Sunday, April 24, 2011

Get Your Ballots in Now!

I haven’t decided for sure whether I’ll attend this coming September’s Bouchercon in St. Louis, Missouri. However, several factors incline me in that direction: (1) My British friends Ali Karim and R.J. “Roger” Ellory, who helped make my Bouchercon experience in San Francisco such a delight, will both be attending; (2) my father’s family came from the St. Louis area, so I would welcome the chance to do some genealogical research there; and (3) I have long wanted to visit the small town of Hannibal, about 100 miles to the northwest of St. Louis (a mere care ride away!), where author Mark Twain grew up.

Even if I can’t ultimately go, though, I am going to fill out my ballot for the 2011 Anthony Awards. (Those ballots should have gone to anyone who’s registered for the St. Louis event, or who participated in the San Francisco Bouchercon.) The survey was sent my way weeks ago, asking me to make my picks of the best crime novel published in 2010, the best crime-fiction short story of 2010, last year’s best critical non-fiction related to this genre, and other works worth commending.

I’ve been procrastinating about entering my choices and returning the ballot. But I can’t dawdle much longer. As anyone who received one of these ballots should know, they’re due to be posted by next Saturday, April 30. If you haven’t already sent yours in, please remember to do so within the next few days. If you have questions, drop an e-mail note to jratease@comcast.net, and put “Bouchercon” in the subject line.

The list of nominees will be announced on Wednesday, June 1.

2 comments:

John Purcell said...

Thanks Jeff. I've received only a small percentage of the ballots that were sent out. We'd love to get a larger response. If you lost your ballots just send me an email at the email address in the post.

Mike Dennis said...

Jeff--
If you've got an empty slot or two in the "Best First Novel" category, how about penciling in "The Take", my noir novel which was released in November, 2010?

Normally, I wouldn't be so brazen as to ask, but you know, you only get one shot at a "Best First Novel."

If you want to know more about it, click on my name and go to my website for an excerpt, or there's a link there to the Amazon page where you can read the reviews. They're all pretty decent.

Either way, keep up the good work with The Rap Sheet and I'll see you in St Louis.