Bouchercon 2011: And Now Our Wrap-up

I had a great time. Met so many new people including Les Blatt who writes his Classic Mysteries blog and Peter Rozovsky who created Detectives Beyond Borders. Both Les and Peter have covered their personal experiences at Bouchercon on their blogs. Les was a fan attendee and Peter was a moderator for a few panels - one of which I attended. Check out their blogs for other insights on this fantastic convention. Les attended all the panels that discussed classic and vintage mystery fiction. I was more interested in the new writers this year and skipped all of them. But apparently I made a mistake by not attending the panel on Agatha Christie. Val McDermid was on that panel and she was as usual both informative and hysterical.

My favorite two minute exchange with the many authors with whom I briefly talked was with Megan Abbot. I asked her if she had seen The Prowler. And her eyes lit up when she said "Yes! I loved it. Those characters are so sleazy." "Now that's noir, right?" I said. "Very noir, " she replied. We both rhapsodized over the movie noting our favorite scenes. I also asked her if she could help me track down her mother Patti who is our host for Friday's Forgotten Books. Her somewhat exasperated reply: "Everyone is asking me about my mother." Oops. And I never did meet up with Patti no matter how hard I tried looking.

Also missed Jeff Pierce of The Rap Sheet. I spotted Gerard Saylor (one of the Friday's Forgotten Books crew) for about two minutes and then he was gone before I had a chance to introduce myself. There were a few moments like that. But for the overall weekend I was impressed with myself. Ordinarily I avoid people and huge social gatherings like this. That I managed to overcome my solitary nature and social awkwardness was a huge step. That I was successful in meeting as many people as I did went beyond my expectations, frankly.

This brief weekend getaway holds the all time record for the most money I have ever spent on any vacation in my lifetime. Convention registration, rental car for four days at a weekly rate, two full tanks of gas, two hotels split between the four nights, three days of parking fees in a self serve lot, splurging on room service (which I never do), and breakfast in the hotel (four times the cost of an equivalent meal just down the street) added up to a hefty bill. And of course books. I won't tell you the jaw dropping total for this extravagant trip plus book purchases, but I will say that several years ago Joe and I went to Costa Rica for five days and we each spent $500. For everything. That amount of money didn't even cover the three nights at the Westin Hotel. Looks like I'll be having an intensive book sale to help pay for this trip.

Speaking of books... Here's what I picked up in the book room at Bouchercon. I paid for these, too. There was one book I picked up that I didn't pay for and was I ever surprised to find it in my bag. I promptly returned that book and apologized to the bookseller saying that shoplifting is not one of my hobbies.

Anyone interested in signed first editions by Eoin Colfer, Sara Paretsky, Max Allan Collins, Val McDermid, John Connolly, and other writers who were in attendance at Bouchercon 2011 should tune in later this week. I intend to sell many of the books I had signed. All will be reasonably priced. A special page with a list of the books available should appear within the next two days. Check the right hand side of this blog for the PAGES section, then click on the "Bouchercon Signed Books for Sale" link.

Bouchercon Day 3: Invigorating

I'm kind of burned out on panels, gang. I went to four today and they were a very mixed bag. I'm doing less reporting this time and picking out the highlights of the best two.

I'M ALIVE AND ON FIRE - Rumors of the private eye fiction's death have been greatly exaggerated.
Moderator: Ali Karim.  Max Allan Collins, Barbara Fister, Robert J Randisi, Rick Helms

1. Max Allan Collins was personally asked by Mickey Spillane to finish a manuscript he was unable to complete due to his terminal cancer. He was also told to go through his house after his death and remove all manuscripts before anyone got their hands on them.
2. Robert Randisi was featured in a "Dick Tracy" storyline when Collins was writing the comic strip. His character looked just like him and Randisi liked that he was made taller.
3. Barbara Fister wrote her first mystery novel in order to get even with some people she loathed at a bad job and killed them all off in the course of the book. (NOTE: Christianna Brand wrote Death in High Heels for the very same reason)
4. Randisi hates ebooks. So does Collins. But Randisi readily admits to selling 200 titles on his backlist to an ebook publisher.
5. Helms was one of the first writers to sell books electronically. He created early ebooks on floppy disks back in the early 1990s and sold them at book conventions for $2.50 each. He also started one of the first mystery story webzines, The Back Alley, which when it first apperaed was the only one recognized as a "legitimate" form of electronic publication by the Mystery Writers of America.
6. Randisi became a private eye writer because of the movie Harper and Paul Newman's performance as Lew Archer...uh, Harper. When he found out it was based on The Moving Target he tracked down all the Ross Macdonald books and read them. The Doomsters is one of his favorites.
7. Mickey Spillane and Robert B Parker were discussed the most along with passing nods to Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton for doing the most to reinvigorate the private eye genre. I think when they said "doing the most" is translated as "having the highest sales" which then forced publishers to recognize the genre as one that had enduring popularity. (NOTE: No one mentioned Marcia Muller who came before both of the other women writers.)

Best quote: "I wrote the Nolan books as an homage to the Parker series. (turns to moderator Ali Karim) And I'll translate this for you. Homage is rip-off." - Max Allan Collins

The consensus was that we are now experiencing a new Golden Age of private eye fiction in both short story and novel form. That the genre is quintessentially American and that it will probably always be with us in some form or another. This was by far the most entertaining and informative panel of the day.

I also attended a panel that was supposed to discuss humor in the crime novel but somehow turned into a question and answer about the writers' characters and their books. Little of the discussion was directly related to humor although there were a lot of funny comments.

Best quote: "I create a lot of characters so that the adults who are reading the books with their children can be just as entertained as the kids. For instance, there is a leprechaun named Colin. Colin Oskipy. Hopefully you'll get it. But not in the near future." - Eoin Colfer

Bouchercon Day 2: Eye-Opening

More signings, more lugging around heavy books, more shoulder injuries. Idea for next Bouchercon - for all of us middle-aged folk who get shoulder and neck pain from schlepping heavy tote bags install a massage chair with a skilled massage therapist. It would be a big hit, I think. Of course next time I will register in time to get into the hotel where the darn convention is being held instead of having to do the ten minute walk every morning carrying all these books.

Megan Abbott (photo by Drew Reilly)

The panels on Friday, September 16 I attended were:

1. Lost in the Amazon: Authors discuss their bad reviews specifically the hysterically funny, sometimes illiterate, often just plain perplexing bad reviews that plague amazon.com.

2. Hot Ice: Thriller and crime writers talk about the subgenre of the caper and heist novel.

3. Shadows Rising: Movies for the crime fiction fan. Megan Abbott was on this panel. I've always wanted to hear her talk about movies. Prior to becoming a novelist she studied and wrote about crime in the movies - specifically the film noir genre. Plus I hoped to get some titles of movies I hadn't yet seen. I'm even more addicted to mystery movies, crime thrillers and heist movies than I am to the vintage crime and adventure fiction I normally write about on this blog.

Panel #1: Linwood Barclay, Bill Crider, Lisa Lutz, Elaine Viets. Alafair Burke was also scheduled but had to cancel her visit.

Colin Cotterill as the moderator had done his research and looked up as many bad Amazon reviews (especially the one star reviews) for each of the writers on the panel. As the discussion of bad reviews continued he would ask questions, wait for a reply, then produce evidence from his pile of Amazon.com print outs. Linwood Barkley commented: "Aren't you forgetting to say 'Perhaps this will refresh you memory!' " The classic Thurber cartoon uses that line for its caption. Colin might as well have been producing kangaroos as evidence for the hour.

Lisa Lutz and Elaine Viets also brought along email that were mixtures of praise, encouragement and slams. These included a letter from a Japanese linguistics professor who teaches Elaine Viets' books in a class on American culture that outlined his misunderstanding of some slang terms including a word I think Elaine made up. The sentence in question? "She felt a kazoing south of her belt." The professor wanted to know if "south of the belt" is related to the American slang phrase "South of the Border." Cue the uproarious laughter. But I joined Lisa Lutz' mystification of the word "kazoing." I can imagine what it might mean, but it's brand new to me.

It was all in good fun but we must all know that the internet allows for so much anonymous venting and name calling. No one really ever brought up the rather obvious point that a large number of these bad "reviews" are done by people with too much time on their hands who are simply entertaining themselves by manipulating and creating artificial controversy for the hell of it. The anonymity and hiding behind a user name in the world of digital communication has created a widespread outlet for antisocial havoc. I often wonder how many of these reviews are real or just forms of mean spirited creative writing intended only to fuck with people.

Panel #2: Keith Thomson, Eoin Colfer, Peter Spiegelman, Sean Doolittle, Chris Ewan. Moderator: Benjamin Whitmer.

I really didn't learn much about caper novels here that I didn't already know or gain any real insight into the skill needed in creating the intricate plots in these stories about elaborate crimes that often go wrong. There was a lot of comparing books to movies, but very little talk of writers who might have influenced the members of the panel. No one mentioned Donald E. Westlake (and not even his alter ego of Richard Stark or the Parker books) until the very end. It was Chris Ewan, by the way, who finally brought up The Hot Rock. Ewan writes a series of books about a mediocre mystery writer who becomes a thief with each book being set in a different city that gives the book it's title (The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam, The Good Thief's Guide to Paris, etc.). I was glad someone mentioned Westlake because I nearly raised my hand and did so myself. Donald E. Westlake practically invented the caper novel. Certainly he needed to be given credit on this panel. But there was some dumb running joke about The Italian Job that I didn't fully understand since I arrived 15 minutes late having been detained with the usual long lines at the book signings.

What I did learn was that there were some interesting books out there by these guys. I knew of Eoin Colfer's juvenile series about Artemis Fowl which are genre blending fantasy/crime capers. His new adult novel Plugged is about a casino bouncer and is set in New Jersey. He sold himself several copies of the book. I bought one and so did about fifty other people right after the talk. Mostly I imagine because Colfer is the damn funniest Irish writer I've heard speak in a long time. He had the audience in stitches and probably in his pocket as well. Keith Thomson admitted his books were less caper novels than straight espionage thrillers. He explained the origins of the Alzheimer's plagued spy in the book who was based on the father of his girlfriend's former boyfriend. That story was so fascinating I'll probably seek out his book someday. I had a Chris Ewan book in my TBR pile at home (planned for the EuroPass series I'm contributing to), but his mention of his respect for Westlake and The Hot Rock from which he borrowed a few ideas got me to buy two of his books.

Panel #3: Todd Ritter, David Corbett, Megan Abbott, Wallace Stroby, Russell McLean. Moderator: Jeremy Lynch.

This discussion of crime films was a daunting task.  How to cram such a huge wealth of movies into a mere hour? Jeremy Lynch, entertainment editor for Crimespree,  confessed it took considerable collaboration through many email exchanges to come up with the final format.  The discussion was divided into three rounds. Each member of the panel would pick one film to represent the category of each round. After hearing all five films discussed in each round the audience would vote on the most persuasive argument for the most noteworthy of the five films. The rounds were "Pre World War 2 Movies," "The Cold War Years," and "The Sacred Cow You Would Most Like to Gore."

Ralph Meeker & Leigh Snowden in Kiss Me Deadly

I mostly chose this panel because I have always wanted to hear Megan Abbott talk about movies.  Her picks were Double Indemnity, In a Lonely Place and the sacred cow she got to gore (translation: an overrated film that didn't deserve all the attention it garnered) was Silence of the Lambs.  The surprise came from two other members.  I was very impressed with David Corbett's impassioned descriptions of some very obscure movies including Il Bidone written and directed by Federico Fellini and Bellman & True directed by Richard Loncrane.  Wallace Stroby also had some exceedingly interesting insights for the films he talked about: Public Enemy and Kiss Me Deadly.  I got more than I expected, a veritable wealth of movie lore and movie trivia from those three participants alone.  And Russell McLean's final pitch for an oddball movie written and directed by Larry Bishop and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jeff Goldblum, Gabriel Byrne and Ellen Barkin called Mad Dog Time really made the hour well worth my time.

When questions came from the audience someone asked for the best example of the traditional private eye movie, one that incorporated the Chandler type characters and overall tone of what we know as the private eye genre.  Astonishingly, after all the dissent and reviling and dumping on each other's favorites (especially between Todd Ritter, an avowed Hitchcock fan, and David Corbett who admitted to hating all but one of Hitchcock's films)  it was an almost instantaneous and unanimous call.  Chinatown.  Each member of the panel brought up things I had never thought of and I've seen that movie a couple of times.  I also learned that there was a different ending in the original screenplay and Roman Polanski, after heated arguments with screenwriter Robert Towne,  changed it without Towne's consent. To this day it remains an iconic film in the private eye genre almost supplanting all those private eye flicks that came before it as the epitome of the genre. I think more people know of and have seen Chinatown than the earliest original private eye films like Murder, My Sweet or The Big Sleep.

Bouchercon 2011: Author Gallery

Just a few shots of some of the writers whose books I brought with me to get signed.

Robert Crais and his notorious Hawaiian shirt

Eoin Colfer signing his first "grown up big person" novel

S. J. Rozan interviews International Guest of Honor Colin Cotterill

Sara Paretsky - Lifetime Achievement Award

Laurie R King

Bouchercon 2011: Sex and Blood and Dirty Words

As promised here's an overview of the down and dirty panel that was especially scheduled from 9 PM - 10 PM on the first night. It was a frank and uncensored discussion of the use of sex scenes, graphic violence and swearing in crime fiction. The panel, led by Scott Montgomery, was his idea and unlike many panels where the writers are assigned to a moderator he was allowed to choose his own panel. They were Christa Faust, S. J. Rozan, Chris Holm, Scott Phillips, John Rector, Benjamin Whitmer, Jonathan Woods. With the exception of one writer I have not read any of their work and only recognized two names -- John Rector and S. J. Rozan. But having read Christa Faust's Money Shot - a private eye style thriller about a porn star - was more than enough to prepare me for what followed.

Needless to say this was another panel that tended get outrageous but in a completely different manner than the others I have attended. Humor was present as always. This time it, was dirty humor. Raunchy humor. Filthy humor. It was kind of a relief actually to be around so many candid adults willing to talk about what is usually condemned in popular fiction.

There were some examples given of scenes I think it best not to recount here. Just read the author's books and stories. Scott Phillips started the night off. He went into great detail about a scene in his book The Walkaway (set in the late 1940s, by the way) where a guy goes to buy lubricant for a rough night with a prostitute. Needless to say he had to resort to Vaseline given the time period and the clerk about to sell it to him starts extolling the benefits of mentholated rub - not knowing the true purpose of the Vaseline and where it would be used. The punchline to the scene I've already forgotten but it involved some body part. Uproarious laughter followed. And that was the tamest example of the night.

Interestingly, the most often mentioned aspect of "dirty books" that seems to bother readers more than sex or violence is foul language. Swear words. Especially the dread use and heavy use of fuck and fucking. S. J. Rozan contributed some much need gravitas to all the raunchy humor and sick jokes. Her articulate explanation of why characters need to say something like "Fuck you, you fucking asshole!" highlighted the complex emotions that for some characters cannot be seen or felt without the right words. Often those words cannot be anything other than swear words.

John Rector talked about writing about sex and violence by distancing himself from it. He said that rather than indulging in graphic descriptions that he prefers to describe it so coldly and directly that ironically the scene becomes more powerful to the reader.

There was a brief discussion about the difference between sex for titillation, erotica, and sex that occurs in a story for a specific reason. Many of the sex scenes discussed in the books by these writers were about character and were the most intimate way they could reveal parts of the character that dialogue and other action could never hope to reveal. Stories are about first and foremost about characters many fo the writers stressed and reiterated. What they do and how they do it -- including sexual choices and sexual practices -- should only be included in a book if the scene tells us who the character is and how it affects the story. Each of these writers gave specific reasons for all their characters' kinky sex, strange sexual games, and use of special equipment. Gratuitous "sexy" scenes meant to titillate seemed to be dismissed if not outright condemned.

When the writer's audiences were brought up most of them talked about older generations who seem not to want to read these types of books. That they tend to be the ones who complain the most. But Christa Faust surprised everyone and provided me with the quote of the night. She said that "the older broads" love her books. And you know why?

Everyone thinks that when a woman reaches a certain age her vagina goes away and all she's going to do is read cats books. Wrong!

No one made a pussy joke afterwards. I was disappointed.

Bouchercon Day 1: Transmogrifying

Day 1 at Bouchercon 2011 was one of heavy lifting, brisk walking and failed attempts to find Patti Abbot, host for Friday's Forgotten books and mother of that mystery writer gal. I checked out of the swank faux British hotel and drove a mere 7 miles to the new digs. I'm at the Westin, right across from Busch Stadium, and only a half a mile from the convention site. As I thought -- nice but not as luxurious as The Cheshire.

Started out with the Guest of Honor interviews. Pictured above they are (left to right ): Colin Cotterill, Charlaine Harris, Oline Cogdill (the panel moderator), Val McDermid and Robert Crais. It was an informative and raucous hour filled with anecdotes, confessions and the usual sharp humor.

Colin Cotterill trading quips & signing

They were asked questions about their approach to storytelling, where they get their ideas, how their writing has evolved over the years with their series characters. My favorite quote from Colin Cotterill was this in response to his series character Dr. Siri

With my character who is 74 years old I couldn't see him being around for twenty years . And that's why there are 11 minutes between each book.  Sometimes less.

A huge wave of laughter followed. But nothing compared to the tsunami of laughter that resounded when Val McDermid told an anecdote she wanted to use in a book that involved a friend's visit to a spa and the line "And then she choked on his penis" to which someone inquired "But how did he get it around her neck?" An exchange she has wanted to put in a book for years but has yet to find the right scene and the right book.

I spent a lot of time waiting in line to get books signed, too. Chatting up the other collectors waiting on line with me, sharing likes and dislikes in books and subgenres, and occasionally remembering that I brought my camera to get candid shots of the writers. I've spread a few throughout this post. Still none of me yet. I told you not to get your hopes up.

Charlaine Harris signing away

Then it was off for my my first of what will be many visits to the book room.  I went directly to the table for Uncle Buck's Mysteries. I spent a good deal of time chatting with June Waller who I first met at Bouchercon 2005 when it was last in Chicago. At that convention I was fortunate enough to be in the dealer room and my table was right next to her and her husband. I was saddened to learn that her quiet and charming husband died several years ago apparently not long after that Bouchercon in 2005. I remember how much he enjoyed getting the books signed by the authors. I said that this was a sad year for the mystery bookselling world and mentioned John Leininger's passing (Alice Ann Carpenter's husband and co-owner with her of Grave Matters) and then also mentioned Enid Schantz' death. She was shocked to hear the news. We talked about how much Tom and Enid have done for the mystery book world and especially the Bouchercons of the past. Then the topic moved on to brighter things and I began to admire her amazing collection of vintage mysteries. I told her I may be tempted to spend an awful lot of money - especially on some A. B. Cunningham books she had in excellent DJs and some other authors who books I won't mention lest someone read this post who is also at the convention and buys them before I do. June said that people don't seem to be interested in the old books any more but I assured her that their is a growing audience and that many of them are younger than she would ever believe. She was surprised but glad to hear it. I also told her about my concerted effort to enlighten the mystery reading public about the older forgotten books with this blog and that there are many blogs devoted to the vintage books. She smiled at that. "If only they were here buying my books!"

Max Allan Collins apparently doesn't have all the answers

One of the most surprising things that happened to me was at dinner. I had chosen to eat at The Dubliner, an Irish pub restaurant. While waiting a very long time to be recognized and seated, two women with Bouchercon badges hanging from their necks came in behind me. One of the women noticed my book bag (never without it even at meal times) and asked if I was attending the convention. "Yes. but I always take off my badge when I leave the hotel." When the host finally decided to seat us he asked the two women how many the other women turned to me and asked if I would like to join them. I had to say yes. Things like that never happen to me.

We had a very enjoyable meal with lively conversation. I found out one woman, Beth, is employed by Permanent Press, a small publisher in Nashville and the other, Jennie, is a writer who has a series of home repair mysteries published by Berkley Prime Crime. We talked about our past and present jobs, lives in the theater, our mutual distaste for the vampire phenomenon in thriller fiction (laying waste mostly to the Twilight mania), and a respect for the vintage writers.

Jennie leaned in after the meal and challenged me with this question: "OK, I have a old mystery writer for you. Patrick Quentin. Know him?" But of course! Then we talked about Peter and Iris Duluth and Suspicious Circumstances and Death and the Maiden. She even knew about the Jonathan Stagge books. She told me when she was growing up in Norway the Quentin Patrick books were a big hit in Scandinavia. That led to a discussion of the Neo-Nordic wave currently sweeping crime fiction. She gave me titles of Patrick Quentin books worth reading and also mentioned a prolific Swedish writer named Maria Lang that I would probably like but sadly none of her books have been translated into English. Finally, I mentioned the only Norwegian writer I know of from the pre WW2 years, Frederik Viller, who wrote an excellent mystery called The Black Tortoise (1901) that was translated into English in the 1920s.

I'm having more fun than I thought I would. The surprise dinner invitation is the kind of thing you can never predict but is so typical of this amazing community that exists in the Bouchercon world. Bruce DeSilva, who won a Macavity for his novel Rogue Island, made a heartfelt and eloquent acceptance speech that commended the welcoming spirit and camaraderie of the crime fiction world and noted how unlike it is from any other writing community. I've read this before and heard it before and now I know it to be true.

Tomorrow I'll write about the late night panel I just returned from. The topic? "Sex, Violence and Everything That Makes a Great Book." You can imagine the quotable quotes I pulled from that discussion.

Safely Ensconced with John Milton & Lucifer

This year's convention program cover

I have arrived. The drive was a bit nerve wracking as it rained all the way down here and it poured just as I got to the St. Louis downtown area. I'm so out of practice behind the wheel. But no mishaps and only one person honked at me the entire five hours. That's pretty damn good for me! (BTW - how on Earth did we ever manage to get anywhere without GPS? Maps and road atlases? They seem so prehistoric.) I had 15 minutes to get into early registration at the convention site and I took of like Mercury with an imperative message from Mt. Olympus, running all the way to the hotel from a cheap street parking space about four blocks away. Even equipped with an umbrella and windbreaker I was something of a wet mess when I got to the registration table. This is what comes of late registration and missing out on the convenience of staying in the hotel where the convention is actually held. I'm staying in two hotels - one tonight and another within walking distance for the bulk of the convention Thurs, Fri and Sat.

Tonight I'm staying in The Cheshire, apparently a historic landmark among the hotels of St. Louis (it dates back to the 1920s). It had been closed for decades but has recently undergone a multimillion dollar renovation and is now transformed into a boutique hotel. It re-opened in August of this year. I read a little bit about it on-line and I thought it would be a neat splurge for one night. But what I failed to realize was that in addition to being a faux British hotel with English breakfast in the morning, a pub, and a parking garage that forces you to drive on the left hand side, the entire hotel has a British literary theme.

I entered the hotel from a stairwell that took me past several rooms on the ground floor I saw that each room was named after literary figure: Henry Fielding, Rudyard Kipling, A. A. Milne and even a James Bond Suite and a Death on the Nile Suite in honor of the Grande Dame herself. With all this mixture of the lofty and the popular of British fiction I was hoping that my room would be named in honor of someone suitable for the crime fiction weekend. I missed it by one. My room is the John Milton on the second floor. A lushly illustrated copy of Paradise Lost with an introduction by Philip Pullman (that's appropriate) is on the nightstand next to a very comfy armchair. But right next door is the Emma Orczy room, creator of Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, the Old Man in the Corner and -- of course -- the Scarlet Pimpernel. So I'm in good company. Also on my floor are rooms named after Anthony Burgess, Arthur C. Clarke, William Golding, James Joyce, George Orwell and opposite from me is, uh, the Tales of Peter Rabbit Suite. Joyce would be snickering at his close proximity to Beatrix Potter, I think. It all sounds cutesy and tacky, I know. But it's not at all. It's damn swank, if you ask me.

Here's a photo of my room.

And here's the comfy chair. Spanish Inquisition not included (thankfully).

Did I forget to mention the pen & quill themed artwork hanging on the wall above the handsomely designed writing desk?

I'll bet my room at the Westin where I will remain for the rest of the convention will pale in comparison. At least I'll have one night of well deserved luxury here at The Cheshire.

On the Road Again

Off to St. Louis for Bouchercon today. It'll be the first time in over five years that I will once again make the five and half hour trip in a car by myself. Considering I never drive on a daily basis this ought to be a true adventure. That added to the fact that I have zero tolerance for reckless driving ought to make for a riveting driving experience. Maybe I should pop a couple of Xanax before I get in the rental car. Wish me luck.

I'll be bringing the laptop along and updating my visit. I'm looking forward to finally putting faces to the names of all the bloggers and readers I've met since the start of this year. Maybe I'll even post some photos of me and the people I meet. But don't get your hopes up.