BOUCHERCON 2012

Last Thursday through Sunday I attended the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, held this year in Cleveland, Ohio. For those of you unfamiliar with Bouchercon, it’s a huge gathering of the mystery and crime fiction community, bringing together writers, industry professions, and fans. The annual event was named for mystery author, science-fiction editor, and San Francisco Chronicle reviewer Anthony Boucher who died in 1968.

Opening ceremonies were held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The courtyard is filled with giant fiberglass electric guitars that have been painted by various artists. 

Here’s fellow Midnight Ink author Alice Loweecey wearing her steampunk hat and standing next to a steampunk inspired guitar.

On Friday morning I was on the Those Crafty Sleuths panel with fellow crafting mystery authors Mollie Cox Bryan, Joanna Campbell Slan, Penny Warner, and Kylie Logan. 

A signing followed in the book room.

Later that afternoon and again on Saturday afternoon I hosted a crafting session where attendees could make fabric yo-yo greeting cards. Yo-yo crafts are the featured craft in Revenge of the Crafty Corpse, the next Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery which will be out in January. And no, I’m not talking the plastic Duncan variety of yo-yo. Check out Anastasia’s Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog next Monday to learn how to make the craft like the Bouchercon attendee pictured here.

Friday many of the Midnight Ink authors got together for lunch. 

Bouchercon is also a time to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Here I am with fellow Midnight Ink authors Alan Orloff and Alice Loweecey and our editor Terri Bischoff.

And here Alice and I are with fellow Midnight Ink author Jessie Chandler.

The fans are the best part of Bouchercon, though, and this year Alice and I had our very own Fan Girl, Liz Cox.

Next year Bouchercon will be held in Albany, NY, and we’re already making plans to attend.

Award-winning author Lois Winston writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries series featuring magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack. Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, a January 2011 release, is the first book in the series and received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Kirkus Reviews dubbed it, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum” Death By Killer Mop Doll was released this past January. Revenge of the Crafty Corpse will be a January 2013 release.

Lois is also published in romance, romantic suspense, and chick lit books as Emma Carlyle. Now through the end of October, she's donating $500 to breast cancer research for every 1,000 Emma Carlyle books sold. Visit Lois at http://www.loiswinston.com , visit Emma at http://www.emmacarlyle.com, and visit Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers character blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com.

INKSPOT NEWS - October 6, 2012

This weekend (Thursday, October 4th - Sunday, October 7th), many Midnight Ink authors will be at the Bouchercon 2012 conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Below are a list of our panel appearances. If you're attending, please attend our panels and stop by and say hi at the signings afterward!



Thursday, October 4:
12:15 - 1:05 PM, "It's Just a Job" Panel, Alice Loweecey
2:45 - 3:35 PM,  "50 Shades of Cozy" Panel, Catriona McPherson
2:45 - 3:35 PM, "Have Gun Will Murder" Panel, Darrell James

Friday, October 5:
7:30-8:45 AM, "New Author Coffee Hour," Sheila Boneham
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "Those Crafty Sleuths" Panel, Joanna Campbell Slan, Lois Winston
11:30 AM - 12:20 PM, "Murder in Small Town USA" Panel, Jess Lourey
3:00 - 4:00 PM, making fabric yo-yo greeting cards in the crafts room, Lois Winston

Saturday, October 6:
1:00 - 2:00 PM, making fabric yo-yo greeting cards in the crafts room, Lois Winston
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "He Said. He Replied. He Gasped." Panel, Alan Orloff, Jessie Chandler
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "Avoid the Unbelievable" Panel, Maggie Sefton
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "Historical WhoDunnits" Panel, Joanna Campbell Slan

Sunday, October 7:
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "True Grit" Panel, Colin Campbell
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "Red Herrings" Panel, Beth Groundwater, Keith Raffel

Also, there will be a Midnight Ink Autographing Hour in the Book Room from 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM on Saturday, featuring Sheila Boneham, Colin Campbell, Darrell James, and Maggie Sefton.

Lastly, on Friday, October 12, 2012, from 7 - 9 PM, Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will appear at Summit County Library's Authors’ Night, Main Branch of the Summit County Library, County Commons Building, 0037 Summit County Road 1005, Frisco, CO 80443. Beth will discuss her books, answer questions and autograph copies.

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Author Sheila Webster Boneham's online event,  Drop Dead for Healthy Dogs, a virtual book signing to launch Drop Dead on Recall, continues through Thursday, October 11. A portion of all sales through this event go to support canine health research.

Sheila will be reading from Drop Dead on Recall, answering questions, and signing books in person at Pomegranate Books in Wilmington, NC, at 7 p.m., October 11, to bring Drop Dead for Healthy Dogs to a close. Hope to see you online or at Pomegranate!

INKSPOT NEWS - September 29, 2012

Next weekend (Thursday, October 4th - Sunday, October 7th), many Midnight Ink authors will be at the Bouchercon 2012 conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Below are a list of our panel appearances. If you're attending, please attend our panels and stop by and say hi at the signings afterward!


Thursday, October 4:
12:15 - 1:05 PM, "It's Just a Job" Panel, Alice Loweecey
2:45 - 3:35 PM,  "50 Shades of Cozy" Panel, Catriona McPherson
2:45 - 3:35 PM, "Have Gun Will Murder" Panel, Darrell James

Friday, October 5:
7:30-8:45 AM, "New Author Coffee Hour," Sheila Boneham
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "Those Crafty Sleuths" Panel, Joanna Campbell Slan, Lois Winston
11:30 AM - 12:20 PM, "Murder in Small Town USA" Panel, Jess Lourey
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM, making fabric yo-yo greeting cards in the crafts room, Lois Winston

Saturday, October 6:
1:00 - 2:00 PM, making fabric yo-yo greeting cards in the crafts room, Lois Winston
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "He Said. He Replied. He Gasped." Panel, Alan Orloff, Jessie Chandler
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "Avoid the Unbelievable" Panel, Maggie Sefton
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "Historical WhoDunnits" Panel, Joanna Campbell Slan

Sunday, October 7:
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "True Grit" Panel, Colin Campbell
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "Red Herrings" Panel, Beth Groundwater, Keith Raffel

Also, there will be a Midnight Ink Autographing Hour in the Book Room from 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM on Saturday, featuring Sheila Boneham, Colin Campbell, Darrell James, and Maggie Sefton.

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Sheila Webster Boneham is launching her new Animals in Focus mystery, Drop Dead on Recall, with a "virtual book launch" online to benefit canine health research. A portion of sales made through the event, running now through October 11, go to support research into canine health issues, and the results of that research often benefit human medicine, too. For information, click here to Drop Dead for Healthy Dogs!

Seated to my Right

By Deborah Sharp
Sleuthfest starts today in south Florida, my home turf. I hope I seem friendly and welcoming to the authors and conventioneers who travel here from elsewhere. I don't want to be like those obnoxious surfers in California, who begrudge outsiders the chance to catch a single wave. ''Locals Rule,'' is their credo. That sentiment resides in other cliques besides surfers, though.

Writers, for instance.

How many of you have felt excluded by the more experienced hands at mystery conferences? Felt like everyone was in the know but you? Maybe it's my own insecurity, but that was how I felt -- a lot -- in the first year or two I spent as an author. It took me at least that long to learn the secret handshake. (Note to the newbies: That's a figure of speech. There is no secret handshake. Or, maybe there is, and they're STILL keeping it from me.)

This weekend, I'll be on a panel at Sleuthfest. Panels can be either a welcoming or an exclusionary experience, depending:
Is the moderator a dear friend of a panel hog, and loathe to rein him in?
Is everyone on the panel -- except you -- from a similar genre, making you the ugly cousin?
Is the panel led by a graduate of the Narcissistic School of Moderating, who believes this session should rightfully be her 50 minutes of fame?

Vicki Doudera, a fellow Midnight Ink author, made a great point recently about panel etiquette on our Yahoo group. Panelists, Vicki wrote, should try to reference other writers instead of acting like they're the only people on Earth who ever wrote a book. They shouldn't bogart the microphone; and they should answer the questions they're asked without using every one as a springboard to blatant self-promotion. Vicki didn't say why she felt moved to post tips for polite panelists, but I'd bet she's been seated somewhere on a Panel from Hell. I know I have. Here are a few of my most-hated panel types. No names, of course, to protect the guilty:
The Unprepared Moderator. Really? You didn't even take 10 minutes to Google me? I don't expect you to read all the panelists' books, but at least have a clue about what we write seeing as how you're supposed to be leading the discussion.
The Name-Dropping Panelist. I was once empaneled next to an author who made much of a friendship with a famous country music star. Each topic raised was another opportunity to brag about how much this certain star LOVED the author's books; how the star couldn't wait to make them into movies; how the star called just to chat about how FABULOUS these books are. Okay, we get it. You're somebody.
The Time-Sucker. You've been there, right? As an author, or maybe in the audience. Tapping your fingers and seething as one panelist goes on and on and on . . . Yeah, you're terrific. One of a kind. Now, stop being a baby and let somebody else grab a hold of that microphone.
How about you? What's your worst panel experience ever? Or, is it just me, and all the panels you've seen or been seated on have been dreams.