Of Pros and Cons and Murder    [click on any image to see the real picture!]

Two weekends. Two Conventions. Talk of Murder. Actual Mayhem. And the cell phone still isn’t working.

For those who don’t know.... I love mysteries. I read a lot of them and what I don’t read my husband probably has. We met at a convention and that in and of itself would make every convention special. The fact that they have so much to offer is just a bonus.

The fact that they offer different things to all attendees and we manage to all enjoy one another for the three or four days we are together is what keeps us going back.

When you get to the point that you want to attend a convention for whatever reason you go in knowing that you are part of a family. The family is made up of mystery lovers and you will be taken care of, learn a lot and almost assuredly meet people you’ve wanted to meet for a very long time.

So if you’ve thought about attending a convention but haven’t I’m going to try and condense the sensory overload I’m on into cognizant thoughts and entertaining words.

B-Con Austin- What a great time. Huge as always this years B-Con was a bit more taxing than usual because the organizers who were an entirely enthusiastic and over worked lot of volunteers forgot some key factors.

I’ll repeat here... what a great time. What a bunch of enthusiastic VOLUNTEERS.

B-Con is the granddaddy of all other Mystery Conventions. Eight tracks of panels running from eight or nine in the morning until five at night.

Nightly blocks of parties that if you try to attend all will leave you exhausted, and the daily wind down with a beverage of your choice, a chance to talk “why I love mysteries” with fellow connoisseurs whose eyes won’t glaze over when you explain.

The best part of B-Con for me is the exposure to new authors. As we all know the book market is getting smaller. More money is spent on promoting the high list authors. This leaves the mid-list, small press and overseas authors at a disadvantage. Attending B-Con has helped me to find millions of words I’d not have read otherwise, and not just because of attending a panel and deciding “I have to read this book.”

Librarians attend and order new authors... independent retailers attend and decide to champion an author, and yes the big boys are there too. But there are in this country some Borders and Walden’s where you’ll run into a favorite on the shelf because the employees take it upon themselves to keep up with our genre and realize that their recommended list of buys is not nearly vast enough. They are at B-Con. Shake their hand and say thank-you.

The business people: Editors, Book Agents and Publishers attend this vast moratorium for business reasons and ideals. While meetings with authors and others of their ilk take up a majority of their time you’ll find the best of them talking with readers during their breaks, also looking for ideals.

Do not be afraid to voice your opinion. Readers can make a difference. The authors who attend B-Con are there to sell their books but also to thank their readers. For four days they are overwhelmed. Working often from six in the morning until ten at night they don’t slow down even then. They make themselves go to a party or down to the bar to be amongst the fans and each other. Always “on” and mostly genuine I’m happy to have met and become friendly with a number of PEOPLE who share a love of books, movies and music. And the joy of seeing someone whose books you adore being ballyhooed and recognized by others when you remember print runs of 1500.... there’s nothing quite like it.

Finally my fellow fans. There’s the Ramily.... a group of crazy people who post about a lot of things on our message board (sometimes even mystery). I’d go to the wall for these people and it’s great that I enjoy them as much in real life as in the Blue Nowhere. There’s also the person sitting alone or looking confused whose never been to B-Con and you strike up a conversation with. It’s often the best conversation you’re going to have. Don’t pass up the opportunity.

There are the people from your home town or state whose knowledge of mystery and joy for the genre knock you off your feet. Someone to go to signings with. Someone to e-mail with. Someone to share a room at B-Con with.

And then you look around five years after your first B-Con and realize that so and so who isn’t there is deeply missed even in the whirlwind that is this monster called B-Con, that you haven’t seen any of the town you’re in, that you’ve managed to make an outrageous number of new acquaintances and friends and not seen nearly enough of your buds and that you are tired ....

so very...very... tired.

Bouchercon 2002-

what I wish I would have said:

Panelist “You never hear about the best books in a series being the tenth, eleventh, or seventeenth...”

Ruth “What about Marcia Muller’s WHILE OTHER PEOPLE SLEEP or Ian Rankin’s RESURRECTION MEN”

Hot Author.... and no this isn’t my “hunk” although..... Mark Billingham. Read his stuff. 500 people can’t be wrong.

Favorite “Fan Moment” :Pure gushdom over Manual Ramos.

Best Time: The Derailers.

Most Priceless look: Anyone who saw my husband eat breakfast.

Apology owed: Jeremy Lynch and he knows why....

Best Novel: Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River. I’d like to thank my fellow attendees for voting this “Best” Novel. I enjoyed all of the nominees this year but Mystic River should become the first classic novel of our new millennium. It’s a book that is so well written and so reflective of our times that until you read it and discuss it with someone else who has you cannot fully appreciate what you’ve absorbed. It is a hard read. Desolation leaps from the pages. The imagery is grand and subtle. Lehane develops no less than fifteen major characters without seeming to have to work at it. He bleeds on the page as much as Fitzgerald or Poe. It is a personal journey of expression he has shared with us. We are better off for it except for the nightmares. So thank-you everyone for making this happen.

And now we’re in Muncie. Magna Cum Murder. A smaller convention with some heavy hitters. The panels were magnificent. Jim Huang of Drood Review organized these so I’m sure it will come as a surprise to no-one. I learned a lot. I had the opportunity to talk with people I saw only across a crowded room in Austin. I met Frances Fyfield. I became acquainted with people from all over the country. I got to go to bed at 1:00. Kathryn Kennison is a goddess amongst convention organizers. Hospitable and charming and always on the go she does this out of love and it shows.

What I wish I would have said: “Now Mr Healy can we have your favorite cozy? Ms. Dammes may we have your favorite hard-boiled book.”

Hot author: Three way tie (Connelly is excluded) Danuta Reah, Charlaine Harris and Fidelis Morgan

Fan Moment: Did I mention I met Francis Fyfield who writes some of the best mystery in the world?

Best Time: Okay.... we laughed about Poe’s life... wonderful speech until the “pitch”.

Most Priceless look: The Passion models in Fidelis Morgan’s discussion.

Apology owed: Anyone who heard me talk about the terrazzo floor for more than 1/2 an hour.

So now there are two Jon and I will attend every year and yes we’ll do Left Coast and are working on the viability of a British Convention. We are caught in the whirlwind of sharing our love for this genre of books that is so much more than mystery. For the main lesson of the last two weeks? In the field of mystery; be it through series or stand-alones, be it through “noir” or “cozy”, be it an author whom everyone has heard of or few know there is a group of people writing the best Fiction of our time. Books reflecting current issues and events with timeless literary themes such as humanity versus morality fly out of P.C.s across this “Genre”. There are amongst the authors in Mystery the best of the best in LITERATURE. And the voices are all different. Humor and Soul-searching, narration and exploration, there is a mix for every reader to find, skillfully inked and thoughtfully submitted.

So thanks to all I’ve talked to these past two weeks and all who have made it possible for me to wallow in the words I love best.