Fun & Games Across America: Noir Night in Houston

I've honestly lost track of how many times I've signed at Houston's wonderful Murder By the Book. Pretty sure I've been here for nearly every book, including Damn Near Dead, the "geezer noir" anthology I edited for David Thompson's Busted Flush Press. So would that be six now? Seven? All I know is each time is just as much fun as the first.

This time I was lucky enough to team up with Megan Abbott and Sara Gran, who are not only smart and hilarious, but pretty damned sick, too. As Noir Night 2011 attendees can tell you, the conversation took some really strange turns. We somehow managed to cover noir films without crimes, adolescent sexuality, genre-hopping, suburban psychodrama, mosquito-borne diseases, parenting, the importance of place in writing and Rosemary's Baby, all in one rambling session.

Behind the table with Abbott, Gran.

And then we signed books. Lots and lots and lots of books, both old and new, which is always a delight. Afterward we hit the jam-packed Raven Grill for dinner with the MBTB gang, where conversation took even stranger turns... including the realization that all three of us panelists are almost exactly the same age, and all of us read Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero at just the right, tender, impressionable age. (Unlike Ms. Abbott and Ms. Gran, however, I was never an impressionable 13-year-old girl, despite what they may have alleged at the panel.)  The night ended back at the shop with a 12-pack of Shiner Bock and even more conversation. Seriously: get us going, and it's tough to shut us up.

Huge thanks to everyone who turned up, including (but not limited to) Scott Montgomery, Ed Mattingly, Michelle Isler, Scott Parker, Bill and Judy Crider, Karen Kowal (and thank you for the extremely lovely note), Hank Schwaeble and everyone else who I'm sadly blanking on right now.

Today: the mystery train rolls on to Austin, just three short hours away, for "Happy Hour with Duane Swierczynski" at BookPeople, 5 p.m. Sadly, it's just me this time... but did I mention there's free beer? So stop on over if you're anywhere near Austin and thirsty.

Postcard update: Struck out yesterday finding postcards. Will stop at roadside gas stations on the road to Austin to pick up some winners. I seem to remember one tourist trap-style place out somewhere near La Grange...