Bouchercon Schedules

Bouchercon, the world's largest mystery convention is just around the corner!  B'con is incredible and hard to describe.  This four day event is packed full with opportunities to meet your favorite authors, here them discuss the craft and how they work, get books signed and photos taken.  If you lucky, you might find yourself standing at the bar next to Sophie Littlefield.  Or John Connolly.  Or William Kent Krueger.  Or SJ Rozan.  Or, gasp! you could be standing next to me!  :)


Check out the Guests of Honor:


American: Robert Crais & Charlaine Harris
International: Colin Cotterill & Val McDermid
Life Time Achievement: Sara Paretsky
Fan Guests of Honor: Kate Stine and Brian Skupin
Special guests (local living legends): Robert Randisi and John Lutz
all brought together by...
Toastmaster: Ridley Pearson


And if meeting Charlaine Harris or Sara Paretsky (both of them wonderfully generous and gracious women) isn't enough for you, check out the complete author list here.  As for our Inkers, we are going to have a pretty good showing!  Thanks to our very organized Publicity Director, Steven Pomije, here is a list of our events:

In-booth AUTHOR SIGNINGS:
Friday, Sept 16
 11:00 am—12:00 pm: Alan Orloff, DEADLY CAMPAIGN (Advance Reader’s Copy)
Saturday, Sept 17
 11:00 am—12:00 pm: Lois Winston, DEATH BY KILLER MOP DOLL (Advance Reader’s Copy)


In-booth MEET THE AUTHOR events:
Friday, Sept 16
 9:30—10:30 am: Joanna Campbell Slan, Make Take Murder
 4:00—5:00 pm: Sebastian Stuart; Dead by Any Other Name
Saturday, Sept 17
 9:30—10:30 am: Darrell James; Nazareth Child
 12:00—1:00 pm: Jess Lourey; October Fest
 1:00—2:00 pm: Jessie Chandler; Bingo Barge Murder
 2:00—3:00 pm: Alan Orloff; Killer Routine
 3:00—4:00 pm: G. M. Malliet; Death at the Alma Mater
 4:00—5:00 pm: Kathleen Ernst; The Heirloom Murders
Sunday, Sept 18
 10:00—11:00 am: Lois Winston; Death by Killer Mop Doll, Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun


Author PANELS:

 Thur, Sept 15 o 8:30 am, Alan Orloff, Laughter of the Clowns: Comedy in crime fiction; Landmark 5,6,7
o 8:30 am, Jessie Chandler, Hitting the Ground: New writers talk about their first book; Landmark 4
o 2:30 pm, Jess Lourey, To Love is To Bury: Finding new ways to get rid of the body, Landmark 1,2,3
 Fri, Sept 16
o 8:30 am, G. M. Malliet, Bad Blood: Celebrating Agatha Christie; Majestic D
o 8:30 am, Darrell James, Fresh Blood: New writers talk about their first book; Majestic A, B, C
o 10 am, Kathleen Ernst, The Darkness of Light: Developing diversity in our characters; Landmark 1,2,3
o 11:30 am, Joanna Campbell Slan, Death By Good Intention: Doing away with characters; Landmark 5,6,7
 Sat, Sept 17
o 8:30 am, G. M. Malliet, Nocebo: Playing fair with your readers; Landmark 1,2,3
o 4 pm, Lois Winston, Time to Murder and Create: Listening to the voices in your head; Landmark 4
o 4 pm, Sebastian Stuart, Time to Murder and Create: Listening to the voices in your head; Landmark 4  

Charity Bowling Tourney: The Midnight Inkers
 Midnight Ink authors and staff (the Midnight Inkers) take on 12 other Bouchercon teams to raise money for the St. Louis Public Library system.
 Fri, Sept 16th at 12:30 PM at the Flamingo Bowl, 1117 Washington Ave, downtown St. Louis

So come check out our booth in the book room, or drop in on one of our author panels.  We'll be glad to meet your acquaintance.  I can't wait to see you in St. Louis!

Title Give-Aways in our booth: 
 Mind Over Monsters; Baited in Blood

In-booth Drawings:
 1st prize: The full 2011 Midnight Ink collection
 2nd prize: A limited edition Midnight Inkers Bowling Tee from the Bouchercon Charity Bowl
 3rd prize: The Agatha Award winning St. Just mystery series by G. M. Malliet

In-booth Coupon for Online Order Only:
 Get 20% off all Midnight Ink titles; Visit MidnightInkBooks.com and use promo code BOUCHERCON2011. Offer expires 12/31/11. Standard shipping fees apply.

AND BOWLING!!!

“AH, THAT AIN’T WORKIN’…”

Darrell James

Growing up working on my brother-in-law’s farm, the idea of “work” conjures images of something like toting barges and lifting bales. (For the record, while I have lifted bales, I’ve never actually toted a barge, or for that matter seen anyone else do it.) Still, being a writer has its own kind of grind. There’s long hours of brain numbing plotting. The continuing tedium of pounding a keyboard. And the excruciating madness of fitting just the right words to a scene, just the right scenes to a story. And, of course, there are the dreaded deadlines that can provoke hives, night sweats, and other yet unnamed mal-physical reactions. But the part of being a writer that isn’t so much work is the part where we get the chance to meet and talk to readers, and share camaraderie with other writer friends.

One of my favorite events of the year is Men Of Mystery, held annually in the fall in Irvine, California. This event is hosted by the ever-lovely Joan Hansen and the Orange County Writers Guild. It features some fifty male mystery writers and attracts more than five-hundred attendees. It’s a hands-on (so to speak) chance to engage with readers. Each author hosts a table of ten guests and also gets the chance to speak in round-robin fashion to the entire assembly. Which usually turns out to be something more like “Last Comic Standing” or maybe “The Writers Roast”. It’s great fun with each author trying to best the author to his left or right.

(And just in case you’re wondering, the O.C. Guild also hosts a mystery event for women authors too.)

Men of Mystery will be special for me this year. I have been participating for the past three years or so on my credentials as a short-story author. While I’ve had the pleasure to present Body Count: A Killer Collection of fifteen of my short stories to the audience, and the occasional additional anthology where my stories have appeared, I’ve always felt something of the step-child syndrome around all the fabulous novelists. Short stories, as masterful as they might be, and as difficult as they can be to write, just don’t seem to buy you the same respect.

This year, I’m pleased to report, will be my first chance to publicly announce a three book contract with Midnight Ink and foretell the coming release of Book One in the Del Shannon series of novels.

It’ll be great! It will! It’s something I have worked long and hard for.

Still, as much fun as it will be to show up with some bragging rights this time, I’m mostly looking forward to hosting a round-table of wonderful readers (mostly women, gotta love that!) and having the chance to socialize with all my great writer buddies.

The always noir Gary Phillips will be there, as will Bob Levinson (Robert S.), Michael Mallory (M2), James Scott Bell (Jim), and of course our very own Midnight champion, Keith Raffel (Mr. Silicon Valley himself). And headliners have included the likes of Vince Flynn and Michael Connolly. Just to name a few.

So, during those long days, weeks, and months of grind, alone, with my feet propped up in the recliner, hammering laboriously away on my laptop, I’ll think back on Men of Mystery, and all the other great writer events, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll manage to toil my way through to the end of another book by New Years.

Ahh, that ain’t workin’!

What about you? As a reader or writer, what’s your favorite event? And as a writer, what’s the best part of being one? Leave a comment.

Men of Mystery is an annual fall event in Irvine, CA bringing 500 mystery enthusiasts together with more than 50 male mystery writers from the US and beyond. The event is coordinated by a large and dedicated volunteer committee led by Joan Hansen. Whose mission is to promote mystery reading and writing and literacy while having tremendous fun! This year’s MofM will be held Saturday, October 30th at the Irvine Marriott.

To attend go to: www.menofmystery.org