A Conversation with Raymond Benson

Yes, it's the last of the New York chats (when I had the annoying, destroyed voice).  Nonetheless, this brief discussion is well worth watching, because Raymond Benson is a lovely, animated conversationalist.  It's really a lot of fun, and under seven minutes long.

We are, of course, discussing his latest novel, The Black Stiletto, which I had not read at the time.  He throws me a little bit when he quotes his Library Journal review.  They described the novel as "a mashup of the work of Gloria Steinem, Ian Flemming, and Mario Puzo, under the editorship of Stan Lee."  I was all, "That's, like, a lot of influences."  Ah, such brilliant repartee--which is why these are just fun conversations between old friends and not interviews. 

Having since read the novel, I have to say that Library Journal pegged it!  The Black Stiletto is a lot of fun, and my review may be seen here.  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...

Thrillerfest VI: Thursday

So, I don’t participate in the first part of Thrillerfest. That consists of “Craftfest” and “Agentfest,” and since I’m not trying to learn how to write and I’m not seeking representation, there’s no point. The Thrillerfest part of the conference officially kicks off late Thursday afternoon. Happily, I didn’t need to accomplish too much on Thursday before the festivities began.

This was good, because I was experiencing “cascade failure” with my body. It had started the previous day. My contact lens was bugging me early in the day, so I took it out. The previous night, while sitting quietly in a darkened theater, suddenly my eye went nuts. Tears were gushing out of my left eye. I’m dabbing with a Kleenex, and Elle is wondering why I’m crying in a comedy. Soon enough, my nose is also dripping and my throat was sore. I had a head full of salt water. I woke the next morning feeling like I’d been pickled in brine. A week later, my eye is still slightly wonky, though much, much better than during the conference when I was surrounded by cameras and couldn’t put any makeup on my face. *rolls eyes* My throat no longer hurts, but my voice is, if anything, worse. You’ll be glad to know, I’m never speaking again. But I was lucky. Symptom-wise, I was kind of disastrous all weekend, but I never felt sick. I kind of hurt and I felt tired, but there was a reason for that.  No sleep.

So, my first agenda item for Thursday was move into the Grand Hyatt, Thrillerfest’s host hotel. Unfortunately, the Hyatt was not so grand this year. The lobby is being redone, and not to put too fine a point on it, it’s a train wreck. This is disappointing, as the lobby has traditionally been prime mingling and meeting real estate. There was literally no place to see and be seen. Potentially even more disastrous, our bar had been turned into office space! Now, those that know me IRL will attest that I am a girl of moderate habits. So, too, on the road, actually, but when in Rome… What I mean is writers spend a lot of time in bars, and when I’m with them, so do I. Even more than the hotel lobby, it is the place to be. Our old bar at the Hyatt was a sort of dim, intimate Hernando’s Hideaway of a bar. The new bar is a long, stretched out glass and chrome hot house on the lobby’s mezzanine level. It’s a lovely, sunny spot for breakfast or lunch, but how many extramarital affairs or other scandals are going to start in a glass house? (I’ve been hanging with these people for seven years. You haven’t seen the things I’ve seen.)

I met up with Elle in the non-lobby of the Hyatt, because we were going to be rooming together for the long weekend. I was already looking and sounding pretty pathetic at check in, and Elle was having issues of her own. Consequently (?), we scored a fairly nice double room with a small attached seating area. That is where our luck with the Hyatt ended. I am not going to go into excruciating detail, but we had issues, many issues in the next 36 hours. I’m a calm girl, but at one point I threatened to shoot “someone” at the hotel. The next time we came up to our room, there was a bottle of wine chilling on ice, a selection of non-alcoholic beverages, a fruit basket, and cookies. In addition, over the course of three days, we were comped four breakfasts, $200 in hotel credit, and two room nights. I’m pretty sure they lost money on our stay, but things were handled very, very badly. And then once they finally got their act together, everything was fine. So, enough about that.

Reviewer extraordinaire Jeff Ayers

After checking in and getting the lay of the land, I headed down to the Conference Level and picked up my T-fest badge, tote bag, and other random items. This is, of course, where you start greeting friends. The awesome book reviewer and librarian Jeff Ayers was one of the first people I saw. Jeff is… he’s a shiny, happy person. I have never seen that man without a smile on his face. He is the very definition of likeable, and I admire him in so many ways. I also wish I could spend more time with the guy, ‘cause I think I could learn so much from him. Suffice it to say, if Jeff Ayers is the first person to greet you at T-fest, you’re off to a good start.

I’ll admit that I was killing time. I’d connected with several friends, but meetings with agents and the like were happening at the bar. It wasn’t quite social hour yet. There was a welcoming cocktail reception at 6:30pm. Having nothing better to do, I wandered back up to the Conference Level. It occurred to me that for the first time in six years, I might listen in on M.J. Rose and Doug Clegg’s Buzz Your Book session. It’s sort of the transition between Craftfest and Thrillerfest each year, and I haven’t sat in once. I approached with the best intentions, but as I neared, I saw novelist Alan Jacobson enter the room, camera in hand. Alan’s been the official T-fest photographer since forever. Why? He has skills. Skills beyond writing a fine thriller. Anyway, I was lurking outside when the flashes had stopped, and I grabbed Alan for a nice catch up. He lives right in the Bay Area like me, but I hadn’t seen him since Bouchercon. So typical. Happily, Alan and I generally do manage to carve out some one-on-one time wherever we are, and it’s a pleasure for me, because he’s a lovely, lovely man. Seriously, a favorite in the industry. And I’m a bad lady, because I still haven’t read any of his Karen Vail novels. He gets all these starred reviews in the publishing trades, but I’ve been reticent to jump into an ongoing series. I’m going to remedy that soon. He’s got a new one coming out with the enticing title: Inmate 1577. Hear me now, I will read Alan soon.

Let me address something… I speak very highly about a lot of people in these circles. See Jeff Ayers and Alan Jacobson above. This is because I think very highly of these people. I’m super lucky to move in some very, very cool circles. Ironically, what I’m famous (or infamous) for in these circles is speaking my mind. So, sorry if I’m boring everyone talking about how totally awesome these people are. There are a lot of unbelievably awesome people at Thrillerfest. That’s why I’ve made and kept so many friends over the years. Not everyone is awesome, and I don’t mind naming names. I don’t know him personally, but I’m sorry to say that no one has a nice word to say about Stuart Woods. The consistency is stunning. But I don’t know him. I choose to surround myself with amazing, cool, beautiful people. And that leads us right into the opening cocktail party…

Me with Paul & Christi a couple of years ago.

OMG, so many good people that I haven’t seen in a year! ITW Co-President and all-around good guy Doug Preston; my buddy Bob Liparulo who I haven’t seen for two or three years; Paul and Christi Kemprecos who I love sooo much, but I can’t do more than wave at because I’m trapped by my own social circle! The frequently teasing David Liss gave me a warm hug. I connect with my dear friends Boyd and Randi Morrison. I’m chatting at length with Lissa Price, about whom you’ll hear much, much more later. Elle’s here too. Boyd, Lissa, Elle, Jimbo, me, and several others all go back to the very first T-fest in Phoenix, six years ago. We all bonded, and that bond has really held. It’s a wonderful, special friendship. And the nice thing is, as we each make more friends over the years, we share them. I met hunky novelist Graham Brown through those guys, but unfortunately our good friends Graham and equally hunky Chris Kuzneski had bailed at the last minute to meet their writing deadlines. Do you readers understand that you’re negatively impacting my social life? Another friend I’d met through Boyd Morrison is another Bay Area writer, the lovely and delightful, and very sociable Sophie Littlefield. Yes, I know everyone who reads this blog is very familiar with all of these names. It’s a combination of me reading my friends, becoming friends with the people I read, writing about my friends, and my friends being imminently newsworthy.



Mike Cooper & Margery Flax of the MWA

 Back to Sophie. She pulls me over and introduces me to her brother, Mike Cooper, about whom I’ve heard much. He’s a lovely friendly fellow, and pretty soon I’m introducing him to half the party as “Sophie’s brother.” It’s not that he’s not a talented and successful author in his own right, but as I explained to him, he just happened to be in a quadrant of the room that was essentially the Sophie Littlefield fan club. Me, Boyd and Randi, Elle, Lissa, Allison “Ali” Leotta, even Sophie’s editor Adam Wilson wandered by and joined the conversation. There were others, but I can’t even remember anymore. Is there anyone who doesn’t love Sophie?

I’d forgotten to eat all day, so I was snarfing up food while socializing. But eventually we started to talk dinner. God bless Lissa for practicality. But then my attention was caught by a very recognizable stranger, the debut author of one of the best novels I’ve read this year. I walked right up to him and said, “Dr. McEuen, I’m a big fan of yours!” In general, I’ve found this to be an acceptable way to begin a conversation, and it worked like a charm. Paul McEuen is not only a brilliant, world-renowned physicist working in nanotechnology, he is also the author of the uber-smart thriller Spiral. I think I was gushing when Lissa walked up and said, “Come to dinner with us.” (God bless you, Lissa, for being cool and assertive!) And he did!

The final contingent was me, Lissa, Elle, Ali Leotta, and Paul. We’d gone looking for Mike Cooper to extend an invitation, but couldn’t find him. Poor Paul, he was stuck with four ladies. Our concierge directed us to Avra, an upscale Greek seafood restaurant a few blocks away. We had a reservation, which worked out great. The ambiance was lovely, and I was feeling very New York chic. We were given this fabulous semi-circle booth, and I was seated smack in the center, with Paul and Elle on one side, and Lissa and Ali on the other. We had plenty of room, but this had the unfortunate side effect of fracturing our conversation in two. At one point, someone had the bright idea of us all smooshing closer together. It was unbearably adorable, all of us taking up about 2/3rds of our booth, but it worked like a charm! Conversation was vastly improved! There’s a photo in existence somewhere, and if I can ever get my 

Ali back home in DC

hands on it, I’ll post it.  For now, you'll have to make due with stock photos of everyone.

Now, let me tell you a little more about my girlfriends. They’re all beautiful and wildly accomplished. It’s enough to give a lowly blogger a complex, but I’m working on my issues. Ali Leotta is a Harvard Law grad who spent 12 years as a federal sex crimes prosecutor before writing her first legal thriller, Law of Attraction. She's also the married mom of two little boys aged two and four. Oy. I call her "The Underachiever." We met at Thrillerfest only last year, but have kept in touch since. I was so looking forward to introducing her to “the rest of the gang” this year, and she just hit it off with every single person I introduced her to. I didn’t even have to join the conversation.

Lissa Price, the Next Big Thing

You haven't heard of Lissa Price yet, but you will. As I said earlier, she's been my friend since the very first T-fest, and her forthcoming futuristic thriller, Starters,  will be Random House's lead YA title for Spring 2012. (Check it out, it's available for preorder now--cool!)  They're going all out for her, and it sounds like they're positioning her to be the Next Big Thing. So many of our good friends have achieved big success in the years since we’ve met that at times it seems astonishing, but there’s always room in the pool for one more. We're all very excited for her!



Sophie Littlefield & Elle Lothlorien

 And lovely Elle Lothlorien hasn't been traditionally published. She's had several near misses. She's another friend who I've known since the very first T-fest six years ago. After her thriller failed to sell, she decided to go in a completely different direction. She wrote a chick lit novel called The Frog Prince and posted it to Amazon. Without any name recognition or platform, she's selling steadily at a rate that would impress any publisher. The reviews and word of mouth have been stellar, and fans are clamoring for her next novel, Sleeping Beauty, which should be available soon. At this point, she holds all the cards with her career.

Paul McEuen, my new favorite person

And, as mentioned earlier, Paul McEuen will probably be, like, a Nobel Laureate one day. I mean, can you imagine the honor of just being allowed to sit at that dinner table? The conversations were FANTASTIC! At one point, Paul looked around and said, “This table is so not typical of America.” I think it was because Elle and I were totally geeking out over the science, like the geeky science nerds that we are. Anyway, by the end of that dinner, basically all of us girls (married and single) were crushing on Paul. Jimbo (Rollins) later dubbed us "techno-sluts" because we wouldn't shut up about him all weekend, LOL. (And relax, Mrs. McEuen, it was all very innocent and intellectual, I swear.)  But he is kind of a hottie.  Am I right?  In a brainy, mountain man kind of way?

After dinner, we found ourselves back at the Hyatt’s bar, where we reunited with our other friends. I saw Jimbo for the first time since our cab ride into the city. After greeting him, he was like, “When did you become Brenda Vaccaro?” The voice truly was awful, and the worst part is the people who were only just meeting me don’t know that I don’t (in the words of David Liss) sound "like a 90-year-old smoker." I had fun introducing Paul to Jimbo and Boyd and so many others over the course of the weekend, leading him to believe I’m a Yenta.

My friends are always trying to propose an actual paying job for me in the publishing industry. That should be it. I’m a Publishing Yenta, a matchmaker. It really is what I do best, just ask anyone. The phrase I heard over and over all weekend is, “Susan knows everyone.” Clearly that’s not true, but of the people I do know, I like to get people who should know each other together. And I’m quite good at that.

I’m not sure how late we were out that night, but Elle and I were among the last to hit the road. I seem to recall us being among the last of the women, and at some point that night, we met these two guys, Ethan and Jeremy. It turns out they were sharing a room a few doors down the hall from us, and I seemed to see them constantly all weekend. Ethan Cross has just published his debut novel, The Shepard, and Jeremy Burns is still working on getting published. Now watch, he’ll probably become the next Lee Child or something. Seriously, everyone I meet at these things becomes wildly successful. Just a heads up for you, Jeremy. Anyway, these two were good fun, and we saw a lot of them as the weekend progressed, often late, late at night. Ah, to be that young again. Alas I’m not. I slept in the next day.

More soon…

Thrillerfest VI: Before the action started

I have so much to write about Thrillerfest, but my week in New York started a couple of days earlier than the conference.  I arrived on a red-eye flight from San Francisco at 7:30am.  Happily, my buddy James Rollins was arriving on his own flight from Sacramento about half an hour later.  I zipped over to his gate and caught a lift into the city with Jimbo.  It was nice, actually, that I began and ended my week with my closest ITW friend, as you will see when we get to the end of the week.

We were both exhausted after our sleepless travels, so I dropped him at his hotel and then headed over to my own.  I was staying for the first time (for a couple of days) at New York's Pod Hotel.  I had the smallest pod you can get, and I was very happy and comfortable there.  I crashed for a few hours before getting out and about in the city.  I rediscovered my favorite sandwich shop in Manhattan, Toasties on 51st, where I grabbed a late lunch.  Then I took care of a few errands.  I hit the drug store and picked up a couple of items.  Next up, I had to find a dirt cheap t-shirt for a Thrillerfest tradition I will write about later.  Three dollars later, I had an I (heart) NY t-shirt, and it was off to Times Square. 

Whenever I'm in New York, I like to get a feel for ticket availability.  I will frequently visit a few box offices of shows I'm interested in, so that I can have the most success acquiring the cheapest tickets.  Because I was getting a late start for the day, after scoping things out, I went to the box office of my "sure thing" show and got a $27 rush ticket to a brand-new Maury Yeston musical playing off-Broadway.  The show is Death Takes a Holiday.  I found it somewhat uneven, but quite enjoyable overall.  I was delighted to see a new work by Yeston, who is known for sophisticated shows like Nine, which was recently made into a movie.

I'd been on the phone with Jimbo on and off during the day, but we'd never quite managed to hook up again that first day, and I knew he was off to Boston by train first thing in the morning.  After the play, I just wandered back to my hotel, grabbing a light snack and many beverages along the way.  I was pretty pooped, as you can imagine.

Nonetheless, I dragged myself out of bed fairly early the next morning.  I was in line in front of the Eugene O'Neil Theater before 9:00am.  I had to establish myself in the line and make friends quickly, because I was going for a double-play that morning.  After accomplishing the two tasks above fairly quickly, I dashed a few blocks uptown around 9:40am to get in a second line.  I didn't bother to make friends there, but I did snag two rush tickets to Sister Act for that evening's performance.  Two center orchestra seats for $38 a piece.  After which I made my way back to the first line, stopping for a knish, several beverages, and a cup of ice along the way.  I was now prepared to wait.

And what I was waiting--in excess of four hours--for, was a single $27 standing room ticket to The Book of Mormon.  Yes, people have been asking me all summer if I've seen that show.  I finally have.  I wasn't going to pay $142 to see that show, and I was smart to wait for a standing room ticket for the Wednesday mat.  People wait nine hours or more for evening tickets every day.  These cheap SRO tickets are highly in demand, and part of me is amazed I snagged one.

As for the show itself, it was entertaining.  Am I glad to have seen it?  Yes.  Did I have to see it?  No.  Will it revolutionize the Broadway theater?  Absolutely not.  The musical is very of it's time and topical.  It will become dated quickly.  Musically it isn't especially sophisticated, and some of the humor is offensive and/or sophomoric.  This production will run for years, but it's hard to imagine the future it will have beyond the original production.  I guess a film wouldn't surprise me.  I really did enjoy the show.  It's very funny, especially the quirkier lead actor, Josh Gad, who turns in a truly idiosyncratic performance.  As for Nikki M. James who won the Best Supporting Actress in a Musical Tony Award, her performance was fine, but I honestly didn't find it all that dynamic or exceptional.  Production values were excellent.  I enjoyed the satire of and homage to other shows.  And I especially enjoyed the chorus of Mormon missionaries.  It was a fun afternoon, and the additional two and a half hours on my feet passed quickly.

After I got out of the theater, I finally connected with my friend, novelist Elle Lothlorien.  I had promised Elle that I would take her to her first Broadway show.  How exciting is that?  I was so delighted to share the experience with her!  Hence the second ticket line that morning.  I met Elle in the lobby of her hotel, and because we were both a little early, we had just enough time for a real dinner.  We walked up Ninth Avenue, and Elle chose one of my favorite haunts, The Delta Grill.  All I have to say is yum!  But we had to dash over to 53rd and Broadway, making it just in time.

Sister Act was not on my must-see list.  I didn't even consider trying to get tickets last month.  And when it was nominated for all those Tony Awards, I was scoffing a bit.  My expectations were not super high.  Well, let me eat some crow here; Sister Act was a completely enjoyable night at the theater.  Elle and I laughed and laughed, and had a really awesome time.  I don't think it will be hard at all to lure Elle back to the theater.  Leads Patina Miller and Victoria Clark gave great performances, and Douglas Carter Beane's book was hilarious.  The music was fun, the production values were great, and overall, I was very pleasantly surprised.

Elle and I knew that we had long days ahead of us, so we called it an early night.  Thrillerfest began the following day, and that's where the stuff you want to hear begins.  For me, that first night of the conference was the highlight, and I'll write about it tomorrow.  Amazingly, those three shows were the only ones I saw all week.  Let's face it, I've seen most of what I really wanted to.  For now, for those who never did get the full list of Broadway productions seen this summer, here's the whole list:

• Catch Me If You Can
• The Motherf**ker with the Hat
• Jerusalem
• House of Blue Leaves
• Arcadia
• Anything Goes
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
• Born Yesterday
• The Normal Heart
• Follies
• The Importance of Being Earnest
• Death Takes a Holiday
• The Book of Mormon
• Sister Act

Rumors of my death have been slightly exaggerated...

Hi guys,

Thanks to all who have posted notes of concern regarding my whereabouts here and elsewhere.  You are so kind!  I'm okay and my sister is okay.  Neither of us is great.

No, after a lovely and busy holiday weekend in San Francisco--one in which I repeatedly promised myself to hit the blog and repeatedly failed to do so--I jetted off to New York for Thrillerfest.  There, as always, I burned the candle at both ends and have paid the price.  I've been kind of under the weather for almost a week now.  If you could hear me speak right now, I sound like the illegitimate love child of Brenda Vaccaro and Harvey Fierstein.  What a shame this is a print media.  (Actually, you will get to hear my disgusting voice in a few short weeks.  I was conducting video interviews with authors while I was back east, and you'll see them start to crop up in August.  If anything, it's worse that I'm describing.  Get ready to ridicule.)

I seriously had the time of my life in New York.  I went there to spend time with my friends, and that's exactly what I did.  After 6 years, I have made some amazing friendships through this organization (ITW), and every year when I return to the conference, I make even more new friends.  Every single year I meet someone completely awesome.  Last year it was federal prosecutor/novelist Alison Leotta.  This year it was brilliant physicist/novelist Paul McEuen.  I can't wait to tell you guys more about my time in NY!  Anyone who's ever considered attending Thrillerfest but hasn't is going to be sold by the time I'm finished blogging about it.

But, please give me a few days to get my act together.  I arrived back in San Francisco early yesterday.  Instead of heading straight to my office as planned, I headed straight to my bed and slept for 18 hours.  I'm back at work today, but seriously, I could crawl back to bed right now.  It's going to take me a little while to get back up to speed.  In addition to writing about T-fest, I'm so behind on reviews it's not even funny.

Since so many of you have asked, I'll give you the short sister update.  She's still not doing very well.  She's in a fair amount of pain, and the doctors aren't sure why that is.  It's unexpected, even with the complication that she's been experiencing.  No one really wants to do more invasive surgery, but they're still not sure what's going on.  So, she's dealing with doctors and surgeons, and getting a CAT scan later this week.  Mostly the doctors just keep hoping if they wait long enough that she'll spontaneously heal, but it doesn't seem to be happening.  :-(  So, maybe send "no pain vibes" her way this week.  The good news is that little Jonah is doing well and is growing like gangbusters.

I'll be posting a lot more content in the near future.  Thanks for reading, and thanks for your patience!