When Brad met Hilary...

Full disclosure: I've never read Brad Parks or Hilary Davidson.  I mean, jeez, I can't read everybody. 

Hilary has just published her second mystery featuring travel writer Lily Moore, The Next One to Fall.  She originally landed on my radar for a variety of reasons.  I'm not sure if she came to my attention first as a member of the ITW Debut Author Class of 2010/2011 (of which Brad is also a member), or based on the rave reviews of her debut novel, The Damage Done.  Regardless, she made an impression, and I've been meaning to get around to reading her ever since.  And with a backlist of only two novels, there's a chance I actually will.

Brad, on the other hand, I know exactly when he came on my radar.  It was at the debut author breakfast at Thrillerfest a couple of years ago.  That breakfast is one of my favorite parts of the conference.  It's a great opportunity to get introduced, in their own words, to future favorite authors.  Also, it's just good fun, as each author attempts to outshine those who came before.  That year, it was definitely Brad Parks that everyone was talking about.  The man spent his two minutes launching into a full-on serenade of novelist Brad Meltzer with re-worked lyrics to the tune of "Maria" from West Side Story.  And he hasn't stopped singing since.

Nor, has he stopped publishing.  Brad has now released three comic mysteries featuring New Jersey investigative journalist Carter Ross.  The first was Faces of the Gone, followed by Eyes of the Innocent.  Now he's back with The Girl Next Door, and as you'll hear in the video below, there are at least two more novels in this series already in the pipeline.

Now, I don't know either of these writers well, but we travel in the same circles in the conference circuit and our paths cross once or twice a year.  It's clear that the two of them have become good friends on that same circuit, so it's fun to enjoy the mutual admiration society of their joint event.  They can sing each other's praises far better than I can.  (In Brad's case, literally.  And for those who are curious, he did sing at Book Passage, but just to kill time before the talk officially started.  Alas, I shot no video.  The link above will have to suffice.)

I'm just going to post the video in sequence below.  After introducing each other and making opening remarks, Hilary reads first, and then Brad.  After that, they pose a few questions to each other, and then open things up to the audience.  The last thing I'll mention is that I really need to apologize to Brad and all of you.  But mostly to Brad.  I positioned myself to film someone speaking at microphone at the podium.  As you'll see, they eschew it.  I finally repositioned myself when it was time for Brad to read, but before that, there's a lot of awkward trying to shoot around that pesky mike.  That's amateurs for you!  Hopefully those of you who were not fortunate enough to catch these two on book tour will still enjoy.

Thrillerfest VI: When you're not in the bar...

I have to tell you, yesterday's Thrillerfest post took me forever to put together.  The writing was easy enough, but after adding all those links, tracking down and stealing photos, well you get the idea.  So, it will take me a few days to finish up my account.  For now, I thought I'd show you some of what goes on at T-fest when we're not socializing at a party or in the bar.

The conference actually features a full schedule of programing.  Generally, there are a series of panel discussions that take place, and you have a choice of four going on concurrently.  These sessions are broken up by Spotlight Guest interviews which happen in the larger ballrooms, and are generally the only thing happening in their time slot.

The session below was entitled, "Is Truth Stranger Than Fiction?"  The entertaining and talented Matt Richtel was the "Panel Master," and the panelists were: B. Kent Anderson, Brad Parks, Kira Peikoff, Douglas Preston, Kathleen Sharp, and Jessica Speart.  I have to admit, the title of this session didn't grab me, as I generally read so little non-fiction.  I attended for the typical reason I sit in on these things: I had friends on the panel.  Happily, the discussion turned out to be quite interesting after all.  For starters, the participants all had some serious journalistic cred.  They knew whence they spoke.  And the panel turned out to be as much about fiction as non-fiction.  I thoroughly enjoyed hearing everyone speak.  You never know what you'll get with these panels, how the Panel Master will run things, if the panelists will have chemistry.  I've sat through some duds.  I'm glad to have a good one to share.

So, if you've never attended a Thrillerfest, or you just had to miss this year, here's one session in it's entirety.  Apologies in advance for poor cinematic skills...