More News from LCC

It's day three of Left Coast Crime and only one day to go. Since I didn't talk about yesterday's panels yesterday, I will today - in brief.

My first panel of the day (I slept late and didn't attend the actual first set of the day) was called Dicks with Baggage; The Modern PI. It was pretty interesting. There are a certain set of guidelines that originated with the classic PI novel that are still followed today in regards to characterization and motivation. Most authors today have put a more modern twist on this whether the character be a woman, someone who is more technologically savvy, or some other approach. Panelists including Lori Armstrong, Parnell Hall, James Mitchell, and Anthony Bidulka.

My second panel of the day was Sex and Violence. Panelists Tasha Alexander, Marcus Sakey, Bill Cameron, David Corbett and Eric Stone. This was a pretty funny panel. It seemed that the authors all agreed that there can never be too much of either sex or violence in a book, and no real line that shouldn't be crossed, as long as it had a purpose in the story. Questions were posed in an attempt to make David Corbett blush and the winner was the man who suggested that Tasha Alexander read the sex scene from Corbett's book aloud to the audience - she read one paragraph and that was certainly enough to do it.

Next up was Shaken, Stirred, and Blended: Sleuths That Cross Genre Lines. Jeanne Stein, Lee Killough, Kat Richardson, and Margaret Lucke discussed their mysteries, each of which have a paranormal twist to them. Urban fantasy was more than mentioned and they tried to pin down a definition, but really couldn't. Stein described it as urban, contemporary, gritty, and without a happy ending. Sounds good to me - I bought both her and Richardson's books, btw. Stein also thanks Joss Whedon for breaking the previous perception of vampires!

The Good Old Days: Writing About the Past was a pretty interesting panel. Stephanie Barron and Lauren Haney were joined on this panel by debut novelists Sharon Rowse, Brian Thornton, and Geri Westerson. Each author talked about the event, or events, or footnotes that inspired their books.

Finally Laura Caldwell, Jeff Buick, Teresa Schwegal and CJ Lyons were on the Thrills and Chills ITW panel. Buick moderated, but joined in on some of the discussion. Each of the ladies talked about how their careers influenced their books and their methods for writing and for developing their characters.

Day Two at LCC - Buying Mania

Rather than go into the panels I attended today, let me take the opportunity to express exactly the extent of my book addiction. Panel discussions will return tomorrow.

I really tried to behave this weekend. My ticket to LCC was not cheap, but I had decided that there was no way I could miss out on a mystery convention right here in Denver. There are over 100 authors at the convention and if I could afford to, I probably would have purchased at least one book by each.

As it is, I went into this with books by about 20 authors. I have not read all of these books, but I have read most of them. Some were accumulations from my days as a bookseller; books I intended to get to eventually and are still sitting in the ever growing TBR pile. I blame this on my first days in college when I feared that I would run out of things to read with no income as a freshman. Not so, my mom - oh great mom that she is - would tell me on bad days to relax and go buy myself some books, her treat. Somehow, the fear stuck, though, and I tend to buy madly when I have the funds.

Yesterday I bought 4 books. #1 I had been looking into buying for a while, #2 was the first book in a series that I had read a later installment of, #3 the author presented her series in an intriguing way and I wanted to check it out, and #4 was a paranormal mystery that I was curious about and thought my sisters would like. #5 was a gift for Mike. Not too bad.

Today, all constraint seemed to have flown out the window. I bought Jeanne Stein's The Becoming, first book in her vampire bounty hunter series, same reason as the above paranormal mystery, I like the genre and I bought an extra for my sisters. I also bought both of Marcus Sakey's books. He was on the Sex and Violence panel and, well, need I really say more? His books, by the way, have gotten glowing reviews by other bookbitch reviewers, including Stacy herself. I also bought Bill Cameron's debut, Lost Dog. Hm, he was on the same panel as Sakey... I bought Blood Ties by Lori Armstrong, again after hearing her speak, this time on the Dicks with Baggage, Modern PI panel. Finally, I bought CJ Lyons's debut medical thriller, Lifelines.

With my sisters' copies, that's 13 books in 2 days - mixed hardcovers, mass markets, and trades btw. I have cut myself off. I have a bagful of books that I already own that I will get signed tomorrow, but I swear I will not be buying anything else. I promise.

Day One at Left Coast Crime

I'll preface this by saying I am beat and I still have work to do tonight so you'll have to forgive me for not going into too much detail in regards to the panel discussions. As some of you know, today kick-started this year's annual Left Coast Crime convention which is in Denver this year. Being so close, I felt that it was time to get my feet wet and finally attend one. Here's a recap of the day and the four panels I attended.

First up was Sidekicks, The Good the Bad and the Ugly where authors Priscilla Royal, James Calder, Karen Olson and Maria Hudgins discussed the role of the sidekick in a mystery and the various forms he/she can take.

Second panel of the day was Cozymania. Leslie Caine, Rita Larkin, Terri Thayer and Deb Baker talked about their respective series, how and why they got started writing, and what it means to be cozy. Interestingly enough, Larkin pointed out that the term came about thanks to Agatha Christie herself.

The third panel was called Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard. Mario Acevedo acted as moderator (and drew names for the devil duck!) while jokesters Marc Lecard, George Getz, and Jess Loury talked about the use of humor in mysteries.

Last but not least was the psychological thriller panel called Mind Games and Manhunts. Robert Greer, Christine Jorgensen, Peter May, and Laura Benedict all talked about the distinctions between mysteries and thrillers.

So far I've gotten to meet Toni McGee Causey, author of the amazingly hilarious Bobbie Faye's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day, Laura Benedict whose debut thriller Isabella Moon made my toes curl, quirky Mario Acevedo, and the very sweet and amusing Simon Wood.

I recommend looking into ALL of the authors I mentioned above. They were each incredibly interesting and, given the chance, I would have purchased books by each. I did limit myself. I walked out with Greywalker by Kat Richardson (she'll be speaking later this weekend) a paranormal mystery. Wine of Violence, Priscilla Royal's very first book in her medieval series. Marc Lecard's Vinnie's Head, Simon Wood's Paying the Piper, and Pari Noskin Taichert's first Sasha Solomon mystery, The Clovis Incident.

Lisa Lutz You Owe Me a Nap

Curse of the Spellmans - Lisa Lutz - Hardcover - Due out 3/11

If you aren't familiar with Lutz, she made her debut last year with the hilarious Spellman Files. In The Spellman Files readers are first introduced to Isabel Spellman and her crazy family of PIs. Isabel, Izzy, is 28 and, when the story opens, is being interrogated in regards to her younger sister's disappearance. The wacky story that follows can only be compared to Janet Evanovich and her fantastic Stephanie Plum series. 

In the second book of the series, Isabel has been arrested now for the fourth time in about a month (second really cause she doesn't count arrests two and three). As she explains her recent exploits to her lawyer we come to realize that Izzy's overly suspicious mind has gotten her into trouble once again when. She's convinced that her parent's new next door neighbor is hiding something and is determined to find out what. In fact, it seems that almost everyone around her has been acting rather suspiciously lately  - Izzy's nature won't allow her to let it be and the consequences make for some pretty amusing reading. 

I was up all night reading this book and I don't regret it one bit! Every single "I don't know what you're talking about" left me in tears I was laughing so hard. I'm sure I kept everyone in the house up as well. 

If you haven't read The Spellman Files (now out in paperback), I recommend you run out and pick it up, you won't regret it. If you love Janet E. you're guaranteed to like Lisa Lutz.

Coming 3/4/08

Here are some of the new releases hitting shelves tomorrow, 3/4:

The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd - an amazingly intense debut thriller

The Dark Lantern by Gerri Brightwell - an interesting late Victorian era mystery

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson - a southern gothic style ghost story (I haven't had a chance to read this one yet but am very much looking forward to it).

New on DVD:
Into the Wild
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Hogfather - the BBC production based on Terry Pratchett's sort-of Christmas Discworld novel

You Knew it Had to Happen

Now that the writer's strike has ended Ron Howard and Tom Hanks are scheduled to begin work on the film version of Angels and Demons. Tentative release date is Spring 2009.

In other movie news, Midnight Meat Train, the film based on Clive Barker's tale of the same name is set to be release this May. Stephanie Meyer's Twilight is set for release this Winter. June will see the release of M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening and we'll all see if he has learned from the mistake that was Lady in the Water. If anything, at least Zooey Deschanel will brighten up the screen. 

Also in June, James McAvoy stars opposite Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie in Wanted, the American directorial debut by Timur Bekmambetov - director of the Russian smash hit Nightwatch.

Finally, in July, Guillermo del Toro's Helloboy 2, The Dark Knight, and X-Files 2!

Random and interesting: If you care, Fred Durst makes his directorial debut with Comback starring Ice Cube ... hm. Dating advice turns to comedy in He's Just Not That Into You (hey, it stars Bradley Cooper, so I'm there). Jose Saramago's Blindness has also been adapted for the big screen and will be directed by Fernando Meirelles, the same man who brought us The Constant Gardener. Abigail Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva are in and Dakota and Elle Fanning are out, of the film adaptation of Jodi Piccoult's My Sister's Keeper. The role would have required the elder Fanning to shave her head, something she was not prepared to do for the role. And what is he thinking? Mathieu Kassovitz - Audrey Tatou's love interest in Amelie and director of the fantastic French film Crimson Rivers - starring Jean Reno and based on the book by Jean Christophe Grange - wrote and directed the upcoming Babylon A.D. starring Vin Diesel. Look, I admit that I like Vin, but he's not made the best career choices since Pitch Black. Kassovitz, on the other hand, most recently directed Gothika. We'll see what happens, right? 

An Oldie but Goodie

I first came across a review for Jinn while I was stripping mags at my very first bookstore job. The reviewer raved about this book and called it a Saving Private Ryan meets Alien. Of course I had to buy it, and in hardcover no less - on my limited college student/part-time bookseller income.

I got my book and read into the wee hours of the morning. It was fantastic. Part military horror (a sub-genre that I would personally like to see more of*) part paranormal thriller/supernatural mystery. I loved every bit of it. For years to come it would be (and still is) on my favorite book lists and bookseller recommends picks. 

This book did, however, make me realize that you can't always trust reviewers! It was clear to me after just a few pages that the reviewer in question had not read past the first chapter in which a soldier is gunned down and one of his comrades likens the damage inflicted to some sort of alien being popping out of his stomach. One line, that's it! Um, the same line is currently in the PW review posted on Amazon.

I was not disappointed, however, the book was amazing. It begins with a group of soldiers in WWII. Most of them are killed in battle and the remaining soldiers are unfortunate enough to end up getting picked up by a ship that sinks. It's been a while since I read the book (it was released in 2003) but I believe the soldiers were looking for a missing troop. Anyway, skip ahead in time and someone has discovered the sunken ship. When they raise it, they unleash a demonic force that begins to wreak havoc on Boston.  

Unfortunately, this is the only book ever to be released by the mysterious Matthew B. Delaney. It's currently on sale at amazon.com (60%) off and is available as a Kindle download. Surprisingly, after 5 years with no follow-up titles, the book is still in print. So, if you're in the mood for a great mystery/thriller/horror title that melds both history and mythology, give it a shot. Like I said, it still makes my top 10 lists. 

*A note on military horror: it's not at all something that I see much of in books (if there is more out there, let me know, please). I am much more familiar with the few films that are out there most notably Dog Soldiers - the best werewolf movie ever! Deathwatch is another pretty good one. The Bunker - don't remember much about this one so I can't tell you if it was good or not, and Below, another great one by the same director as Pitch Black.