Bouchercon wrap-up!

UPDATE: Now with hyperlinks, and even more bullet points!

Well hello, readers! I must disclaim that I'm currently sitting in a car, stuck in traffic outside of Gary, Indiana, and I'm writing this post on my handy, dandy iPhone. OutKast is in the cd player, and I'm exhausted.

All that is to say that I'm going to bullet point some highlights of the just-finished Bouchercon conference, but I beg your pardon for any typos, lack of hyperlinks (I'll go back to add those later), and general mental fuzziness.

As usual, Bouchercon was a blast. Ben
and I were delighted to attend our first Bouchercon as Tyrus Books, and it was incredibly moving and meaningful to have spent the weekend with the crime fiction community, who were all so supportive and giving.

• We had wonderful news from our former life at Bleak House, as Reed Farrel Coleman took home the Best Novel Shamus for Empty Ever After.

• Our brand new anthology, Beyond the Dark and the Daylight, was ooh-ed and aah-ed for its lovely production details (hooray 3-piece bind!), and, in an odd bit of prescience, Tom Piccirilli's titular story involves a young boy trapped in the basket of a hot air balloon, chased after by his frantic father. Weird! Tom, can you write a story about a young editor winning the lottery?

• I acquired some really exciting new reading material, including Blake Crouch's Abandon, Brian Azzarello's Joker, and Derek Nikitas's The Long Division. (Loyal Dead Guy readers may remember me crowing about how excellent Nikitas's first novel was. Pyres really moved me, and I am so looking forward to TLD that I almost don't even want to start it, because then it will be over.)

• Tyrus author Michael Lister became instantly buzzed-about when his latest novel, Double Exposure, was cited by Michael Connelly as one of the best books he's read recently. I KNOW, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!

• Great food, including a fancy lobster ravioli that I had the pleasure of splitting with Laura Caldwell. Laura and her agent Amy were fantastic company all weekend -- I hope I can sway them to visit Madison soon.

• Hearing word that Jamie Freveletti, debut author and great friend of Tyrus, had hit the bestseller list in Germany. Her book, in English, is called Running From the Devil.

• Celebrating all the amazing talents and wonderful people who were awarded Shamuses, Barrys, Anthonys, Macavitys, and Crimespree awards.

• As usual, Lee Child's annual Bouchercon Reacher Creature party. Loud, crowded, and absolutely delightful.

• Attending the dark fiction panel, which happily wrapped up with the panelists reminding us that hey, someday we're all going to die.

• More, so much more. But I'm getting a little barfy from iPhone blogging in the car, so I'm going to sign off. Thanks, Bouchercon, for being rad. Stay gold!

Additional Bouchercon wrap-up stuff can be found on the Tyrus blog, not written on my iPhone. And hey, you can follow us on Twitter, too, if you're into that sort of thing.

(Oh, and my Halloween costume from last year -- I was Starbuck.)

Comments

[jenny milchman]

I have always dreamed of going to Bourcercon, and man, this wrap up only intensifies that dream! A party for Jack? Is Jack actually there? (Oh wait. He's not real...)

I'm about to read DOUBLE EXPOSURE myself--guess that buzz is still buzzing--and I'm honored that Michael Lister has agreed to write something up for the Made It Moments author column on my blog.

Thanks for sharing the memories, Alison...