I brought a camera with me to Bouchercon but, unfortunately, the batteries were dead and I never got a chance to replace them. So I am counting on my friends to forward me the pictures that they took. Here’s picture of me with Krys, the founder of the Diagnosis Murder Appreciation Society (Click on the photos to see an enlarged image).
And here I am on the “Page to Screen” panel, with author Jeffrey Cohen to my left.
Here’s a photo of me with authors Ken Bruen and Giles Blunt, taken by Jim Winter, who you can see with me in the next photo, where we’re both holding the least popular book at the Con.
I say the least popular, because it was given as a freebie in our book bags… and everyone seemed to be giving their copy away at the ‘Book Swapping’ table. There must have been fifty copies stacked there… I feel sorry for the author!
I wonder if it’s due to the fact that it was the only hardcover included in the book bags. Too bad, because it’s actually an excellent book and very different from the usual fare (great South African setting, for one.)
But then again, I didn’t keep my copy either…but I already owned one.
I ended up giving everything away except Jason Starr’s book, which I had him sign for me. I kept an eye on the table, though, to see if anyone was giving up my “Diagnosis Murder” novel… thankfully, I never saw one!
I vowed not to buy any books this time…so, of course, I bought so many I had to ship them back. Among my “signed” purchases were two Ken Bruen titles, a Bernard Cornwell, two Zoe Sharp books, the latest Winspear, an old Ian Rankin, and all the Stephen Booth titles I was missing.
I’m still up here in Toronto until Tuesday morning. I spent most of Sunday roaming around the city, spending more money on shoes, books, and gifts for my daughter.
It was a great Bouchercon…a vast improvement over Las Vegas last year.
It was great meeting you, Lee…
I, too, felt bad for the South African gent. He ended up as this year’s version of April Smith. I did grab a few copies from the giveaway table to give as Christmas presents, though.
Wish I’d seen one of your books on the table. I’d have grabbed it. Wasn’t fortunate enough to get one in my bag. In fact, I didn’t get anything that I don’t already have — not that I wanted, anyway.
It was a fun conference, though I thought the programming to be rather lame. Just one example: why 2 noir panels? And why did I end up moderating the one scheduled for the very last session of the conference? And why was it the one without Eddie Muller?
And who the hell was the horrible woman moderating the panel with Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane? Did she know anything about the authors? Has she read their books? Can she even read?? (And did she really make the faux pas of reciting an outdate bio for Dennis that says he’s still married to the wife he left?)
I’m still frazzled, so I suppose I should stop now.
Hope the arm gets better soon, Lee. By the way, P.J. Tracy’s Anthony Award really was *that* heavy.