San Francisco

I'm here and falling asleep. I got up  at 3 am this morning in order to get to the airport for my 5:45 flight. My watch says it's seven thirty but I know it's really 10.30. I'll have more energy to post tomorrow -- until then, here are some pictures I took with John's little Lumix -- my beloved Nikon was just too much to carry in addition to the suitcase and laptop. It does a respectable job though.

And thank you for all the neat comments yesterday. I'll carry them in my heart when I meet with Herself for breakfast -- at 6:30 tomorrow.(Markin/Mario's is particularly interesting...)

California, Here I Come . . .

Right back where I started from...

Really. I was born in California, as the result of a military accident.  It was WWII  and my father was stationed out there. My mother had followed him from base to base during his training. (I guess that makes her a camp follower.)  But he was sent overseas (Burma) not long after my arrival and my mother and I returned to Florida.  

I've never been back -- never been farther west than east Texas, as a matter of fact.

Bouchercon, the big mystery convention, is being held in San Francisco this year so that's where I'm headed. I'll meet with Herself, my esteemed editor, and we'll discuss whether she wants more Elizabeth books. I'll be on a panel with four other mystery writers, talking about what influences show up in our books. I'll attend a Random House cocktail party and go to as many other panels as I can.  With any luck, I'll get a look at the world beyond the hotel.

And very early Sunday morning I'll head back home.  I'll have my laptop with me and try to post while I'm there. Failing that, look for me on Monday or Tuesday.

Heading Home . . .

. . . no, I didn't get the Anthony.

C'est la vie.

But I did get to spend time with lots of wonderful writers and readers and most especially with Herself, my editor, a once a year treat.

No, we weren't all on stage for the awards so there was no way to do the jumping and squealing thing.

But Julie Hyzy, who won the Best PBO Anthony, was certainly the most enthusiastic in her acceptance speech.

The winner of the Best First Novel -- where you'd really expect to see some Sally Field moments -- was, unfortunately, deceased and his publisher and translator, who did the accepting, were suitably subdued.

And I didn't even take pictures of the event, having left my camera battery in the charger back in my room.

But, without further ado, here are the winners.

Best Novel
The Brass Verdict - Michael Connelly

Best First Novel
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

Best Paperback Original
State of the Onion - Julie Hyzy

Best Short Story
"A Sleep Not Unlike Death"- Sean Chercover

Best Critical Nonfiction Work
Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography -Jeffrey Marks

Best Children's / Young Adult Novel
The Crossroads - Chris Grabenstein

Best Cover Art
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -Peter Mendelsund- Stieg Larsson

And no, I'm neither disappointed nor depressed, having not ever really thought it might be a possibility (except for about a nano-second before Julie's name was called.)

C'est, as I said before, la vie!

Now, onward and upward and back to the mountains!

Off to Indianapolis

This morning I'm winging my way north to the mystery convention known as Bouchercon and my annual meeting with Herself, my esteemed editor.

And I'll be on the Southern Voices panel and attending the Sisters in Crime breakfast (they should serve Bloody Mary's, shouldn't they?) And I'll be meeting various friends for lunch and dinner and hanging out in the book room and going to the Random House "cocktail gathering."

How is a cocktail gathering different from a cocktail party, I wonder? Maybe the dress code is more relaxed.

I hope so. I have three modes of dress -- stained and raggedy, for around the house and garden; clean and presentable but maybe a little faded, for ordinary going out; and the newer, less faded version of clean and presentable for special occasions.

Like cocktail gatherings. Or the Anthony Awards. I'm going to go all out for that and add to my black and purple ensemble (the inevitable black pants, a purple turtle neck and a black cardigan) a sparkly scarf that Molly Weston gave me, knitted by her own hands.

I'm hoping all us nominees will be on stage and it'll be like Miss America with the winner bursting into tears while the rest of us shriek and jump around and hug her/him/them.

And I hope the announcer has great hair like the guy in the video.

I'm taking my laptop and should be able to keep you all posted.

How Can You Be in Two Places at Once?

Today I'm over at Bethany Warner's blog, reminiscing about my first Bouchercon and my first visit to a Big City (Chicago) on my own.

Please come over and leave a comment so I won't feel like the wallflower at the dance!

Southern Voices

I've got the South on my mind . . . the southern states of the USA, that is . . . and I wonder . . .

What do you think of when you think about the South? . . .

A shy pink camellia?

Sweet iced tea with lemon and mint?

Good old boys enjoying the evening on the front porch?

The seductive scent of a creamy magnolia?

A great Live Oak, hung with Spanish moss and spreading its leafy arms across a small town square?


Or maybe tractor caps, proclaiming long-held loyalties?

All this is on my mind because I've just received my panel assignment for Bouchercon - "SOUTHERN VOICES: What's special about Southern mysteries?"

The panel is composed of Cathy Pickens, (who writes a down home series about upstate South Carolina,) Deborah Sharp (setting: the part of Florida natives call the real Florida,) T. Lynn Ocean (coastal Carolina, Wilmington,) A. Scott Pearson (Memphis, TN,) and me.

That's a lot of different Souths. I'm trying to figure out what the commonalities are -- not gators, nor old plantations, nor log cabins, nor Elvis. Well, maybe Elvis. Maybe biscuits and gravy.

But special? What's a key element in Southern fiction -- in Southern mysteries? I have some vague, half-formulated ideas having to do with the Scots-Irish and story-telling and maybe even a tad of alienation resulting from the Late Unpleasantness, as John's Aunt Barbara called the Civil War.

So I'm asking, do you think there's anything special about Southern mysteries or Southern fiction in general?

(Let's hope so -- it'll be a long, awkward fifty-five minute panel otherwise.)

Help me out here, folks! And for those of you blog readers in other countries, I'd be really interested to know if you have any notion of the American South as being any different from the rest of the US -- any stereotypes, etc.

News Flash - No Joke!

It was a week ago -- over a week -- that the email fell into my in box late at night -- a quiet little bombshell..

Dear Vicki,

Congratulations! You have been nominated for a 2009 Anthony Award. Your book, In a Dark Season, has been nominated in the category for Best Paperback Original. . .

At first I was elated -- a kind of nunc dimittis moment. This is something I've hardly dared to dream of . . . but then, somehow I felt suspicious. Immediately I replied to the email, asking if this was true.

No response.

I emailed my agent and my editor, asking them if they know about this nomination (generally my editor is the one to tell me if something noteworthy has happened.)

No answer -- not a surprise -- it was late at night, as I said. John was out of town and there I sat, wanting desperately to tell someone this good news -- if it was good news and not a cruel joke.

Neither the dogs nor the cats were the least bit interested when I explained to them that the Anthony is one of the mystery genre's most prestigious awards. Even if you don't win, just the nomination is the kind of thing authors have on their book covers or after their name -- as in Vicki Lane - Anthony Nominee.

This fan-based award is tied to Bouchercon -- the mystery convention in the US -- and the nominations come from attendees of the past years as well as those registered for this year. Final voting is done at Bouchercon by those present and the awards are presented on the next-to-last day.

It's a really big deal. And I really wasn't sure . . .

I passed a fretful night.

The next morning I had a cautious email from my editor saying maybe it was true but she was surprised she hadn't heard something and she would check with Publicity.

Then there was a phone call from my agent, delighted and ready to celebrate -- until I told her that the editor and I weren't entirely sure . . .

Poor Ann! By the time we hung up, I had managed to convince her that I just might be the victim of a scam or a practical joker.

Time passed. Slowly. No word from anyone.

Finally, about mid-morning, I decided to email Jim Huang, one of the co-chairs of this year's Bouchercon, and ask if this was for real. I met Jim last year in Baltimore and he was friendly and approachable so I figured that an email from a semi-demented author might not bother him too much. Besides, did I mention I was desperate to know the truth?

And then he answered.

Yes, Vicki, it's true. You are a nominee.

Oh, rapture! Oh, joy!

But, he cautioned, this news isn't to be made public till we release the entire list . . . the following Monday, he said. Which turned out to be Tuesday afternoon.

So I've been writing about chickens and flowers and asparagus instead of shouting this good news from the virtual rooftops of the blogosphere.

But now I can!

WHOOPEE!!!

Talk about gathering rosebuds -- this feels like the whole garden!

Bouchercon '08 ~ Thursday

And, of course, just about the first person I ran into in the book room was KAYE BARLEY of Boone, NC. Kaye is a perennial presence on DorothyL- a list serve for readers and writers of mystery -- and she has been a big supporter of Elizabeth Goodweather from the beginning. We'd never met in person but we've exchanged so many emails that I feel I know her.

Then I met up with Sheila Connolly -- author of two mystery series and another email friend -- and we took advantage of sighting Lee Child -- author of the wildly successful Jack Reacher series -- so I could get the two of them in one shot.

Margaret Maron, who was kind enough to blurb IN A DARK SEASON, calling it a 'tale of love and lust,' was hanging out with Barry Zeman, author and authority on the history of the mystery and Bonnie of The Black Orchid Bookstore in NYC.

And there were and will be lots more -- Blogger only lets me put four pictures per post. But when the weekend's over, I'll make a web album

I did make it to an excellent panel called IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE: Telling Lies for a Living (Laurie R. King , whose work I have praised far and wide was one of the panelists).

When it was time for supper, John and I walked down to the Inner Harbor where we had sangria and tapas, sitting outside with a fine view of the USS Constellation (ca. 1854).

It's an early evening for me though -- the panel I'm on is at 8:30 AM tomorrow morning.