionate about the genre. The titles came out fast and furious and I tried to make notes of all of them but may have missed a few. Here are the ones I jotted down:
The Glass Key-Dashiell Hammett
The Long Goodbye and The Big Sleep-Raymond Chandler
The Chill-Ross Macdonald
Deep Water-Patricia Highsmith
Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man-Ed McBain
The Friends of Eddie Coyle-George V. Higgins
Dixie City Jam-James Lee Burke
A Stranger In My Grave-Margaret Millar
Red Dragon-Thomas Harris
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd-Agatha Christie
The Nine Tailors-Dorothy L. Sayers
The Tiger in the Smoke-Margery Allingham
Miami Blues-Charles Willeford
The Last Good Kiss-James Crumley
Morality Play-Barry Unsworth
The Name of the Rose: Including Postscript-Umberto Eco
The Big Blowdown-George P. Pelecanos
What the Dead Know-Laura Lippman
The Broken Shore: A Novel-Peter Temple
The Deep Blue Good-by-John D. MacDonald
True Confessions: A Novel-John Gregory Dunne
Fast One-Paul Cain
Devil in a Blue Dress-Walter Mosley
The Hounds of the Baskervilles-Arthur Conan Doyle
The Crying of Lot 49-Thomas Pynchon
After that I took a long lunch and then went to see Bitter Wine the historical crime fiction panel with Rebecca Cantrell, Candace Robb, Roger Hudson, and both members of the Charles Todd writing team (Charles and Caroline Todd).
After that I should have gone back to my hotel, since I was dragging a bit, but I decided to catch one more panel Crossfire which had Lori Armstrong, Dianne Emley, Karen Olson, James Rollins, and James L. Thane as the panelists. As Jan noted the moderator got off to a bad start and I did not think he ever recovered. He was too loosey goosey for my taste and some of the panelist never really got into the flow while others started to ramble on to avoid the awkward silences.
JanG wrote: "Day 3: SaturdayOops, I made a boo boo on Friday. I did attend the 4:30 panel called Crossfire. The moderator was a Berkeley librarian named Randal Brandt and right off the bat he had some peopl..."
Sorry to hear there's only going to be one more Tattoo Shop mystery, Jan. I just finished the 3rd one the end of last month and really liked it. I love those Billingham/Connelly panels, too! What characters they are! And they'll say ANYTHING!
Sandi wrote: "Then I hurried over to the bonus lunch session with Declan Hughes and John Connelly for their take on the ten crime novels you must read before you die. They did a great job conveying a lot of information in an hour and you could tell that they are both extremely well read and passionate about the genre. The titles came out fast and furious and I tried to make notes of all of them but may have missed a few. Here are the ones I jotted down:..."
Wow - great list, Sandi!! I have not read so many of these. My TBR just grew so much! And I've never even heard of Sam Reaves but will check into his books now. Thanks for the update.
Thanks for the additional updates, Jan and Sandi. I can't wait to get back to BCon, I especially remember those Mark Billingham/John Connelly panels They are the funniest!
On Saturday I skipped the morning panels since I did not see anything really riveting enough to skip breakfast. My first panel of the day was the International Guest of Honor Denise Mina being interviewed by Val McDermid which got the day off to a good start. They were both very funny.Then I hit The Drop with Mark Billingham, Karin Slaughter, John Connolly, Martyn Waites, and Denise Mina. Like everyone else I really enjoyed this panel. They all worked very well together and were totally entertaining.
After that I just hung out a bit until the Lee Child interview with Jacqueline Winspear. Originally Robert Crais was schedule to do the interview but unfortunately he was unable to attend.
Then I was off to Monkey is Back with Daniel Woodrell, Val McDermid, Michael Wiley, Steve Hamilton, and moderated by Reed Farrel Coleman.
Finally I ended the day with A Collection of Eagles with Joseph Finder, Martin Cruz Smith, Andrew Klavan, and moderated by Wallace Stroby.
All in all in was an entertaining conference though I will admit to belly-aching a bit to Jan about some of the panels. Every time I met up with her I had come off a panel that was not the greatest.
I also need to mention that Friday I was able to get Steve Brewer's signature on a short story he wrote in Damn Near Dead: An Anthology of Geezer Noir and he was a true delight to talk with. Really a nice guy. I will have to read more of his work soon.
Sandi wrote: "I also need to mention that Friday I was able to get Steve Brewer's signature on a short story he wrote in Damn Near Dead: An Anthology of Geezer Noir and he was a true delight to talk with. Really a nice guy. I will have to read more of his work soon. ..."Steve Brewer is a really nice guy. I've read all his Bubba Mabry books and enjoyed them all. Read most of them several years ago when I was going through a really bad period. They always made me laugh. I talked with him a bit at B'con in Chicago and told him that Bubba was probably more responsible for me hanging onto my sanity at that time than the drugs and he said that was one of the nicest things anyone ever said to him!
I had my connection with Steve Brewer at LCC in Denver. He loves to wander through the hospitality room, etc. and just sit and chat with people. He seems to be able to communicate so very well with everyone.
I just looked at his books on the nook because I feel like something funny and someone different. I put Lonely street on my wish list. I want to finish something I'm reading before buying something else. it's way below the regular price so that is good.
Here is a link to a PUBLIC version of the dinner photo album on Facebook. You do not need to be a Facebook member to view these photo's.http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid...
Jan...did you see the photo of you and the RED REACHER?
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid...
Daniel...did I see an email or post from you that you want an RIO tee shirt? I thought I had something from you on this, but now can't find it. Did you want long sleeve or short sleeve?If so, send me your mailing address and I'll have it shipped directly to you!
Mary/Quite Contrary wrote: "Here is a link to a PUBLIC version of the dinner photo album on Facebook. You do not need to be a Facebook member to view these photo's.http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid......"
Thanks for posting the pictures, Mary! I've met Sandi, Jan & Cheryl, and was nice to see pictures of Marcy & Shomeret!
Melodie...can't wait to "Meet you in St Louie, Louie"
Mary/Quite Contrary wrote: "Here is a link to a PUBLIC version of the dinner photo album on Facebook. You do not need to be a Facebook member to view these photo's.http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid......"
I did!
Mary- i sent you an email, I am interested.
Thanks, Mary!What a fabulous group - wish we could have all been there!
Mary/Quite Contrary wrote: "Here is a link to a PUBLIC version of the dinner photo album on Facebook. You do not need to be a Facebook member to view these photo's."
Mary/Quite Contrary wrote: "Here is a link to a PUBLIC version of the dinner photo album on Facebook. You do not need to be a Facebook member to view these photo's.http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid......"
I get a Facebook registration page when I click on your link to the photo, Mary. And I am seriously not interested in participating in Facebook.
Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends
Books mentioned in this topic
Miami Blues (other topics)The Big Sleep (other topics)
The Long Goodbye (other topics)
The Crying of Lot 49 (other topics)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Todd (other topics)Thomas Pynchon (other topics)
Raymond Chandler (other topics)
Umberto Eco (other topics)
Arthur Conan Doyle (other topics)
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I didn't sleep the night before I left; I had to be at the airport by 4:30 a.m. Slept some on the plane, but there was a two-year-old boy on the plane just in front of me, and I know for a fact that he didn't sleep, :-(
I ran into Mary in the lobby soon after I got there. We went to Starbucks to have coffee. I needed to stay awake, and didn't want to sleep at this point for fear, I would never get up.
You did hear a little about the Wednesday night dinner. There were 10 of us, so it was difficult to communicate with those at the other end of the table, but I sat next to Shom and across from Marcy so we had a chance to get to know one another.
I walked back to the hotel with part of the group. They kept me shuffling along... There were movies at the hotel, three SF mysteries including Bullitt. I think Sandi went, but I headed right for the room.