Back from Bouchercon, the world's largest crime fiction conference, in Indianapolis. Met fans, pushed books, hung with friends. The conference ended with a real free-for-all. Author J.A. Konrath came up with the idea of authors giving away their back-list titles in order to introduce themselves to new fans. Well, the idea was a huge hit. The line to get the books snaked back and forth through the lobby of the Indianapolis Hyatt. People were wedged tightly as they tried to run from author to author. My publisher, Midnight Ink sent along 50 copies of Dot Dead which were snapped up in no time. But, I promise, no swelled head because I signed next to the sensational Hank Phillippi Ryan. I think her fans were going to cry when she gave away her last book. OTOH, she's so gracious and charming that when they left with a special Hank lip balm and a few words from the author, they were all smiling.
The fabulous Marcus Sakey, the classy and uber-talented Hank Phillippi Ryan, me, and the novelist cum marketing genius J.A. Konrath (aka Jack Kilborn) just after we ran out of books at Bouchercon.
Now one day R&R before the official launch of Smasher at Kepler's Tuesday night at 7.30.
BTW, am blogging this week at Criminal Minds. Come by, say hi, leave a comment. Also, here's a link to what Mystery Scene Mag had to say about Smasher. I'm pleased especially since the review is by Oline Cogdill, one of the most respected in her field.
Keith,
It was great to see you this past weekend
Posted by: jon jordan | October 20, 2009 at 04:05 AM
Great review, Keith! Well done. And nice camera work, minus the Weber Grill, which you can hardly be blamed for.
Posted by: Jess Lourey | October 20, 2009 at 05:47 AM
Jon, great hanging out with you if even for not long enough. Jessie, glad we all could get together. Good luck with book next.
Posted by: Keith Raffel | October 20, 2009 at 08:31 AM