Notes from Party Central

Last week, when the organizing committee for mysterdom’s largest annual event put out a call for volunteers, we were a little apprehensive that 2006 Bouchercon in Madison might get off to a shaky start. From all reports, however, our fears were groundless. It sounds like the organizing committee rallied, the mystery community pitched in as required and, midway through the event, reports are flooding in and they’re all good.

The Thrilling Detective’s Kevin Burton Smith brought local color to his blog, along with comments on the convention itself. “I like Madison,” Smith writes in The Thrilling Detective blog. “I took a wander last night, before going to register at Bouchercon, and I was impressed. The downtown core has more of a real city feel than L.A. has--there are people and bars and cafés and restaurants and little bookstores and they’re all jumbled together and says ‘people live here.’ A lot of pedestrians and, befitting a town with so many students, a lot of folks on bikes. It’s all downright civilized.”

On his own blog yesterday, Iden Ford (aka Mr. Maureen Jennings) reported that the “travel and the buzz of a Bouchercon is hard to describe, but it sure feels like a lovefest this year.”

Although Ford wasn’t the only mystery litblogger to report on the lovefest elements from Bouchercon, trust Ed Champion to pipe up with a bit of dissent: “Deeper questions about Bouchercon’s troubling insular nature will have to wait. I’ll just say for now that, more than BEA, APE, WorldCon and nearly every other writers or readers conference I have ever attended, you will be a conversational pariah if you haven’t read the latest sixty hot mystery titles.”

Champion’s ongoing and on-the-spot reportage from Bouchercon has been great, but it sounds as though he might be sitting on some things that will cause at least some in the mystery community to start throwing rocks in the near future. We’ll wait and see. Meanwhile, the cow photo that illustrates this piece was taken by Champion in Madison. It’s used here entirely without permission. (Though I’ll pull it if he gripes.)

Friday, on his Secret Dead Blog, Duane Swierczynski (The Wheelman) commented that “The thing about Bouchercon is that it’s very hard to go anywhere. Take five steps and you’re bound to run into someone you know, have traded e-mails with, or read their blog. And if two people stand still long enough in a public place, then they’ll naturally attract more people who will start talking. It’s kind of like watching mold grow at hyperspeed.”

Mark Coggins (Candy From Strangers) posted great photos from the Bleak House Books/Crimespree Magazine party. I didn’t like those photos. The party looked like so much fun, they made me especially sad not to be there.

It sounds like James R. Winter (Northcoast Exile) had fun at the same party. He didn’t comment in-depth on his blog, but what he did say was telling. “15 minutes after Jen Jordan dubbed me ‘The Human PA,’ my voice was reduced to a faint croak.” Winter promises to illustrate that event--and others--with photos on his blog in the very near future.

Some of the wisest comments I’ve read out of Bouchercon 2006 thus far came from Killer Year co-founder Sandra Ruttan, who included a list of things she’s learned at Bouchercon. Too many to repeat them all in this space, but here’s a smattering: “Al ‘wise ass’ Guthrie has the best T-shirt. ... Duane Swierczynski says if the ending of a book sucks it can blow future sales. He says he’s not holding his breath for a sequel to the Bible. ... Eating haggis is an extreme sport. ... Jan Burke has a ‘dear God don’t let me die in this jurisdiction’ list. ... [And] you do not want to give John Connolly an opportunity to talk about shrinkage on a panel. It just isn’t a good idea.”

The fun continues until Sunday.