Kim Hammond is here to talk about why she's excited about attending Bouchercon, the world's largest mystery
convention. Kim and I love Bouchercon so much that she is on the national board and I am on the committee for this years' con. So you can bet this won't be the last you hear about the conference in the coming months.
I am a mystery/thriller genre fan. Some may even say a mystery book geek. I only read in the mystery genre and I consider attending a book signing a great evening out. I look forward to mystery conferences like Bouchercon, and I’ve attended Left Coast Crime, Thrillerfest and Sleuthfest. There are many others on my bucket list.
Bouchercon is one of my favorite conventions and one of the reasons is its sheer size. It is the largest fan based mystery convention in the world and typically there’s 450-500 authors attending every year. It’s four fun-filled days of panels, buying books, getting said books autographed, seeing old friends, making new ones, meeting iconic authors… you get the picture.
Imagine meeting Harlan Coben (Bouchercon 2009 in Indianapolis) and discussing Myron Bolitar, or sitting in a hotel bar having a drink with Lee Child and talking about why he wanted to write books. I’ve also met greats like Linda Fairstein, Karin Slaughter, Michael Connelly, Sara Paretksy, Mary Higgins Clark, and many more. These are memories that I cherish dearly. I have a fabulous collection of autographed books in my home library and I will continue to collect more, although I may need to add some new bookshelves soon.
There’s also a fabulous charity auction at every Bouchercon. You have the opportunity to be a character in a book, win a fabulous basket loaded with books, and many more tempting items. I’ve won a happy hour with Barry Eisler, a character naming in two of Chris Grabenstein’s books, and my friend won 3 days at a Daytona Beach summer house owned by Julie Compton. I cannot wait to see what is in store this year in Long Beach.
One of my favorite parts about these mystery conferences is the friends I’ve made. You share a kinship with the people you meet, all there for the same love of books and mysteries. I am friends with some fabulous ladies I met almost ten years ago and we get together at these conferences whenever we can. We may not see each other but for once a year, but it’s precious time for us to catch up, laugh, talk about good books and stalk authors (we’re getting really good at it). So if you love reading mysteries like I do, I recommend coming to Bouchercon in Long Beach in November. It’s going to be a wonderful time, and maybe we’ll even teach you some stalking tricks!
I'm excited for the convention as well! Thanks for a great post.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be a blast.
ReplyDeleteI'm going as long as I can avoid that weird-looking drunk guy in that first photo.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he's a bit crazy.
Delete