Bouchercon 2008, Saturday Oct. 11, Morning sessions
We got up early again to make the 8:30 a.m. panel. I can already tell these early mornings and late nights combined are taking their toll. The function rooms were particularly warm this morning which just made being tired even worse — as exciting and interesting as the panels we sat in this morning were — well, it was just difficult to concentrate and take notes. So, today’s panel descriptions may not be as extensive as they were yesterday. I’ll try to do better this afternoon. I’ve put on a short sleeved shirt, splashed cold water in my face and will have some more caffeine.
Taking Care of Business Panel
8:30 a.m. Taking Care of Business: The business of publishing.
Panelists: Madeira James (moderator), David Hale Smith, Maggie Griffin, Ben LeRoy, Sarah Weinman, and Scott Miller.
This panel was a mix of agents, publishers, a bookstore owner, and a reviewer. They discussed, among other topics, the future of crime fiction. Basically, the technology is changing so fast that it’s difficult to predict where things are going. There is a belief that ebooks will become a bigger part of the culture. Some mentioned an author who yesterday had a person come up and tell him that she was so impressed with his talk on the panel that she’d used her Kindle to buy his books during the panel. The consensus was that storytelling is an important part of our makeup and no matter how much the technology changes there will still be stories to be told and people who want to hear/read/watch those stories.
Each panelist was asked to recommend two books that they thought were exceptional. Unfortunately, not everyone was clear enough to get the title and I sure as heck didn’t get the author names for all of them — so, I’m going to list what I have (I hadn’t read any of the recommended books and I’ll be looking them up but here’s what I got):
- The Art of Breaking Glass by Matthew Hall (Grand Central Publishing)
- Black and White by Lewis Shiner (Subterranean Press)
- The Kind One by Tom Epperson (Five Star Mystery Series)
- author Jonathan Tropper — I didn’t catch the title and he has quite a few books out.
- The Hit by Jere Hoar (NAL Trade)
- Red Jungle is the book title, unfortunately I didn’t catch the author’s name and there are several books of this title that it might be. If you know which one they meant let me know and I’ll change this entry. [NOTE: Thanks to Maggie, I now know the author is Kent Harrington.]
- Land of a Hundred Wonders by Lesley Kagen (NAL Trade)
- Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
- Reed Colman was mentioned but I didn’t get a book title for this author either.
The panelists also said to follow the instructions on the agent’s or publisher’s website/book entry or whatever — exactly. Don’t deviate from what they ask for. Follow the guidelines (this has come up on many panels so take it to heart). Use the agent’s/publisher’s name — make sure to get it right. Don’t over hype your book. Be business like in your query letter and compare it to other books they’ve published or that they’ve represented. Do your homework.
Smooth Criminal panel
10:00 a.m. Smooth Criminal: Making the bad guys likable.
Panelists: Sandra Ruttan (moderator), Craig McDonald, F. Paul Wilson, Blake Crouch, and Brett Battles.
There was general agreement that if the bad guy had a code, readers could more readily accept him/her. You don’t necessarily need to agree with the code of behavior, or understand it, but if they bad guy has one, they become more human. The difference between a bad guy and an evil guy is the code they follow.
Another phrase that stood out to me: A hero is only as ‘good’ as the villain the hero is up against. It seems that lately the hero is getting darker as the opponent is getting darker. In real life we’re all shades of grey and in books, it is the shades of grey that add interest to the characters.
Psycho Killer panel
11:30 a.m. Psycho Killer: Why…so fascinated by serial killers?
Panelists: Brian Lindesmith (moderator), Alan Jacobson, Mark Billingham, Jonathan Hayes, and Michelle Gagnon.
People/readers can understand killing for money or in passion — they may not think it justified, but they can understand how it happens. However, serial killers usually stalk and kill total strangers for reasons that are totally unknown, and usually unknowable — which makes them fascinating.
The serial killer is not motiveless, it just isn’t a motive that most of us would understand — at the core the motive usually reduces to a sexual one. Female serial killers are very rare — the audience of mostly women (about 75%) seemed to think it was because they seldom get caught, other than the black widow type killers
The problem of writing about serial killers is that the victims and their families usually get lost in the story as the bodies mount up. They come on for a paragraph or two for set up and then end up on a slab. The victims should make more of a connection to the readers since they are victims and the serial killer is NOT a hero or even an anti-hero. The victims are important because they’ve lost their lives. Compassion for the victims and their families is very important.
And no panel on serial killers seems to end without a mention of Dexter. Dexter is a serial killer who goes after those people who got away with their crimes. He represents vigilante justice which has a long history in the US and most people have mixed feelings about. Dexter taps into those mixed feelings — after all, he only kills bad guys.
It was an interesting discussion and issues were raised that are worth thinking about.
After the panel, we broke for lunch. But first, we took another turn through the Dealers’ Room. I was looking to pick up a few books that were mentioned in the panels and check out the authors that we’d just heard from but didn’t find what I’d been looking for. (Hmmmm. Maybe I need a Kindle. Actually, I probably do but I’m waiting for the second generation and the features that I want in an ebook reader.)
I just noticed we’re already missing the first panel of the afternoon. Usually lunch break has been an hour and a half and today — surprise — it’s only an hour and I didn’t pay attention. a definite sign of too little coffee in the blood stream.
[Hyperion: Or in my case as of late, too much blood in my caffeine stream]