Sometimes, real life intrudes upon Bouchercon - things like jobs and families get in the way of our folderol and shenanigans. We had planned for Ace Atkins to interview our Toastmaster, Eddie Muller, during a one-on-one session, however family commitments are preventing Ace from joining the party.
But! Clouds really do have silver linings....
.......because the Fabulous and Wonderful Jacqueline Winspear will now be joining Eddie for our very first Spotlight session on Thursday afternoon.
Can you guess who's doing the happy dance right now?
Yeah, I'm being serious for a minute, but don't worry. It won't last long.
When people ask what it takes to chair a Bouchercon, I usually say something to the effect of "it takes a strong opinion about how Bouchercon ought to be run, and what you want to see in a Bouchercon". But that's just dissembling, prevaricating. Hell with it, it's lying.
It takes passion. Plain and simple. If you're not passionate about it, you're not going to be willing to put in the hard work, and take the knocks, that come along with the job. The rewards are huge, and entirely worth the aggravation and the panic and the long hours.
What rewards, you ask? Well, they're certainly not financial, the little cadre of volunteers who work to make Bouchercon special get absolutely no money from this thing, in fact, a number of them sacrifice money as well as time to make it all work.
The rewards feel something like this.......
And look something like this.....
...and this....
...and this....
While I'm passionate about every single moment of Bouchercon by the Bay being chock-full of fabulosity, there are two things that really get me going to the point of, well, climbing up on my soapbox: one is that all the newbies get treated especially well by all of us.
The other is, yup, you guessed it; the program. The panels. It's the hardest part of organizing Bouchercon, in my opinion, and causes the highest rate of upset amongst people who want to be part of the program; and the highest rate of upset stomachs amongst those trying to accommodate them.
By far the most emphatic and consistent request I've heard since I was given the honor of chairing Bouchercon (and I'm not kidding - it truly is an honor) is "please do something to refresh the panels - do something innovative". So, we are. We'll have Traditional Panels, and our salon-type Continuous Conversation, and our 20-on-the-20 spots. As I've said all along, our goal with the panel programming is to provide as many opportunities as possible for fun, informative, and entertaining interaction between readers and writers.
And, happily, when we sent out our panel questionnaires, most of you told us that you were happy to participate in all three types of programming. So, we're taking you at your word, and your program assignment will be based on what you've offered to do, but also on where we think you'll shine the brightest, and how the program topics are organized.
Bottom line is, we appreciate that you're coming to San Francisco, and I really appreciate that you're willing to try some new things, and I'm super excited to see how it all works out.
OK, off the soapbox now.....
...and back to our regularly scheduled foolishment..... some nitwits have decided that they should remake The Rockford Files. OMGWTF. That is soooo not fabulous. There is one, and only one James Garner, and Rockford begins and ends with him. Here's are a couple reminders of why some classics should just be left alone.....
The topical one (30 years later).......
The "Jim Rockford is just so darned cool" one.....
First, can I just say, get a load of the guest stars on that clip.....utterly faboo.
Why am I posting videos of ancient smarm-fests, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. We have finally figured out a way to make bay cruises available for Bouchercon attendees.
Here's how it works: on Friday and Saturday evening (the 15th and 16th) at 6:00 p.m. there's a lovely Red & White Fleet Sunset Cruise. It will include music, decent snacks - enough to call it dinner - and a nice trip around the Bay that'll get you back in plenty of time for either the Reacher Creature party on Friday night, or our Disco Dance on Saturday night. The standard cost is $54 per person, but we've been given a $4 per person discount code. It's BCON (big surprise ;-)
So, if you're interested, go to this website, click the "Book Online" medallion in the middle of the page, and it'll take you to the reservation form.
You should know that these cruises are open to the public - that's how we were able to get such a low price. (I know, fifty bucks is not cheap - you should've seen the quotes from the private charter people - yeesh.) However, The Public doesn't get our discount, so I figure if enough of us go on the cruises, we can just sort of overwhelm Those Other People. Sorta like this guy....
In Other News
We're working on the panel schedule.....
For those of you who are interested in these things: we finalize the program in bits and pieces, so when your pal emails you to tell you they heard from us, it doesn't mean the schedule has been etched in stone, and you aren't on a panel.
Far from it. It simply means that one out of a zillion pieces of the Bouchercon program has been finalized. So, be patient, resist the urge to email us about your panel (we're already wearing our Cranky Pants), and we'll be in touch the moment we have information for you. Really. We promise.
And if you're wondering about the relevance of this video, well a) I like it, and b) Boom Boom Pow is what my head is doing right about now ;-)
...having absolutely nothing to do with February 14th, and everything to do with Noir...
Several of you have asked me about our Black Envelope event, The Litanies of Noir. Here's the deal. Starting on the Tuesday before Bouchercon, if you go to City Lights Books (at 261 Columbus Avenue)......
........and ask at the front counter for a Black Envelope, the nice people will give you one. Inside it will be directions to a Secret and Mysterious Location.
On Thursday night, at 9:00 (after our Opening Ceremonies and the lovely William Morrow-sponsored reception) the Fun will begin. There will be readings, and treats, and live music, and oh, boy.....
The number of black envelopes is limited, so be sure to make some time to stroll up to North Beach and grab one.
And here's a little coolness for Friday night.....
I know, I know. Bouchercon is a fan convention. I get it, really I do. I'm a fan, and I'm grateful for our convention's consistent focus on ensuring that readers will have a good time.
But. Were it not for the agents, editors, writers, and publishers (all of whom, by the way are fans just like us) we'd have no mystery books to read, and no reason to have a convention.
In particular, publishers are the people who bring together writers, agents, editors, copy editors, book sellers, distributors, and wood by-product to produce items like this.....
...and this....
Which result in fabulousness like this....
and this.....
And publishers are great Friends of Bouchercon. They send us books for your book bags, they make sure their writers get here (and feed their writers drinks and snacks. One thing I've learned: a well-fed writer is a happy writer ;-)
So I'm very pleased that some of our Publisher friends are going to be exhibiting in our Book Room, and sponsoring parts of our program.
In other news......
Why, you ask, have I posted a clip of Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers? Well, first, it's dangerous to give me a blog ;-) But second, as you're making your Bouchercon travel plans, you should know that the 49ers are playing at home on Sunday afternoon the 17th. Not only are they playing at home, they're playing these guys....
Which means that Sunday afternoon traffic is...well, it's gonna suck.
We strongly recommend that you consider taking BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from the Hyatt Regency to the airport. It takes about 35 - 40 minutes to get from the Hyatt (Embarcadero Station) to SFO, and about 25 - 30 minutes to get from the Hyatt to the Oakland Airport station (after which you take a shuttle to the terminal, so give yourself extra time). It's reliable, inexpensive, and will help you avoid these folks....
