Rolling on The Rock

This weekend I took some time off from Bouchercon to visit Alcatraz, a.k.a. "The Rock."

As seen in crime classics such as Birdman of Alcatraz, Point Blank, The Enforcer, Murder in the First, and of course, The Rock.

Home to such gangland luminaries as Al Capone, "Doc" Barker and Alvin "Creepy" Karpis.

Here's a brief slideshow of my trip.

Reliable Sources Claim: BOW-cher-CAHN

This is a few days late... but Bouchercon was a lot of fun. Baltimore itself (shown above in a photograph I took last Friday) kind of reminds me of Philly, but with hills and much better crabcakes.

Poe Boy and I picked up Scott Phillips and made it down to B'Mo in record time. We didn't stay at the main B'Con hotel, but rather the overflow hotel next door--which turned out to be the former Lord Baltimore Hotel, a gorgeous vertical slab of 1920s swank.

As usual, B'Con is an insane swirl of people. People you've known for years. People you want to meet. People who want to meet you. People you've only met online. People you meet, and want to meet again. People you forgot you wanted to meet. People who meet by chance. All kinds of people.

Which means that it's really difficult to make your way to a panel down the hall without stopping and having a half-dozen conversations. This is not a bad thing; these are conversations with smart, cool, funny people. But it is an exhausting thing. After the first few hours, I really needed to go back to the room and just sit on my bed, stare at the weird gashes in the ceiling (no kidding, there were gashes in the ceiling, kind of like a rabid animal wanted to get up to the ninth floor in a hurry) and say absolutely nothing.

This is either evidence that I'm still the shy kid I was in grade school, or that I've been working freelance from my basement too long.

Some highlights:

* At a dinner for the DHS Galaxy of Stars (i.e., the clients of uber-stud agent David Hale Smith), a woman at the next table was convinced that I was someone famous. When I stepped outside to make a phone call, she even asked DHS if I was someone famous. I can only assume he laughed, and assured her that no, I was not someone famous. When I returned, DHS told me what I had happened, and I turned to look at the woman. The spell was broken; she told me I no longer looked like someone famous. Only my profile looked somewhat famous.

* I made Victor Gischler my last-minute plus one at the St. Martin's Minotaur cocktail party. I filled out my name tag with my real name; Gischler filled out his name tag with the word "Asshole." And he wore it the whole time. Gischler's my hero.

* During a lull in the St. Martin's party, I looked over to see DHS giving me the finger. I responded by grabbing my crotch. We have an awesome agent/client relationship.

* I would not bother with Fort Knox or some cash depository in the southwest. If I were to ever pull an 11-man group heist, I'd knock over Geppi's Entertainment Museum, which is packed with things that would look great on my office walls.

But the biggest highlight of all was meeting a lot of people who have enjoyed my books and comics or read this blog, and took the time to tell me. That means more to me than you may realize.

Even more than Gischler with "asshole" pasted to his shirt.

Boocher? Bowcher? I Still Have No Idea

Tomorrow I'm headed to Bouchercon XXXIX, the annual mystery fiction convention that can be pronounced at least two different ways. This year the festivities (and by festivities I mean drinking) take place in Baltimore, conveniently located just two hours south of Philly. I'll be carpooling down with my good friend Ed "Poe Boy" Pettit, who has the entire city of Balitmore gunning for his bearded head. Joining us will be one of my favorite writers, Scott "Ice Harvest" Phillips, who for some reason hit the East Coast a day early to spend time in Philadelphia.

I'll be on a panel at 10 a.m. Friday called "Watching the Detectives" along with Sean Chercover, Bill Cameron, Libby Fischer Hellmann and Harry Hunsicker. Then in the afternoon, I'll be at Geppi's Museum with a bunch of other comic book folk, including Greg Rucka, Gary Phillips, Brian Azzarello, Jill Thompson, Victor Gischler and Max Allan Collins. Stop by if you're free (and in Baltimore).

And if not? Well, check the Twitter feed on the lefthand column. I'll be updating whenever possible. Especially if Ed's cornered and getting the crap beat out of him by an angry mob of Balitmore literary historians.

The Nerdery Comes to Bouchercon

This just in from Jon Jordan and Bouchercon Headquarters. If you're going to B'Con, hopefully you'll stop by.

Geppi’s Entertainment Museum Welcomes Bouchercon Crime Authors Come to Baltimore

In celebration of the arrival of Bouchercon XXXIX, the preeminent annual gathering of crime fiction authors, editors, artists and fans, and in conjunction with Crimespree magazine, Geppi’s Entertainment Museum (GEM) will host a signing on Friday, October 10, 2008, from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM, at the museum’s 301 West Camden Street facility in Baltimore.

Guests for the signing at GEM included crime comic book writer Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), artist Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother), novelist and comic book writer Greg Rucka (Whiteout, Queen & Country), crime novelist and comic book writer Duane Swierczynski (Severance Package, The Immortal Iron Fist), crime novelist and online comic book writer Tim Broderick (Cash & Carry, Children of the Revolution), crime novelist and comic book writer Gary Phillips (Shooter’s Point, High Rollers), crime novelist, comic strip writer, comic book writer and filmmaker Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition, Ms. Tree), and crime novelist and comic book writer Victor Gischler (Shotgun Opera, Punisher).

“Geppi’s Entertainment Museum is something that every fan of popular culture should see at least once, if not more,” said Jon Jordan, Editor of Crimespree. “Crime fiction has long been a vibrant, vital part of American pop culture and it can be found in the pulps, comic strips, comic books, radio programs, television shows, and movie material featured at GEM.”

“The old walls between the world of prose fiction and non-fiction on one side and comic books on the other have been shattered in the last few years by people like Max Allan Collins and the other Bouchercon guests who will be signing here at the museum,” said Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg, GEM’s Curator. “This is a great celebration of that.”

Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, which opened to the public in September 2006, is dedicated the promoting the awareness of the inexorable link between the history of popular culture and general history, with a specific focus on the role of popular culture in the United States in educating children since the nation’s founding. The facility is designed to guide guests along its walk-though timeline, showing each of the eras of popular culture in detail.

The museum is located at 301 West Camden Street, Baltimore, MD 212201. Additional information is available at www.geppismuseum.com.