Bouchercon and other o'erlooked things
Oct. 8th, 2006 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmithSo, I did attend a con last week. Bouchercon, afaik, is to mystery what WFC is to fantasy. Some business is done. Publishers throw parties/dinners for their writers. Writers and other pros give panels and have signings. There's a dealers room, which deals primarily in books--saw two SF/F dealers there, Larry Smith and Greg Ketter.
I should say that I can't give a real rundown of the con because I spent most of my time finishing up J5. I had fun during the events I attended. The Harpercollins dinner on Friday night was held at Restaurant Magnus, which is one of those neat places that may have been around since forever but which I never knew about because when I visit Madison, it's always for Wiscon, during which I hardly ever get off State Street.
Since all the writers/editors were mystery folk, I didn't know them. I am sorry to say that I don't recall the name of the nice lady with whom I sat and talked during the cocktail half-hour. At dinner, I sat with Mario Acevedo, with whom I share an editor, and a couple of other writers whose cards I have *somewhere*. The room was small and things got Way Too Loud as multiple conversations bounced off the walls and you had to shout at the person next to you in order to be heard. But, still had fun, and the food was *great*. We ordered off a shortened menu. I started with Cream Sherry and Potato Soup with fennel, jalapeno and watercress. Entree was white sesame seed and pink peppercorn encrusted seared ahi tuna (With passion fruit-Thai chile butter sauce, sauteed Japanese sweet potatoes, edamame, cucumber, bell pepper and watercress for you foodies out there and yes I am copying this from the menu on the website you think I'd remember stuff like this? ANYway, it was sashimi-grade fish served pretty darn rare. I probably got my annual allowance of mercury in one fell swoop, but it was really good).
Dessert was one of the best I'd ever had, a peanut butter chocolate bombe that ranks with L'Etoile's Apple Beignets as one of my Top Desserts of All Time. Many so-called gourmet desserts strike me as waaay too sweet, but this bombe was *good*. Understated peanut buttery taste, bittersweet chocolate and I don't know what kind of cookie that was but damn it was good. Highly recommended--I would like to go back during Wiscon.
Earlier that day was my Writers Salon with Mary Pierzchalski (Scarlett Dean), Barry Wiley, and TA Ridgell. The topic was Plotting the Paranormal, with some segues into SF and vampires and such, and went pretty well--the audience outnumbered us and asked lots of questions and it would have been even better if our names had been printed in the Pocket Program. Instead, the panelists for the next Salon got a bonus panel. Kind of a bummer, but folks showed up and all was well.
Saturday was my go-to-panel day. The first one was a presentation by Forensic Anthropologist Leslie Eisenberg, whose primary occupation is Burial Sites Preservation Program Coordinator for the Wisconsin Historical Society. However, on occasion she does receive the odd call from the coroner's office, like the one she told us about which came at 7am-ish on a Saturday morning telling her "I have a torso". This murder was the subject of a segment on either Cold Case Files or American Justice. The torso belonged to a young African woman who was murdered by a cousin, and was notable for the fact that an expert in facial reconstruction was able to build up a likeness of the woman from her skull that enabled identification and eventually led to the killer.
Prior to the start of the talk, I struck up a conversation with a couple of women in the back of the room. They both turned out to be writers. One was Connie Fletcher, whose books I have. So that was neat.
She's a very nice lady, too.
The next panel was entitled "Getting It Right: How to Get Details on Police Procedure, Covery Surveillance, and Forensic Science Right". Connie Fletcher was on this panel, as was ex-Chicago cop/author Doug Cummins and surveillance expert Jerry Hooten. Much good stuff learned. I honestly doubt that I will ever write a police procedural, but the subject matter was interesting and educational, if only as a counter to the "CSI Effect" that is so prevalent.
After that, I was free. Walked around Madison. Saw the cows. Wrote for a couple of hours in a coffee house on State Street. Dodged raindrops. I doubt I'll go to another B-con anytime soon, but I did have a nice time.
I should say that I can't give a real rundown of the con because I spent most of my time finishing up J5. I had fun during the events I attended. The Harpercollins dinner on Friday night was held at Restaurant Magnus, which is one of those neat places that may have been around since forever but which I never knew about because when I visit Madison, it's always for Wiscon, during which I hardly ever get off State Street.
Since all the writers/editors were mystery folk, I didn't know them. I am sorry to say that I don't recall the name of the nice lady with whom I sat and talked during the cocktail half-hour. At dinner, I sat with Mario Acevedo, with whom I share an editor, and a couple of other writers whose cards I have *somewhere*. The room was small and things got Way Too Loud as multiple conversations bounced off the walls and you had to shout at the person next to you in order to be heard. But, still had fun, and the food was *great*. We ordered off a shortened menu. I started with Cream Sherry and Potato Soup with fennel, jalapeno and watercress. Entree was white sesame seed and pink peppercorn encrusted seared ahi tuna (With passion fruit-Thai chile butter sauce, sauteed Japanese sweet potatoes, edamame, cucumber, bell pepper and watercress for you foodies out there and yes I am copying this from the menu on the website you think I'd remember stuff like this? ANYway, it was sashimi-grade fish served pretty darn rare. I probably got my annual allowance of mercury in one fell swoop, but it was really good).
Dessert was one of the best I'd ever had, a peanut butter chocolate bombe that ranks with L'Etoile's Apple Beignets as one of my Top Desserts of All Time. Many so-called gourmet desserts strike me as waaay too sweet, but this bombe was *good*. Understated peanut buttery taste, bittersweet chocolate and I don't know what kind of cookie that was but damn it was good. Highly recommended--I would like to go back during Wiscon.
Earlier that day was my Writers Salon with Mary Pierzchalski (Scarlett Dean), Barry Wiley, and TA Ridgell. The topic was Plotting the Paranormal, with some segues into SF and vampires and such, and went pretty well--the audience outnumbered us and asked lots of questions and it would have been even better if our names had been printed in the Pocket Program. Instead, the panelists for the next Salon got a bonus panel. Kind of a bummer, but folks showed up and all was well.
Saturday was my go-to-panel day. The first one was a presentation by Forensic Anthropologist Leslie Eisenberg, whose primary occupation is Burial Sites Preservation Program Coordinator for the Wisconsin Historical Society. However, on occasion she does receive the odd call from the coroner's office, like the one she told us about which came at 7am-ish on a Saturday morning telling her "I have a torso". This murder was the subject of a segment on either Cold Case Files or American Justice. The torso belonged to a young African woman who was murdered by a cousin, and was notable for the fact that an expert in facial reconstruction was able to build up a likeness of the woman from her skull that enabled identification and eventually led to the killer.
Prior to the start of the talk, I struck up a conversation with a couple of women in the back of the room. They both turned out to be writers. One was Connie Fletcher, whose books I have. So that was neat.
She's a very nice lady, too.
The next panel was entitled "Getting It Right: How to Get Details on Police Procedure, Covery Surveillance, and Forensic Science Right". Connie Fletcher was on this panel, as was ex-Chicago cop/author Doug Cummins and surveillance expert Jerry Hooten. Much good stuff learned. I honestly doubt that I will ever write a police procedural, but the subject matter was interesting and educational, if only as a counter to the "CSI Effect" that is so prevalent.
After that, I was free. Walked around Madison. Saw the cows. Wrote for a couple of hours in a coffee house on State Street. Dodged raindrops. I doubt I'll go to another B-con anytime soon, but I did have a nice time.
