High on Bouchercon

[Austin S. Camacho]

Last night I returned home from Bouchercon and my head is still spinning. I wanted to share the joy before it faded. My plan was to begin a sentence with “The highlight of the conference was…” But the whole thing was one long series of highlights, including:

The panel I moderated Thursday was standing room only and the authors I worked with - Jack Fredrickson, Greg Herren, Adrian Magson and Michael Wiley - were spectacular. Afterward we went to the book sellers’ room and signed a pile of novels.

Bouchercon took over GameWorks, which is basically a huge arcade for grownups. Great food, all the games were free, and a rocking DJ too. We were up too late Thursday night.

Publisher Karen Syed gathered 15 or so Echelon Press authors for a fine lunch! It was great to sit and chat with my fellow authors for a while.

The Private eye Writers of America Banquet was in a left-over prohibition-era saloon called the Slippery Noodle. That was worth two highlights. I was asked to present the award for best short story on stage, and spent the evening having drinks with Sue Grafton!

At the end of Bouchercon I joined what looked like 100 writers at the Author’s Bazaar, handing out free copies of one of my Hannibal Jones mysteries. It was a 2-hour event, but I signed 50 copies of Collateral Damage in 45 minutes! That final ego blast was a great way to end the ultimate mystery weekend.

[Dana King]

I was at Austin's session, and it was a highlight of the conference. All the panelists were smart and funny, and he kept things moving along. Great stuff for a PI aficionado such as myself.