Well, Chicago Bouchercon 2005 is over.
I’ve unloaded the truck, my dining room table is covered with books, a big pile of laundry is taunting me. I’m tired, but not wasted tired. I do think I’ll be sleeping in….
So, let’s try to recap the highlights:
I got to meet a bunch of new people, Ray Banks, and the Lovely Mrs. Banks, Anthony Rainone, Duane Swierczynski, David “World’s Greatest Moderator” Montgomery, Russel McLean, Dusty Rhoades and his wife Lynn, Kathy Daneman of SOHO Press, Danielle Bartlett of Harper Collins, Linda McFall of St. Martins, Andrew Gulli of the Strand Magazine, Colin Campbell, Annette and Martin Meyers, Cornelia Read, Brian Freeman, Joseph Finder, Todd Robinson of Thuglit.com, Simon Wood, Christopher Rice….. It goes on and on. Loads of great people I hope to see more of. Bouchercon being the way it is, I seldom get to spend the amount of time with people that I would like to.
Lots of old friends, too numerous to mention.
Kent Krueger won best novel Anthony Award, well deserved and it about time.
Bowling…. Lots of Bowling…… I may not be consistant enough to win, or even be considered good, but I am a very fast bowler. 17.5 MPH……
Lots of good food. A number of very nice breakfasts.
I had my fanboy moment when I met Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini. Wonderful writers, wonderful people.
Barry Eisler is funny as hell, as is Blake Crouch.
Gregg Hurwitz is very cool.
Zoe Sharp is going to be a superstar.
Simon Kernick is going to be big.
The auction item we donated went for $750. Joe Konrath did great job with the auction.
Barbara Seranella is my idol. She wa signing books and handing out onions that had a note attached that said,”Please enjoy this onion, I’m keeping the liver”
Reed Coleman is too cool to put into words.
I saw Anthony Neal Smith smile, more than once. And the PLOTS WITH GUNS anthology looks great!
The s\Shamus Awards were amazing fun. Christine Matthews did a spectacular job. And Ken Bruen’s intro speech for best novel was great.
Did I mention Bowling? We went twice….
We bought many Dennis McMillan books. Monkology rocks.
The whole convention had a mellow, groovy vibe. The hotel was perfect. And lots to do near by.
Ayo Onatade is one of my favorite people, and so is Sean Chercover. They have both been made honorary Jordans.
Our party was a bit better than we expected. The waitress told us we had over 450 people show up. It started just fine, a few people started walking in, I was able to say hello to everyone, and little by little the place filled up. Before long I couldn’t get across the room. Chaos, though controlled , ensued….
We did manage to quiet the crowd long enough to give out our awards.
Jack Reacher book of the year went to Lee Child for THE ENEMY
Favorite Book of 2004 wa Scott Phillips
Contributer of the Year went to Ayo Onatade.
Next year we hope to have five….
My wife Ruth moderated her first panel at the Big Show. It went well, she ran out of time before she ran out of questions..
My panel was fun, though I thought I got a bit fanboyish while talking about George Chesbro.
Jerry Healy rocks.
David Morrel rocks.
I best stop now, it’s asll blurring together…… It was great.
I’m with you, there just wasn’t enough time to spend with all the people you wanted to. This is the first Bcon that I’ve really felt this way. I think its a combination of the way things were set up and the fact that I now know a whole lot more people.
Zoe Sharp is so cool, Simon Kernick is a sweetie, and Russel McLean is a lot of fun to hang out with.
Ken is the ultimate gentleman, although Jim Fussili is giving him a run for his money.
Barbara offered to show me her scar. But seeing as how we were in the signing room, I figured it was best not to accept. She is absolutely amazing.
As you say, Reed is just too cool for words. And he’s such a nice, caring guy.
And there are no words to describe how great Ayo is.
Reed cheats at basketball, but that just makes him more interesting, dunnit? He’s also a helluva good guy.
Jon, the party was a blast. (Yes, I’m abusing that term a lot.)
Jon, it was such a pleasure to meet you and Ruth at the Reacher party… you guys are wonderful! I came home and told my husband, “Dude… I met the CRIMESPREE people!”
He wasn’t jealous until then. Totally bummed him out.
Heh.
It was great to meet you, and I’m another one who just couldn’t figure out how to add enough hours in the day to do everything I wanted to do, and see everyone I wanted to see. My plan for next year is to not sleep 😉
(and the party on Thursday rocked!)
As a “too numerous to mention” I must say that I could not have had a better time or been more impressed by all of you – Jon, Ruth, Jen, Mary, and the entire Crimespree junta.
Big Thanks.
Jon and Ruth — belated thanks for a really excellent party, and I’m still relishing the thrill of picking up a copy of AMONG THE DEAD for free. Ruth also deserves bonus points for being a really, really good sport at the Shamus dinner… are there pictures of that anywhere?
Clair
Clair,
There was one picture, and Ruth took great pleasure in destroying it.
The bit on stage is now referred to as
” That of which we do not speak”…
It was really great to meet so many people at the convention this year.
And wait till next year’s party that we are planning in Madison!
JJ
Ruth and Jon are the best hosts one could ever have or want. I am so pleased that they made me an honorary Jordan. They both rock and made my first B’Con memorable. Getting the award was a blast and a shock. Sean was a delight and meeting so many of my favourite author’s made my trip even better than I expected. Ken Bruen is cool, and really nice. I have pictures to prove it. The Crimespree party was the best.