Authors, On and Off the Page

I’m always torn about whether to see and hear the authors whose work I have enjoyed reading. On the one hand, the writer can turn out to be a delight, inspiring your explorations further into his or her prose. On the other, that person you appreciated so much on the page can be disappointing in public.

In 1994, I attended my first--and so far only--Bouchercon. I was there as a reporter, working for the “alternative paper” Seattle Weekly, collecting quotes and color. But I was also there as an enthusiastic reader, sitting in on panel discussions with Donald E. Westlake, Elizabeth Peters, Lawrence Block, the delightful Kate Ross (who, unfortunately, died only a few years later), and many others. It was also during that event that I encountered Keith Miles, the British novelist better known under his pseudonym “Edward Marston,” author of the Nicholas Bracewell theatrical mysteries and the “Railway Detective” series (Iron Horse, 2007). He proved so charming as the moderator of a panel on historical crime fiction, that I bought his second Bracewell novel, The Merry Devils (1989), asked him to sign it, and have read almost all of his many books since.

A contrary case of authorial encounter involves a certain eyepatch-wearing crime novelist and lawyer, who I’ve resisted naming ever since I had to deal with him during a Northwest Bookfest, again held in Seattle, several years ago. I’d been asked to moderate a panel of mystery writers who included Jan Burke, Janet Dawson, and this character, who showed up with a retinue of tough-guy hangers-on and acted as if he resented having to appear with other people onstage. Prior to our meeting, I had read several of this writer’s books, and enjoyed them to varying degress. But he was so incredibly obnoxious during the public discussion--refusing to participate, offering snide responses to direct questions, and dismissing any vague criticism of his work--that I gave up reading him, and have resisted mentioning his name or his books ever since. In fact, I gave away the novels of his I had collected.

All of this is a rather roundabout way of introducing B.V. Lawson’s newest post, at In Reference to Murder, in which she directs readers to podcast and YouTube interviews with American and European crime novelists. It’s a fine selection of writers she mentions, among them Stephen Hunter, Jeffery Deaver, Laura Lippman, Marcia Muller, Harlan Coben, and Michael Connelly. Each of those people agreed to be interviewed for podcasting as part of the annual National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress.

The better source of entertainment, however, may be the series of on-camera exchanges Barbara Peters, of Scottsdale, Arizona’s Poisoned Pen mystery bookstore, has had with novelists of note, such as Ian Rankin, Laurie R. King, Giles Blunt, Val McDermid, James Lee Burke, and Sara Paretsky. Several amusing hours could be spent in front of your computer screen, just watching these folks talk about their work and fictional worlds. You can view the interviews for yourself here. If you dare!