Demolition RIP

I’ve been thinking about doing this for quite some time but I’m finally pulling the trigger. Demolition is done.

We had a good run of almost three years but I’m tired of it now. I’m tired of the work and of dealing with the idiots. The great stories I get are getting fewer and fewer and the morons are getting more and more prevalent. But like I said, it could just be me. I was never all that professional with it to begin with, but even that sliver of professionalism has been slipping and I don’t want to deal with it any more.

I started Demolition after Plots with Guns died to help fill the gap. Once PWG came back, I knew Demolition’s days were numbered. So now maybe some other person with more energy and more passion about it can fill this gap. I’d love to see a new zine or two sprout up out of this.

The site will remain up until the zombies of the internet come and eat it, but I won’t be updating anymore. I know this is the right thing to do because I don’t feel bad about it at all. So thank you to all of the writers and readers who made us who we were. I appreciate it.

The Big Con

What a strange and exhilarating experience Bouchercon is. This year was different for me in many ways, most of them good. After three years of attending mostly as a fan/ party crasher, this was the first year I felt I was there for professional reasons. I was on a panel, I signed some books, got some exciting news regarding a short story of mine, and people knew who I was from my short stories. I could stroll through the book room and see anthologies in which my own fiction was sandwiched between stellar names. There were also several opportunities to meet readers and contributors to DEMOLITION. And let’s not forget the insane amount of opportunities I was given for making and maintaining the contacts I will need when I finish the novel I’m working on.

Then there were the personal changes. Spenser traveled well, though it took him a few days to adjust his sleeping schedule to his new surroundings. He was very popular with everyone who met him and I think I might need to take him everywhere I go from now on. Becky was a trooper, but I think she had a case of the Bouchercon Spouse syndrome. Even with her mom there with us, she couldn’t bring herself to leave Spenser for very long so she spent a lot of time in the hotel room which can get kind of boring. And even though I was able to spend more time with her than if she hadn’t come, I’m sure she still felt kind of left behind. Hopefully I can convince her to come to Indianapolis next year when Spenser is a little older and can get out of the room a bit more.

But the true beauty of Bouchercon is the personal connection with old and new friends. It was good to catch up with Dave “I have a girlfriend but I’m still not confident enough in my masculinity to drink a Shirley Temple” White and Sarah “Are you sure it’s really me” Weinman along with Duane “Louis” Swierczinski and Russell “Maclean MacLean” McLean. As much as I hate to admit it, I also missed John Rickards who was not able to make it over for some reason related to animal love I imagine. But in his place was Stuart Macbride who seemed to be traveling with a smaller version of his beard than I expected. I was also able to meet Jason Pinter in person and even score on him in basketball despite him whining something about nerve damage. But the true find of this trip was Bill Cameron. I’m still not exactly sure what it was about that guy, but he was a true charm to meet and I assume he’ll be a real ass next time I see him as compensation.

I can’t wait until next month for Murder and Mayhem in Muskego to help ease the transition back into post-Bouchercon life.

I Heart Baltimore

I will be leaving for Bouchercon in a few short hours with Becky, the baby, and Becky’s mom along for the ride. In a perfect world we could all get on a plane when I’m done with work at 6 and be in Baltimore by 8pm, but this way Spenser gets his first road trip and Becky and I don’t go broke on airfare. All of this has me thinking about how different my life is from my first Bouchercon.

My first BCon was Toronto in 2004. I had recently moved to Ann Arbor and was living by myself in a small Jewish rooming house and writing and going to grad school. I caught a ride with Jim Doherty, a writer from Chicago, and we stayed with a few other guys in a motel several blocks from the conference hotel. It was a great experience and I did it again the next year in Chicago, and then the year after that in Madison. By the time Alaska rolled around last year, I was engaged to Becky and didn’t have the time or money to gallivant off to Alaska. Now we have a baby. Lordy, lordy how the fates like to play.

My writing has also progressed. At my first BCon the only thing I had going for me was being shortlisted for the CWA debut dagger and one short story publication. Now I’ve short stories in multiple print anthologies and I’m the editor of DEMOLITION. I’m also 50,000 words into my fourth novel and while I think I’m getting better, I’m still waiting for an agent and a book deal. But while all of the connections, and parties, and networking that this conference is great for and that can really help my career, the true benefit of Bouchercon is catching up with friends. Some of these folks I correspond with on a very regular basis through email and IM and other social networks, but nothing beats a dinner out or a drink in the bar to really make you appreciate what you’ve got.

One other change this year from years past is that I’ll be leaving the hotel more often. Becky and I will be taking Spenser to Washington DC for the morning on Saturday and it will be the first time there for all of us. Now I just have to get time to speed up so I can get outta here!

Scenes from a Book Signing

Dennis Lehane was in Ann Arbor on Tuesday so I went to see him. I haven’t beenn to many book signings these days for people that I’m not friends with. But Dennis Lehane is one of my biggest influences and I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to see him in person and hear him read from his new book. It didn’t go very well.

I’ve been very blessed to become friends with a number of writers I consider influences. This means that when I go to one of their signings it’s a reuinion and there’s usually dinner or drinks involved. Times like that spoil me for when I go to signings for people I don’t kow personally. Dennis Lehane is one of those people. Below is the exchange between us.

Me: You’re my hero.

Dennis (awkwardly): No…

Me: Actually your process is my hero. I wasn’t able to finish anything
until I read that you threw away hundreds of pages to get a single
good page and so I wrote something and then threw away all but the
first 10 pages and then I rewrote it and threw away all but the first
20 pages–

Dennis: Have you finished anything?

Me: Yeah, actually, four books so far and–

Dennis: Because that’s the important thing.

Me: I’m actually friends with [famous writer who should not be denegraded for his association with me]

Dennis: Oh?

Me: Yeah, I told him I’d shamelessly use his name to give myself credibility with you. My friend Dave White and I stayed with him, I feel bad about this, because Dave was peppering him with questions about [another famous writer friend] and I was peppering him with questions about you.

Borders Assistant (glaring harshly, while putting the next person’s book in front of Dennis): Thank you for coming.

–

And if that wasn’t bad enough, after my book was signed I went to the cafeteria and waited until everyone else had gone through the line and he was on his way out of the store. I came up behind him and asked him if I could buy him a drink. he was very nice as he backed away slowly toward the door and said no.