Saturday, July 19, 2008

Bouchercon Bound, Baby!

Well, I’ve finally gone and done it. I have my flights arranged and my hotel room booked, and today I’ll send off my registration form and $175 fee (that’s still the price, right?) to attend Bouchercon 2008 in Baltimore, Maryland. As I have mentioned on this page before, I’m not usually a convention-goer, and I haven’t been to a Bouchercon since 1994, when the festivities were held in Seattle. But since I’ve been nominated for an Anthony Award for my work on The Rap Sheet and January Magazine (modesty precludes me from saying how exciting that nomination is), and have never before had an excuse to visit Baltimore, how could I resist?

Besides, it will give me a chance to see at least a handdful of my Rap Sheet colleagues (Ali Karim, Megan Abbott, and Gary Phillips), reintroduce myself to some writers with whom I’ve become acquainted over the years (Mark Billingham, Cara Black, Stephen Booth, John Connolly, and S.J. Rozan, among them), and meet other authors whose work I have long admired, including “International Guest of Honor” John Harvey, “American Guest of Honor” Laura Lippman, Lawrence Block, Stuart MacBride, Louis Bayard, Daniel Stashower, Rennie Airth, and the mother-son pair who write under the pseudonym “Charles Todd.”

And I hear the seafood in Baltimore isn’t half bad ...

2 comments:

Sandra Ruttan said...

Living in Maryland I've become a total sucker for Utz crab chips. I actually haven't tried crab yet, but we'll be going to the annual crab feast Diamond Comics hosts in a few weeks and from what I have tried of local seafood, I'm really looking forward to it.

Linda L. Richards said...

Don't tease, don't tease!

Along with everything else, I'm really looking forward to trying blue crab. I understand it's essential to feel confident enough to pick your own. (As opposed to... what? Having the crab pick you? Yikes!)

And I'm looking forward to seeing *you* there, too, Sandra!