B'Con Virgin No More

A few random musing about my first Bouchercon (random being about the best I can do right now):

Harlan Coben is a hell of a nice guy.

Barry Eisler is a hell of a nice guy. He’s apparently about to break huge with Killing Rain, his fourth John Rain novel, and he deserves every bit of it. The books are great international-intrigue type thrillers, and did I mention he’s a hell of a nice guy?

J.A. Konrath is hilarious, even early in the morning, and yes, is a hell of a nice guy.

Mark Billingham was also hilarious; I went to a panel he was on even though I was only mildly interested in the subject matter, just to see him moderate (and yes, the other guests were fascinating as well, so it was a good thing all ‘round). And while I didn’t get to actually meet him, I hear he’s a hell of a nice guy, even though thanks to him, I am now known as the Southern guy who likes porn and cheese. Thank you, Mark. Thank you VERY MUCH.

Ken Bruen is a hell of a nice guy, but everyone already knew that. He also must have the constitution of a Titan. If I’d have run as long and hard as he did for five days, they’d be carrying me out on a freakin’ gurney. And I’m not just talking about booze, although there was a bit of that. Just a wee drop, really. Congratulations to Ken on his Macavity. I hope he took my advice, took the award (a big-ass cat statue) to a meeting with his publishers, slammed it down on the table and said “I’m Ken Bruen, bitch!” But he probably didn’t.

Harley Jane Kozak is a hell of a nice lady. Congratulations to her on her awards (Anthony and Macavity) as well.

But with all due respect to the folks above, I have to say that Barbara Seranella has to be the coolest person on the planet. She’s been through so much this past year, and she’s still totally open, funny, and laid back. She even gave out free onions with little notes that said something like: “Take the onions but I’m keeping the liver.” That’s Richard Pryor funny, if you know what I mean.

People I met who I liked so much that I will now have to buy their stuff: Megan Abbot, C.J. Carpenter, Bill Crider, Ray Banks, Sean Doolittle, Dave White, Jim Winter, and Sean Chercover (hope I spelled that right). I’m sure others will percolate to the surface of my memory soon.

Congrats to Jason Starr for the Anthony for best PBO. It’s well-deserved. And the best part about that was seeing his obvious joy in it…if he’d grinned any bigger, the top of his head would have slid off. It made me happy just to watch him.

Duane Swierczynski and Allan Guthrie really do make a cute couple. And the cover of Duane’s new book is about as cool as something can get without having wheels, cleavage or a trigger. Maybe the coolest thing about it that it already listed Jason (who did a blurb) as "Jason Starr, Anthony Award Winner". Allan’s book Two-Way Split is also coming out in a new U.K. edition with a truly bad-ass cover. His other book Kiss Her Goodbye is not only some of the best noir you’ll ever get your hands on, but already had one of the greatest covers ever. Buy these books or be consigned forever to the outer darkness reserved for the truly lame.

Regrets? I’ve had a few…people I either missed entirely or only got to see in passing on the way to somewhere else and hoped to catch up with more, but never did: Paul Guyot, Keith Snyder, David Montgomery, James Lincoln Warren, and of course, Polly P.I.

Guyot: I was in the damn bar, ready to buy you a drink...where the hell were you?

Next year in Madison…