Yes, it always takes a while to recover from a conference: luckily I had a visit to Brigadoon to ease me into it. The net effect of a big conference like Bouchercon is to remind me that I am a very tiny minnow swimming in an enormous ocean. On the bad days, that’s discouraging. On the good days, it brings out my competitiveness. So it goes. I got to meet a lot of folks I’ve known online forever and hang with some folks I don’t see much.
There’s more — once I can clear out the Dropbox enough to get the rest of the photos downloaded, like the Noir at the Bar reading. I was really glad to meet up with folks like Les Edgerton, Thomas Pluck, Vince Zandri, Helen Smith, Terrence McCauley and Rita, to see the mighty Joe Lansdale — and of course Debi and Jan were great to hang out with, especially in the quieter moments. Best panel, hands down — bad girls (of course). Ooh, and there should be a group photo of the Mavens of Mayhem dressed in the QoE‘s logo.
Perhaps someone took pictures of my panel…oh, wait. There is this one just after, but it’s missing Les.
K. A. Laity 
Yowza! I turn to a Kate Laity blog post — because, Hey — it’s a Kate Laity wry well written blog post and she usually does this photo-montage thing when she adventures swell. Well Damn — there I am — not so much drink-thirsty as quenched in spirit of great folks goofin’ up one splendour of a good time (I too am uploading photos today — Folks, you ain’t seen nuttin’ til you see Kate Laity stretched out on her usual antique chaise lounge — she carries it with her everywhere. Wreaks havoc with the airlines – but we all know our Kate – she’s such a sweet-talker. Watch for it!
Lady Laity captured mood and muse and constant movement (cue the wind tunnel) right on target, down to the where-the-heck-are-folks-going-to-be-drinking-tonight-and-how-will-I-know-if-I-found-them-or-missed-them? Yeah. It happens — but when it does, you never get caught in the same wind tunnel of missed opps — author and publishing and readers’folk there were just too damn cool to not want to be hangin’ with. (I took a Scarlett O’Hara early evening half-hour chill @ the Hampton, just to recharge for hitting the nights fantastic into how we closed up the only lively streets rockin’ Albanistic nights.
TAKE A CLOSE LOOK at the photo where Kate placed 3 of her WEIRD NOIR cards — I went by that hallway to the panel rooms (great stuff jostling and jivin’ minds there) tons of times — when I caught her moxie at ‘appropriating’ the silver shelf space for ‘shelf-self-promotion’ a card was added. Yep. Mine. To the left — that brown and gold wonder is a genuine Absolutely*Kate promo card. Y’know – you pack a bunch of those things — thinkin’ you’re going to meet people you care to admire and those you just found you did who likewise wanta know more about the likes of you and your works — and then you look at the stack going into your 2nd suitcase (the one that goes in loading the little refrig and goes out loaded with books) — and you think you’ve got too much. Shucks, Kate Laity’s a pro at this — she was locked and loaded. As a rookie — I was runnin’ low after several hundred by Saturday morn.
<b.Final frame — the "Where's Les?" at Kate’s rockin’ panel of hotshots? He found fans. Not even a promo-opp would pull Les from fans. The guy was waxin’ more eloquent than . . . well, the Barry Manilow tunes he kept hummin’ — Ask him. G’head — I dare you. (Uh, I wasn’t actually ‘on’ the panel — but pulled in assistant to the Attorney General of the state of NY to take a pic and — doggone it, I love those guys — so I jumped into the flair (flare???) of their fray. Thanks Todd Monahan – writing student by no-such-thing-as-a-coincidence of Les Edgerton’s in Albany.
Small world?
Big times when you’re hangin’ with Kate Laity and cool’ass company. Grateful Kate-full I am.
~ Absolutely
Rats! I missed Mollie Cox Bryan — found Jan Kozlowski and Chris Irvin pretty dang cool and sat with Hank Phillipi Ryan at the Private Eye Writers’ Shamus Awards Banquet — It’s the people who make your Boucherconnoitering all its cracked up to be. You’ll see. (Missin’ debonair Jack Getze, wild Frank DeBase and Eeyore Josh Stallings big time.) Ask him — I dare you.
Heh. I think the most ego-deflating portion of the weekend was having to say over and over again, “No, I’m the other Kate.”
😉
You? Ego-deflated? Never happen — You’re my author-heroine across mere continents, Lady Laity. Best hug of Boucherconnoitering meet-ups fer sure.
~ Absolutely*Honoured
Both of my favorite Kates in the world together! Doesn’t get any better than this!
Awwww!
“Ahhhh”