Oh my reading lists just keep on growing and growing! This problem was not helped by my recent trip to Indianapolis while I attended Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention that celebrates the mystery genre. Bouchercon (rhymes with voucher-con) is called so in honor of Anthony Boucher (1911-1968), cofounder of Mystery Writers of America. “Boucher” plus “con” (for convention). It’s is the largest annual meeting in the world for mystery lovers. The convention included panel discussions and other presentations by mystery writers, covering all aspects of mystery fiction, thrillers, detective stories, suspense novels, and more. All sorts of people come to Bouchercon, including many many authors, aspiring authors, agents, publishing reps, and of course, fans (like me) of the genre.
I attended many panels over the course of the 3 day event but am only including my impressions on my favorites. 😉
Crankin’ ‘Em Out: The Edward Stratemeyer Story was fascinating. Did you know that the ‘author’ of Nancy Drew, Carolyn Keene, wasn’t a real person? Sorry to break the news if it is news to you but ‘she’ was actually several ghost-writers writing under that psuedonym. The very funny author Don Bruns (South Beach Shakedown, 2006) led an informative session on Edward Stratemeyer, the man who marketed books to teens and adolescents, and created and held all the rights and royalties of the famous Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series. Bruns compared Stratemeyer’s kingdom to that of James Patterson’s already bursting-with-bestsellers empire. I already knew about the Stratemeyer Syndicate, but as a big Nancy Drew fan, still I found this discussion interesting.
The writers at the This Pen for Hire panel talked about the difficulties in taking over writing a series while staying true to the characters and original writers. Writers including Max Allan Collins (a mystery writer who was handpicked by Mickey Spillane to finish the last Mike Hammer tales), Donald Bain, Jon Guenther and Robert Goldsborough (who picked up the Nero Wolfe series). Most interesting was Donald Bain’s insight on his penning the beloved Jessica Fletcher/Murder She Wrote mystery series. Not only must Bain deal w/ rabid fans, but even more terrifying is that television executives get to edit his books first!
I also attended the two big author interviews held at Bouchercon:
The S.J. Rozan interview was great. I’ve never read her books but now I have to! She was so smart. There are only 9 titles so far in the Lydia Chin and Bill Smith series. That’s not too many. I can catch up, right? I’m starting with China Trade, the first. Have I mentioned how my reading lists have grown?
Michael Connelly was interviewed by Michael Koryta (who has visited RRPL twice)! Gosh, they are both so very cute! Oh, they write books too? Joking aside, this was a big deal. Connelly was the guest of honor at Bouchercon and was promoting his new book 9 Dragons. Also, I got a promo copy of Koryta’s new standalone. (The perfect birthday gift for my lucky brother).
Librarian’s Tea – This totally fabulous event was a tea honoring librarians sponsored by the Sisters in Crime , an organization whose members are bound by affection for the mystery genre and support of women who write mysteries. Perks of this event included authors sitting w/ us at the tables (!) and delicious tea and pastries. Oh, the carbs! I was too full for dinner that night. While we enjoyed the tea, there was also a panel of SiC member authors (including JoAnna Carl and Charlaine Harris) who expressed much love for their hometown and childhood librarians. Hooray!
On Thursday night, the Gameworks store in Indianapolis’ Circle Center mall was open to Bouchercon registrants. This was a fun evening event that included tons of free food and videogame playing & an author talent show. I learn what “filk” is. (Interested? check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filk_music) The talent show including some singing, some dancing, some joke-telling. Fun, but these most of these authors really just should stick to writing. 😉
I attended two excellent panels Crime Fiction (my favorite of the mystery sub-genres):
At “More Noir than You Are” Some of the best crime fiction/noir authors around talked (at times vulgarly) about the difference between noir fiction (the protagonist is doomed) vs. crime fiction vs. other types of mysteries. They discussed their writing processes, did a bit of reading from their books and talked film noir. This was an entertaining panel. Charlie Newton was there and, inspired, I just devoured his novel Calumet City. Wow–talk about dark. I loved it!
In The Dark Side of the Fair Sex, I got to hear one of my favorite authors, Megan Abbott (Queenpin, Die a Little, etc) talk to other women writers of crime fiction about their crafts. Oh yes, they had a token male writer on the panel (sorry, Derek Nikitas), but I was really there to see Chelsea Cain (of Sweetheart fame) and Sophie Littlefield (whose new novel A Bad Day for Sorry rocks). Believe me, you don’t want to mess with these fictionalized ladies!
All of the panels I went to were great and overall, the conference was just fabulous and fabulously planned! I would highly recommend attending a Bouchercon (or any other book related conference) if you get a chance, because for me, at least, authors are like movie stars. Did I mention that there were authors everywhere! I saw them eating tapas at a wine bar & hanging in the hotel lobby. I spied them on the escalator at the hotel, walking around Indianapolis (in the frigid Cleveland-like weather). and walking around the mall, with their parents! How cool?
My only complaint (and it’s a selfish one): I didn’t come home with boxes of freebies! The one event I attended that promised free books was a mob scene. I feared for my life. Luckily, I did get out alive and with a signed Charles Todd mystery (Incidentally, Todd is a mother/son writing team but they both signed it “Charles Todd.”) There was a very cool book dealer room where folks could buy books and wait in lines for author signing. I walked around a bit, but me, I like my books free from the library!
~Carol
Read it or Weep 