Bouchercon 2012, Day 4: A librarian makes my day
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| An oft-photographed scene in Tower CIty, Cleveland, photo by your humble blogkeeper |
But I experienced no pleasure greater than an Illinois librarian's comment that she's an avid follower of Detectives Beyond Borders and that the blog has encouraged her in her choices of acquisitions for her library.
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Bouchercon is finished, except for the annual convivial post-convention dinner with Ali Karim and friends. As usual, it has passed way too quickly, and I offer special gratitude to the hospitable people of Cleveland, whom I may make the subjects of a separate post. View the complete Bouchercon schedule here, and I'll be back soon with information about audio recordings of the panels available on CD.© Peter Rozovsky 2012
Labels: Allison Leotta, Bouchercon 2012, conventions, images, Joanne Dobson, libraries, Sarah Shaber
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 12:28 PM
32 Comments:
That's cool about the librarian. The town that she hails from is right in the general area of where my dad's whole family was and for that matter, still is from. Just a little further north, in Waukegan, Lake Forest, and Gurnee.
When she introduced herself, she said she was from Chicago. It was only when I saw her card that I realized she was from outside the area.
At Bouchercon in Indianapolis three years ago, a fellow guest at the bed and breakfast where I stayed was also a librarian (in Cleveland, oddly enough). I quite enjoyed recommending authors to her.
Librarians are great. I particularly like children's librarians.
Although the one I've known best was a big fan of mysteries written by women.
She was also a Morris dancer.
Hmm, The Morris Dance Massacre ...
Could happen. The Morris dancers in Santa Cruz hold May Day and other festivities right in front of the bookstore, and let's just say that not everyone enjoys them jingling through with their leg bells. I actually find it hilarious. It's like the arrival of a bunch of off season reindeer.
Hmm, I see a whole series of dancing mysteries. Clog Her to Death could be the second one.
An international series, I'd think.
Maybe a thriller set in the Balkans. Call it, say. Hora! Hora! Hora!
Last Tango in Paris!
Oh, yeah--that's taken.
We move into psychological-crime territory with our book about a killer who terrorizes and kills teenagers at dances in 1960: Twisted. And we have a ready made title for the sequel.
Peter, thanks so much for the shout out! You made my day. I'm so glad you enjoyed the panel.
And I think Clog Her to Death has great international potential.
Write it, Allison! Or maybe you and Peter could write the series together.
Allison: Welcome to Detectives Beyond Borders. I thought the organizers did a fine job with the Sunday panels. It's not easy holding the attention of folks struggling to hold mind and body together after three days of Bouchercon. You spoke simply and effectively about what federal prosecutors do -- or can do.
You'd make a fine fellow panelist with Andrew Vachss, should he ever show up at one of these conventions.
And I think Clog Her to Death has great international potential.
In German we'd call it Totenklog.
I learned another good German word today: Torschlusspanik. Literally "shut-door-panic" but more metaphorically, midlife crisis.
How do German copy editors manage to squeeze words like that into headlines?
I suppose they just avoid a lot of things...
Or have lots of horizontal layouts.
I enjoyed your panel a lot, Peter.
You always do a great job as a moderator, ask pithy questions and get unusual topics out there for lively discussions.
About the librarian: It kind of bothers me that people from the Chicagoland suburbs always say they are from Chicago when they aren't. It's almost as if they are embarrassed to admit the real town where they live. My sister lives in Northbrook (right next door to Glenview) and never says she lives in Chicago. My partner works at a hospital in Glenview. Though I know nothing about the Glenview library I do know that the suburban libraries - especially some in Lake and Dupage counties - are vastly better than the CPL network which is woefully underfunded. I visit several of the libraries outside of Chicago (where I do indeed live!) for their incredible fundraising book sales. I often find some scarce and unusual books at these sales.
Ah, I give her the benefit of the doubt. I think context made it clear that she valued concision and merely wanted to give a quick idea of where she was from.
John : Yes, I probably did say Chicago - or Chicagoland (which annoys some people even more) but I usually do that when I'm out of state. Most people outside of Illinois don't know the suburbs in detail, and I don't expect them to. This just gives them the basic information. I don't use the term with locals.
Peter: Glad I made your day. ;-)
- The Illinois librarian
Thanks for checking in.
Oddly enough, "Chicagoland" used to annoy me but no longer. Of course, I've only ever read the name. Hearing it out loud might get me started.
To avoid John's wrath and my possible explosion, you could tell future Bouchercon attendees that you're from "the Chicago area."
When I'm out of state, and particularly out of country, I just say I'm from California and let whatever wild misconceptions about my lifeceastre 1 they may have commence.
I suppose you really beed to be from the Central Valley of you want to screw up people's conceptions of California.
Well, even Santa Cruz with its Nuclear Free Zone antics and all the other leftie positions, still has gangs and surfers (and surfer gangs), old Italian fishing families, mountain people who home school their kids for both conservative and liberal reasons, a growing community of born again Christians, plus a thriving Jewish temple. oh, and last I heard, a very active heroin trade. To name but a few things that come to mind.
Also, it's a lot cooler, weatherwise, than many people anticipate (or pack for).
Hmm, you ought to write something about a fictional Northern California city that resembles Santa Cruz.
Cooler -- when I was preparing for my trip to San Francisco for Bouchercon 2010, I read some advice that light, summer clothing is rarely suitable for San Francisco, no matter the time of year.
Snopes tells me that it was NOT Mark Twain who said "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."
Whoever said it, there is some merit to it. Heck, Los Angeles can be chilly at night in winter.
Your state may be the only one that does not get cold nights. But that could be a misconception on my part.
If you're up on Mauna Kea or Haleakala it can be very cold indeed, but that's pretty high up in altitude.
I feel cold when it gets below 70 degrees as it does for a few weeks each winter, but that's due to living in this climate for 30+ years.
"I feel cold when it gets below 70 degrees"
You might have survived the spectacular weather of Baltimore in 2008, but any other recent Bouchercon might have finished you off.
Still got my lined London Fog overcoat. I can take it.
There can't be too many of those where you live.
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