Day 3 at Left Coast Crime

It's day three and I'm feeling it now. The pressure is off since I don't have a panel today but my lack of sleep is catching up with me. But we soldier on. This morning I bravely went to an 8:30 am panel He Writes/She Writes with Steven Torres (m), Cara Black, Libby Hellman, Rick Mofina, and Neal Plakcy. When asked by Torres why each panelist thought they were on this panel they gave these answers:

Neal Plakcy: He's here because many straight women read gay fiction to read about a man in touch with their feelings (I've got news, Neal. Straight women read it for the hot man on man action. :)

Rick Mofina: He was a crime reporter and his character is a crime reporter. His protag is male and he, too, struggles with the male voice. (It was a joke.)

Libby Hellman observed at Bouchercon Madison that men read men in mysteries for redemption, while women read women for recognition.   

The discussion went on, going into the gender differences readers perceive and what authors try not to put into their characters like stereotypes. Archetypes of course stem from stereotypes which I contend have a basis in fact in some sense, as unpleasant as this observation might be.

The conversation turned to that chestnut of can-men-write-women-and-can-women-write-men. We can also ask if black can write white and white write Asian or...fill in the blank. If you do it well enough, it shouldn't matter. But of course it does which is why many women must resort to their initials instead of their first names. I'm figuring "Jeri" works in both camps (yes, even though it's spelled like a diminutive, some people still think I'm a guy. Not when they meet me, of course. I hope!)

I skipped the next panel to wander into the bookroom even though I said I wouldn't buy any books this time. I lied. I found two authors I wanted to try. One is Rich Thompson with Fiddle Game from Poisoned Pen Press. It's a caper with a gypsy-cursed violin, murder, and extortion. Sounds like fun. And also from Poisoned Pen Press is Beverle Graves Myers' Interrupted Aria, the first in her 18th century Venetian Baroque series, where a castrato in an opera company is the sleuth (well, what else has he got to do? I guess I'll find out.)    

I met with my publicist for the first time to hear the realities of marketing. Fortunately, I had a marketing plan which I emailed him and we went over it point by point. Since I come from an advertising background I got what he was saying and will be helping him help me help him. Or something. Doesn't look like there will be much touring but for a few venues in Southern California (wish I had the money to do more) but we will do what we can. I'm relying on you folks out there to help spread the word in a bookstore near you.

And speaking of spreading the word, thanks to J. Pierce at The Rap Sheet for linking to this blog. He's here somewhere. Maybe I'll spot him.

After lunch I headed over to Historical Views with Jan Burke (m) Sam Reaves, and Sharan Newman. Newman gave us a general run down of what a medieval person would be expected to know about a body and how to hunt down the criminal; how larger cities are broken down into parishes that acted like villages within cities and how you were your brother's keeper and were expected to know who might have done it. It's like Sam Drucker would never accuse the Douglas' in Hooterville of killing Arnold because he knows them too well... Geesh. Where did I pull that out of? Anyway, this is stuff I know of course, which made it all the more disappointing when Reaves gave us a history and run down of Chicago's police force. Oh, it was interesting in its own right but what did it have to do with the history of forensics?

More chatting with authors so I missed the next panel and just decided to hightail it to my room for a little rest, some blogging, and a little writing before I head over to the banquet. Winners will be announced, beef will be consumed, and I'll be getting ready to head out tomorrow and return to my drab little life. Until things perk up again with galleys to look at. And an ISBN so we can do that pre-ordering thing. Later. 

Comments

[J. Kingston Pierce]

Actually, Jeri, I am not there in Denver. But novelist Mark Coggins is, and he's been posting to The Rap Sheet from the festivities for the last three days. You and I will just have to meet on some other occasion.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Jeri Westerson]

Darn! Next time, then, Jeff.

[Neil Plakcy]

Now that I really know what women want from my books, I'll have to make sure there's lots of hot M/M action!

Great to see you in Denver, Jeri. Hope to see you at Bouchercon in Baltimore.

[Jeri Westerson]

Er...and we like the mystery as well? Yeah, you'll see me there.