Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hi. Welcome back to Secrets and Lies, a Storytellers podcast. Carolyn, here I am about to do my Boucher Con summary for you, the rundown of what happened at the World Mystery convention this year. I know I posted some video on our facebook page and I did a piece about the debut authors there, but I wanted to give you guys a little bit more of a picture of what actually happens at about Con and how I found this one to be a little different from some of the previous conventions I have been to in the past.
[00:00:40] All right, first of all, the big difference here is that this was actually the first boucher con where I was invited to be on a panel. So I was super excited about that, even though my panel happened to be on Sunday morning very, very early, which is the last day of the convention and the morning after the biggest party following the Anthony Awards and the other awards that are given out. So. But I don't want to make that sound like I'm griping. I am grateful. I had a really good time. I'll tell you more about my panel in just a minute.
[00:01:15] There were a couple things. I'm going to start with the things that bum me out a little bit, and then we're going to talk about all the good stuff. So I was a little bit bummed because, you know, super psyched. I'm going to be on a panel. I check in, I get my bag. I posted a video of getting my bag and going through all the stuff that's in a bag. That's always fun and collecting all my free books in the book room and all that stuff.
[00:01:38] But I was flipping through the program and my author bio is not in it and neither is my photo, even though they asked for those things. And those things were sentence, I was bummed about that.
[00:01:58] And also, there was a weird thing at the last minute with the books, the bookstore that was supposed to carry the author books, like, I don't know what happened. They weren't available or weren't coming. And another group stepped in to take care of that. And not all of the authors in attendance had their books available for other people to buy so that there would be something for there to do a signing. The stock gap was that you could bring a stack of your books and sell them on consignment, and there was going to be somebody there to help you do that. I ordered books so that I would have those to do that should the need arise. And they arrived the day after I left to go to Nashville.
[00:02:46] Welcome to my life. All right, so, yeah, so that bummed me out. And then a minor thing that bummed me out about this boucher con, more so than ones in the past, although it's a kind of a longstanding, I don't know, annoyance isn't the right word.
[00:03:08] Disappointment is that in the bookstore, the book room, they do have books. They do have books by the. Some of the attendees. They do have classic mystery novels and thriller novels, some classic mystery paraphernalia, like movie posters and some things, and some out of print books. I, in a moment of weakness, bought for Rex Stouten, books that are long out of print, that are not Nero wolf stories. So four wrecked stout non nero wolf stories, which I'm excited to read, frankly. But the point is here is that they didn't have anything. They didn't really have anything else. And this is an audience of people who love, love, love the funny mystery or writer merch. They love it. I wore an unreliable narrator shirt on, I don't know, day three or something, and probably 65 people asked me about it or said, hey, I love your shirt, or, that's really cool, or whatever. If they had had those in the book room, they'd have sold out, but they didn't, so. And I can remember in Boucher Khan's past wearing my crime scene scarf and people freaking out and asking me where I got it. It turns out you can't find those anymore, which is a bummer, because for a while, I had an extra one, and I think I gave it away to somebody or something. But anyway, you can't get them anymore, which makes me that much happier that I actually have one. Anyway, lots of cool mystery type things, and so when I would see somebody with something I thought was cool, I would talk to them about it. And, you know, it's both a great way to meet people there and also a great way to figure out where you can find these things that are, you know, pretty awesome that you might want to have in your writing room or whatever. But I'm going to come back to the merchandise thing in a little bit, but let's move on to the things that are awesome. Okay. So things that I found to just thrill me. I met so many people, their fans and other writers, and especially lots and lots of debut writers, which is really cool because they're super excited. They got their first book published, and, you know, you know how it is. They worked really hard, and they're getting a little bit of recognition, but they are one of, I mean, many, many, many, many writers at this convention, most of whom are far more established. So Boucher Khan does this cool thing where they did a debut writer's breakfast or panel, and these writers got to stand up and tell us a little bit about themselves in their book. Very short, but they, you know, they got through, I don't know, like, 35 of them. I did do a previous recording, and I actually listed them all, so please check that out. These people are and would love, love, love it if you picked up their book. I happen to grab, I don't know, half a dozen or so from this group, so I'm excited to read those.
[00:06:43] The hotel we were at, the Gaylord in Nashville, and I have been to two other Gaylord hotels before. The one in Maryland, down by Washington, DC, and the one in Orlando. And this thing in Nashville is the biggest hotel I have ever been in in my life. So much so I was getting between ten and 12,000 steps a day just walking from my room to where the panels were and everything without leaving the building. So once I checked in, I didn't have to go outside again until it was time to go home.
[00:07:24] It's very beautiful. It's ridiculously confusing. Harlan Coben made a joke about it being the world's largest terrarium and that he was pretty sure it was spinning.
[00:07:34] I can see how, yeah, you get that feeling. I got lost many times.
[00:07:42] But they give you an app, and you can plug in on your phone where you want to go, and just, like, waze. It will give you directions and tell you where to go to get from point a to point b. And it is going to involve going up and down a bunch of stairs. Even if the place you're going is on the same level that you're on, you're still going to have to go up and down stairs to get from point a to point b. So wacky, but beautiful, and lots of different restaurants and bars and lots of indoor green space.
[00:08:15] And as it happens, my room had a little balcony with a couple of little chairs and a table, and it overlooked the interior, one of the interior gardens. It has waterfalls and trees and plants, and it's really just so nice because I think it was, like, 105 outside or something insane. And I get to open up the doors to my hotel room into this space, and it was nice and cool, and you could hear running water, and I could spy the gelato shop from my balcony. So it was all good.
[00:08:54] So that was really great.
[00:08:56] The key thing, and I think maybe the thing that most first time attendees at Vouchercon remember, is that you get a massive amount of books. I mean, the very first thing that happens when you check in is they give you your little name badge, and then you take that little name badge over to the window, they give you a canvas tote. And again, I showed you a video about this and some tickets, and you take the tickets into the book bazaar, and you get to pick any four books that you want from all of the books that are there. You get to pick four free books for your bag.
[00:09:39] I have discovered so many great writers this way who I had not read before. I attended Bouchercon, and I got my bag of free books way, way back in the day. You didn't actually get to pick them. You just got like a random bag full of books. But it was like Christmas. You open it up and you see what you've got. And anyway, it's usually a nice mix of new writers and more established writers. So, I mean, I found writers like Laura Lippmann and Harlan Coben and Alafair Burke, and just tons more Alexandria Sokoloff.
[00:10:23] Lots of, lots of really great books from going to a bachelor con, not knowing anything about them in advance, and either seeing them on a panel and thinking they were really funny or really interesting or both and picking up their book, or because their book was gifted to me in the book bag that you get when you get there.
[00:10:46] So that was really, really cool. I came back, I drove over to Nashville from North Carolina, so I didn't have to worry about trying to, like, ship things back or fit them in suitcases or whatever. So I came back with two boxes of books. Two full boxes of books. Yep. So I have plenty to read this fall. I'm thrilled. All right.
[00:11:10] I mentioned before that this bachelor con seemed to be a little bit different than some of the Bautcha cons I had been to in the past.
[00:11:18] There were some things that were similar. Like they still have panels with, you know, people, authors talking about how they come up with their bad guys and how important setting is. And, you know, the difference between thriller and mystery. This particular boucher con had a way heavier slant on cozy mysteries. There were a lot more cozy mysteries at this boucher con than I remember in previous ones that I've attended. And I haven't attended all of them. And I haven't attended, I mean, I've been to, I don't know, maybe seven or eight, and they, not consecutively. So I have missed some years, but I don't remember there being quite such a focus on cozy mysteries as there was in this one. Totally fine with me. My last published story actually was cozy, but so that was a little bit of a shift. The other thing that used to be the super popular panels were things like, you know, how to land an agent and ten things your editor wish you knew or whatever. But that whole process of finding somebody to publish you used to be much bigger than it was in this case. In this case, there were tons and tons of panels on independent publishing.
[00:12:48] I think a lot of successful independent writers there, and lots and lots of panels on doing your own publicity and marketing your book and creating your brand and the importance of having a website and, you know, all of those, all of those things. And it was really great, actually, to sit in a panel, even for those of us who I've not published my novel, but I, I've published a number of short stories and I've published a collection of short stories, and it really is up to you to do your own publicity and get the word out somehow. So hearing from professionals about where the good spend is and what it's like to do something like Facebook ads or Amazon ads was super helpful.
[00:13:46] There was no discussion at all, really, about querying agents anymore. And I just remember that being such a big part of prior panels.
[00:13:58] The other thing that was new for me this time is there seemed to be much greater attention paid to short story mystery, short story writers, which was great news, great news for me, because my published mysteries right now are short stories.
[00:14:23] I don't really remember it being as much of a focus in prior Boucher Cons, but like I said, I was thrilled because I got to meet other short story mystery writers. Lots of discussion about places that are continually looking for new content.
[00:14:47] There are, of course, those places where they are getting so much content, potential content from people that they just don't have time to look at what it is that you send. But so many more potential avenues, including other upcoming Boucher Con anthologies.
[00:15:07] I had submitted a story for this year's Boucher Khan anthology, which didn't make it in, but I may find a new home for that story. And certainly the experience didn't turn me off trying to get into a future anthology.
[00:15:25] I know that the next Boucher con is in New Orleans, and I do believe they said that it was an unthemeden call. So like, obviously Nashville had a music theme, but the one in New Orleans I don't believe does. And the editor for that upcoming anthology was on panels and was definitely encouraging people to send in their work. I think the deadline for that anthology is November 1, but check the website for sure. That would be Badgercon 2025.
[00:16:04] Okay, so before we move on from the anthology business, one thing that was weird, and I thought it was weird, and other people who were there thought it was weird too. Is that the category for the Anthony's for short story collections is also where short story anthologies are nominated. It's the same category. So you may have a writer who has a collection published of their own short stories, and that's going to compete against probably the prior Boucher Kahn's themed anthology.
[00:16:54] And the voting happens by the people who are attending Bouchercon. So you're getting, you know, a single author who is competing against a suite of a bunch of authors, you know, who were all on panels and had attended the prior year's boucher con. It really just doesn't seem fair.
[00:17:19] And again, I believe that the prior year's anthology is the one that won this year as well. So anyway, just a note, it'd be cool if short story collections were a separate category from mystery anthologies or short story anthologies. So the difference being, for my non writer friends, is what is a collection of stories all by the same authorization? The other is a collection of stories all by different authors, usually on a theme. Other highlights.
[00:17:55] Rachel Housel hall was the toastmaster this year, and I will be honest, I had not heard of her prior to this Boucher Con. But that's what I love about it. I love about Boucher Con. You get to learn about new people and find new things. She was hilarious. So does that make me want to read her book? Yes, it does.
[00:18:15] And there was a write up I saw for what fire brings, which is her book. I have ordered it. It will arrive tomorrow and I will let you know what I think. But it sounds awesome. So check that out.
[00:18:30] I already mentioned the debut author breakfast and how much fun that was. And when we went in there, you know, the crowd, we all picked a table and sat at a table, and there was one debut author at each table and so we could get to talk to them. If you want more information about the new authors that had books coming out either earlier this year or later this year, I listed them on the secrets and lies Facebook page, so that'll make it easier for you to see the entire list. And I talked about them in the previous episode.
[00:19:14] Also, Clay Stafford was one of the many guests of honor. So he was on several panels and they did a separate interview with him, as they do with all of the guests of honor. And if you're not familiar with that name, he runs a writing conference just, I believe it's just south of Nashville called Killer Nashville. And the more I heard about it, I had heard of Killer Nashville before, but the more I heard about it at Bouchercon, the more convinced I was that this is a really cool convention to attend or conference to attend.
[00:19:52] He seems to really care about helping people make the best version of their book that they can and help them towards publication.
[00:20:03] It just seemed. It just seemed really great. So I'm pretty sure I'm penciling that in for next year, and I will let you know how that goes for me. Also, I stalked Barb Goffman, who is pretty much the queen of the mystery short story lately, and I got to chat with her. She was very kind.
[00:20:26] So that was really awesome. It makes me want to write more mystery short stories and get them out in the world. So I was really excited about that.
[00:20:37] Also, I mentioned before that this was the first time I was gonna sit on a mystery panel and talk to fans and other writers about, in this case, cozy mysteries.
[00:20:51] It was really fun.
[00:20:54] Sarah Glenn was our moderator, and I got to sit in between Emma's Green, who is a former theater kid who wrote a mystery about the world of theater. And I just know all of my ex Disney, my Disney peeps, all theater kids, all hoping to make it big, especially all of you folks who are at the great movie ride other places around the Disney MGM studios who did all that extra work and production work and everything that was happening at the studios or around central Florida.
[00:21:35] This book is for you. So. And then I also got to meet Kim Keyline, who was filling in for someone who couldn't make it there. And she's just a fascinating, gracious lady who apparently knows how to operate a steam locomotive.
[00:21:55] I don't know.
[00:21:57] So it was really fun to be able to sit with them and chat with people in the audience about love of the genre, about how we create things about the writing community. And I just appreciate them so much because as I said before, it was 08:00 in the morning on Sunday. I was working my way through coffee and trying my best to be the funny one there. So wrapping up Harlan Coben, as I mentioned before, is one of the guests of honor. I think he was called the distinguished guest of honor.
[00:22:38] He has a ton of books. I discovered him through a prior Boucher Con and a free book, a book that I didn't know anything about. And as it turned out, it was the first, a three book like young adult string that he put out, which is now a series on, I don't know, it's on Primer on Netflix called Shelter.
[00:23:03] That's really good. And it hooked me enough that I bought the next two books in that group. And it involves the nephew of Myron Bolitar, which is his most well known series character. And that drew me, actually, to go back and find the Myron Boletar books, and they're amazing. So definitely check that out. He also has a bunch of standalones, and a lot of those standalones are being made into Netflix movies or prime series or whatever. So he's all over the place.
[00:23:41] Anyway, his, he was interviewed by Alafair Burke, another writer I met at a prior Boucher con, and got introduced to her books. She writes interesting thrillers.
[00:23:52] They're just good. So I had nabbed a new one while I was there, a Boucher con. And I'll get around to reading that. My to be read pile is just absurd now. Yeah, meeting authors and finding new favorites is the best thing about Boucher Khan. It is what will keep me going back. It's so much fun.
[00:24:12] You just don't know what's gonna happen.
[00:24:16] I happen to have picked a panel, and I was sitting in the audience like everybody else, and the moderator was introducing herself, and it turns out that she lives near me, and also, she was wearing the coolest sweater I've ever seen. It was like a black cardigan sweater, but had a little skeleton on it. Did I mention my whole obsession with the merch? So two things happened. One, while they were talking, I was googling where I could get my hands on that sweater, and I ordered it. But while the panel was happening, and I went up there after the panel was over, and I said hello, and we talked for a few minutes, and we're practically neighbors, so I'm super excited to get to know her a little better. And as I was talking with her, another person from the audience rushed up and was also asking her where she got her sweater. And she. And she told her. Torrid, by the way, for those of you who were wondering.
[00:25:15] Which leads me to the search for all of the cool stuff that I wish I could have bought and packed in my car to come back here with.
[00:25:25] What I did when I got back is that I actually started looking up these cool things that I wish had been there, and I made a collection of links where all of you lovely people can find these things that are awesome. And if they're not awesome for you, they're awesome for somebody on your Christmas list, for sure. Because every single thing on this list is something that I think would be awesome. And, you know, for me, anyway, I put them in a group and I made a blog post about it and that there's a link to that blog post with all of this stuff, our Facebook page as well, so you can check it out. I only got about a third of the way through, so I'll be having like a part two and part three, I think, of that list. So you can check back if there is something you're looking for. So either for the pre Halloween spooky set or if you just have book loving friends and you think, you know, you're looking for something interesting to get them for Christmas or birthdays or whatever, that is not just a book.
[00:26:42] Lots and lots of really fun, cool things. Anyway, to wrap this up, I always leave Boucher Khan feeling like, really excited about what I've learned and who I've met. And it gets me really enthusiastic about coming back home and getting to work and figuring out my writing plan, you know, for the next six months or so and getting on it. And for that, I thank them. I thank the writers that I met and the writing fans and, and everybody for help kind of contributing to that inspiration and that drive to keep going and keep putting things out there. So that will do it for this episode. Watch the secrets and lies Facebook page for further updates or links to things that I've talked about. I will drop them there. If you have any questions or there's something you want to hear more about or share with me, definitely post that in the comments on the Facebook page and I will get back to you. All right, thanks, everyone. We will talk to you next time.
