Bouchercon - Tor/Forge Blog

California Love: Six Awesome Reasons Why Southern California is Bouchercon-Perfect

November 13, 2014May 10, 2024torforge

By opens in a new windowRachel Howzell Hall

Yeah, yeah, traffic and smog and organic-vegan-gluten-free-blahblahblahs. You’re not coming to Southern California for that. As an L.A. native, and a three-year former resident of Long Beach, I know why the good folks in the Bouchercon offices are bringing us Los Angeles County for this year’s conference.

Weather: Haven’t you heard? We’re in a drought. Ain’t seen rain since…since…. So paint your toenails! Pack your cargo shorts and that vintage be-dazzled ‘I Love L.A.’ tank top you bought off Etsy two summers ago. It’s cool. You’re cute. You’re in L.A. now.

Food: A writer’s gotta eat. So, leave the hotel and venture out. In Long Beach, Hof’s Hut makes these delicious cinnamon-roll pancake things, and the meat on Johnny Reb’s barbecue ribs just fall off the bone. Head north and…what’s that? In N Out? A national treasure. Pink’s Hot Dogs, Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles…? Chicken and waffles? Eaten together? Bonus: you can eat all of this glorious food while wearing sandals and sunglasses. (True story: L.L. Cool J sat in the booth behind me at Roscoe’s. He ordered chicken.)

The Pacific: Nothing like our ocean. The Atlantic’s nice but our waves are bigger and badder. And we have sea lions! And sharks! And the Queen Mary! And our beaches range from “Aah, Paradise” to “OMG, Did You See What Just Happened to That Guy Over There, Is He Okay?!” Our beaches alone are three Moleskins worth of story ideas.

People: So diverse. Everybody’s here. Every color, every body type, every mental capacity. Just…sit somewhere and populate your novel by people-watching. Don’t worry—we’ll ignore you. Cuz we ignore everybody…unless you’re driving too slow on the 405 and then we’ll ride your bumper until you move to the right. Ha ha. Just kidding. Seriously, though. Move to your right.

Mysteries: Real-life head-scratchers abound in Southern California. How did that tourist wind up in the hotel’s water tank? Why did that successful movie director jump from the Vincent Thomas Bridge? Who killed the Black Dahlia? What will happen to me if that cop pulls me over? Writers gon’ write, so might as well find inspiration in the real, right?

Big: This place is HUGE. With 527 miles of freeway and 382 miles of regular highway, you can drive and drive…and STILL be in Los Angeles County. Live here forever—and never visit 60 percent of it (our unofficial, provincial motto)! Mystery writing is about discovery—and Southern California boasts enough towns and burgs with their own rules and their own cultures for you to never be bored or see the same thing five times.

So. Enjoy the weather. Wiggle your painted toes. Find inspiration on the 405—you’ll be sitting there long enough. Move to the right. Oh, and welcome to the LBC.

Meet Rachel and many other great Forge authors at the hospitality suite on Friday afternoon, where there will be coffee, author signings, and fun giveaways!

Author Features / Events / What's New

Our Third Bouchercon – But Renee Patrick’s First

November 12, 2014May 10, 2024torforge

By Rosemarie and Vince Keenan

In 2010, we finally decided to take the Bouchercon plunge. Why that year? The convention was held in San Francisco, a city we’ll visit at any opportunity. Even better, serving as toastmaster was our friend Eddie Muller, novelist and founder of the Film Noir Foundation.

Within minutes of checking into the hotel – as seen in the movies Freebie and the Bean and High Anxiety! – we ran into people we’d only met online and fell in with them as if we’d been close for years. It turns out knowing the toastmaster is like having a backstage pass. Eddie was in the thick of the proceedings and pulled us along in his wake, introducing us to everyone. Two longtime mystery fans couldn’t have asked for a better first Bouchercon experience. We would definitely be back.

We didn’t have the same exclusive entrée in 2011 St. Louis – and we quickly discovered it didn’t matter. Stepping into the hotel bar it was as if the Bay Area party hadn’t ended, with many of the same friends eager to welcome us back and plenty of new friends to meet.

With great reluctance, we chose to sit out the next two Bouchercons, although thanks to Twitter we could follow the action in Cleveland and Albany. (Pro tip: sipping a cocktail at the same time helps to conjure the appropriate atmosphere.) The decision was a difficult but necessary one. We had work to do. We’d come up with a novel idea of our own.

It’s not just a love of mysteries that we share. We’re also both obsessed with classic movies (and Rosemarie has a thing for fashion). We combined these interests in Design for Dying. In 1937 Hollywood, an aspiring actress turned department store salesgirl must team up with legendary costume designer Edith Head to solve a murder. All the ladies have going for them are assists from various silver screen luminaries and a killer sense of style.

With a pair of Bouchercons under our belts, we had picked up plenty of pointers from expert panels, made connections within the publishing industry, and assembled an army of friends to turn to for support and advice. That history made writing our first novel much easier.

Long Beach marks our return to Bouchercon, only this time will be different for us. We’re thrilled to announce that Tor/Forge Books will publish Design for Dying under our pen name Renee Patrick in April 2016, with a sequel to follow in 2017.

Perhaps at a future Bouchercon Renee Patrick will sit on a panel and sign some books. In Long Beach, it will be enough for Rosemarie and Vince to catch up with friends, share the good news, and take care of some business. We’ll be meeting our agent and our editor in person for the first time. Bouchercon is the perfect place to move relationships out of the virtual world and into the real one. Trust us, we’ve done it before.

Meet Vince and Rosemarie Keenan and many other great Forge authors at the hospitality suite on Friday afternoon, where there will be coffee, author signings, and fun giveaways!

Events / What's New

Meet Author Jon McGoran at Bouchercon!

October 30, 2014May 10, 2024torforge

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Written by opens in a new windowJon McGoran

Writing can be a lonely endeavor, but it brings with it many perks. The greatest is probably that you get to write. But almost as great is that you get to hang out with other writers, especially writers of your own ilk. I realized this at my first Bouchercon, where I experienced a dynamic I’ve seen played out at every Bouchercon since.

I didn’t know a soul, and every room I walked into, I would see old friends talking and laughing and carrying on the way old friends do. It was intimidating at first, because I didn’t know anybody. But over the course of the conference, I met some of those same people, and I discovered that, while some of them had indeed been old friends, most had met minutes before I walked into the room. They were just that kind of people — open, welcoming and warm. And hilarious.

The next year, when I came back, the new friends from the previous year were my new old friends. And it’s been like that ever since — every year I make new friends, and have a blast hanging out with more and more old ones.

It’s easy to be star-struck at Bouchercon, but part of what makes it so special is that this warmth and friendliness extends to the big names, as well. Unless you are one of them — and truthfully, even if you are, because the big names are fans as well — one of the favorite activities at Bouchercon is trading stories about how “I met [INSERT NAME OF GENRE LITERARY ICON HERE] and he or she was incredibly gracious/friendly/hilarious/supportive.”

Because the big names are great people, too. So when you see them, say hi or buy them a beer. And when the conference is over, go to their homes and wait in the shadows to surprise them when they walk the dog at night. They’ll think it’s hilarious! (Tell them Dennis Tafoya sent you.) Because there’s other types of stories that get told at Bouchercon as well, and you can be in one! Before you know it you’ll be driving them to the airport and helping them hide bodies (I’m looking at you, Brad Parks!).

And when the conference is over, when you get home and you get back to writing, sitting alone in your office or just in your head (crowded with fictitious characters though it may be), you can remember that even though you’re engaged in a lonely endeavor, you’re part of an amazing community of writers. And you’ll see them all again next year.

Oh, and there’s great panels, too.

Meet Jon McGoran and many other great Forge authors at the hospitality suite on Friday afternoon, where there will be coffee, author signings, and fun giveaways!