I mean to post more interim updates here as I ran around Bouchercon like a madman, but of course between Internet outages, booze, and general incompetence this never happened. Yesterday was a quieter day for me; I didn’t have any panels or events, so I just wandered to other people’s panels and tried to make a nuisance of myself. I checked out Gary Corby’s panel on mysteries in ancient Rome and Greece, which was really great and interesting (best line of the panel: The Roman Empire was the original Tea Party: They didn’t want to pay their own taxes either, and were experts at turning barbarians into taxpayers [I paraphrase; it was much better put in the panel]). Gary Corby is my new intellectual crush, actually. Check out his books.
After a bit of lunch around Union Square with The Duchess, I headed back for a panel moderated by Andrew Grant which was partly obscured by the two people wearing huge, huge, HUGE cowboy hats sitting in front of me. Why I had not thought to bring a jaunty hat to set myself apart, I don’t know. Next time. It’ll be an old-fashioned conical wizard’s hat, with stars and crescent moons on it.
Then, I bumped into Janet My Agent in the bar, and we slowly collected a circus-like group of people, including Gary Corby, Patrick Lee, Dana Cameron, Dan Krokos, Barbara Poelle, and many others. It was much like the Algonquin Round Table of old, I think, although my own memories of the evening are vague and troubling, involving a snake, a dinner jacket, and someone in full clown-makeup. Overall, a fantastic day. Today I’m planning to attend Dana Cameron’s panel, because she is hilarious, but otherwise I shall be a wandering spirit. Cheers!
I agree about Gary Corby. He’s so cool.
Thank you for the kind comments! That panel was just a total blast.
The Tea Party party comment came from John Maddox Roberts, who writes the SPQR series, set in the vicious politics of late republican Rome. When asked what inspired him to write such a period, he replied with one word: “Watergate”. John’s a good example of what you talked about in your own session, Jeff. He also writes piles of SF & F.
Thanks for the comment, Gary – and the reminder of JM Roberts’ name – I am TERRIBLE with names in general, and float about in a gauzy haze of half-remembered things. Good luck with the rest of your tour!
Beth: I know. I felt slightly less cool sitting next to him at times, and had to displace.