Malice Domestic 2015 and Dark Shadows

Just got back from the wonderful writers and readers conference, Malice Domestic, held in Silver Spring, MD. What a great conference--lots of fun--and a lot of wonderful writers to meet and discover. I didn't do any sessions this year, I went strictly as a reader, but I sure attended a lot of interesting sessions about mysteries, such as police procedurals, British historical mysteries, and even humor in mysteries. That last one, humor in mysteries, featured a moderator I couldn't wait to meet: Kathryn Leigh Scott. For those who find the name oddly familiar, well, she played Maggie Evans/Josette in the original Dark Shadows.

Although I've meet a lot of famous authors or famous people, there are only two who ever meant something to me.

Back in the 80's, I was wandering around the gardens behind the Governor's Palace in historic Williamsburg when low and behold, I saw someone I instantly recognized: Isaac Asimov. I couldn't believe it. I was so amazed and in awe that about all I could do was to introduce myself and mumble, "I've read every book you've ever written!" He was so kind and gracious, even though I'm sure the last thing he wanted was to be accosted while trying to enjoy the formal gardens. To this day, I wish I had had my wits about me and had taken his picture.

For years, I felt he was the only meaningful famous person I'd ever met.
Until the Malice Domestic conference.

I attended the session on humor in mysteries specifically because I saw that Kathryn Leigh Scott was to be the moderator.  And I wasn't disappointed. It was a great session and even better, I got to listen to "Maggie Evan's" lovely voice again.

Despite all the years since Dark Shadows was on the air, she hasn't really changed. She's still just as beautiful as she was as Maggie Evans, although her hair is a bit lighter (her picture is on the right). And what was really interesting was that Kathryn Leigh Scott was just as warm and kind as her character had been all those years ago. What a nice lady.

The other authors seemed like a lot of fun, too, and I had to laugh when one of them, in talking about how she includes humorous elements, mentioned an incident that had happened to her in real life. Seems she was vacationing in a a remote cabin in the woods when a snake dropped down from the ceiling to land next to her. Surprise, surprise.

I didn't raise my hand, but I could top that story. I live in a log home every day and can't tell you how many snakes I've had to remove. Thank goodness my husband has snake tongs. Rat snakes, particularly young ones, love to climb and seem to particularly love log homes and cabins. I suspect that that is what dropped in on the author.

A few years back, I got up early to go to work and glanced over at my sewing machine in the corner of my bedroom. After one look, I shook my husband's shoulder to wake him up.

"Sorry to wake you, honey, but there's a snake trying to use my sewing machine. Can you remove it? I have to take a shower and get to work," I said.

You see, I didn't want the snake to escape, hide in the house, and then later show up in some inconvenient place. Like our bed.

And then there was the cow I found munching the grass around our mailbox. And the barracuda in the middle of our road, sixty miles inland from the coast.

Yeah. Lots of stories.

People have no idea what it's like to live in the country.

Anyway, after the Malice Domestic session (picture on the left), I got on my Kindle and bought the first book in a series Kathryn L. Scott is writing (the Jinx series). The first book is called Down and Out in Beverly Heels and I enjoyed it a great deal--I read it in two days. While most of it is written in present tense, I forced myself to overlook that (I loathe present tense--it throws me right out of the story) and I enjoyed the story about a mature actress struggling to get her career and life back on track after her husband takes her for everything she's got and then disappears.

Ouch. I can only hope Kathryn wasn't writing from personal experience. :)

Although the mystery is less of a who-done-it than a humorous, caper story where the hapless heroine tries to find her husband to see if he's really alive or dead. A few people die along the way and the ending has a nice surprise, so it does have mystery elements. Above all, it works, at least it did for me.

So...the conference was a lot of fun and I highly recommend it to mystery readers and writers. It's not too big and a lot of really interesting people usually show up.

Malice Domestic 2013

I recently returned from the Malice Domestic 25 conference in Bethesda, MD, and I had a super time. My sister and I both love mysteries, so we can get a chance to visit, do a little sight-seeing around the Virginia, Maryland, DC area, and generally have a good time. One of the best features, of course, is that we each get a bag full of books, many of which are from authors new to us so we get to sample new authors while going to interesting talks and generally schmoozing with the authors. If you haven't gone, I highly recommend this conference as it is on the small side and everyone is fantastically nice.

Harlan Coben and yours truly, Amy Corwin

In fact, during the author signing, Harlan Coben came over and spoke to several of us, which was really sweet of him considering that I (in particular) am generally unknown in the Mystery Author Stars firmament.

Exotic Locales Session with Dina Willner (moderator), Lucy Burdette, Aaron Elkins, Marie Moore, and Michael Stanley

One of the best sessions was about the use of exotic locales in fiction and all four authors were fascinating in their views of how the locale influences the book. I picked up several new books where the stories are set in distant lands since I have always loved to read stores set in other places. One of the authors, Aaron Elkins, really drew in the crowds and I loved to hear him talk about his process. He visits the places where he sets his stories and takes notes on everything, including local eateries (including their menus) and street views. I almost asked him if he had any relatives in NC since we are friends with a family with the last name and there is even a crossroads (Elkton) named after the Elkins. It would be really funny if they were related (I really don't think they are).

Maria Hudgins (Left)

I also got to catch up with several of my friends, including fellow Five Star author, Maria Hudgins, and Sandra Parshall who was the main editor of the Fairfax Audubon Society newsletter where I was a "grunt" typist eons ago.

Sandra Parshall (right)

While at the conference, I got to participate in the fun (but exhausting) Malice-Go-Round, which was like speed dating for authors. There were twenty tables set up with ten or so folks at each table and we authors got to run around to each table and "pitch" our books for 2.5 minutes. Whew. By the time I reached table 18, I was pretty well "voice-less" but I certainly got my pitch for my latest mystery, Whacked!, down-pat. (An overworked gal goes to house-sit for her aunt and uncle, only to find her uncle sharing a smoke with a dead man. It's up to her to prove her uncle is not crazy and did not kill the man at the bottom of the garden. LOL) Right now, Whacked! is only out in hardcover, but there should be an ebook version out next year (crossing fingers).

Liz Lipperman (right)

For fans of my historical mysteries, the second Pru & Knighton book (Second Sons Inquiry Agency mystery series) should be out by the end of June or early July. I still don't have a title for it, but it's coming! If you want to catch up on the first book where Pru Barnard is accused of murdering her host at a seance, you can grab a copy of The Vital Principle.

I hope mystery fans will check out Malice Domestic and maybe make a trip next year for the conference. It really was a lot of fun and there is so much to do in that neck of the woods. It is well worth the trip!

Aaron Elkins at book signing

Afterwards: Malice Domestic 2011

Better Late Than Never
Good intentions and all that--I attended this year's Malice Domestic in Silver Spring, MD, and fully intended to write about it immediately thereafter. Sorry. Life has a way of happening.

Anyway, I'm here to tell you it was one of the best conferences I've been to! I was so happen to meet folks who love mysteries, both readers and writers! And of course, I was thrilled to get a huge bag of free books. Free is always good, and one of the books was my all-time favorite Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None. Excellent.

 Several of the sessions included another of my favorite authors, Sue Grafton (pictured here but partially obscured by the microphone). She was part of a panel along with Laura DiSilverio, Jess Lourey, and Cathi Stoler. The panel, "Gumshoes with Gams: Female PIs on the Job," discussed the rise and development of female private investigators and it was great to hear all the different perspectives on this topic. I really enjoyed it.

I also got to attend "Things We Wish We Hadn't Written: Authors with Belated Second Thoughts" including authors: Dorothy Cannell, Margaret Maron, Nancy Pickard, Hank Phillippi Ryan and Elaine Viets. I read book by all of these authors and enjoyed them tremendously. It was a thrill to see them in person and hear them talk about their books. It's too bad, though, that they are such good writers that they really didn't have many bloopers to talk about. Really, I think I could have done a much better job as I seem to consistently say things that I really shouldn't. :)

I was also asked to be on a panel, "World Building: Making the Past Come Alive" (I'm the person in the green at the far right). The authors included Andrea Penrose, Elena Santangelo, and Elizabeth Zelvin. Our moderator, Sally Fellows, really did her homework and asked us exceptionally good questions. Andrea and I both write mysteries set in the early years of the 19th century (the Regency period) and had both written stories where a woman dresses as a man. It was fascinating to hear that both of us had chosen to do that because of the limitations Society placed on women of the period. In addition, both of us wrote stories sparked by actual women who chose to live as men in order to have the kind of independent life and employment they desired. Andrea's story is far more serious than mine (my Archer stories tend to have a strong, humerous element) but we both wrote our stories for very similar reasons. I'm glad our moderator asked Andrea to speak first as she was so eloquent in explaining that the Regency period saw the start of science and really, Society, as we know it today, so it's hard to resist setting a story in such a fascinating time.

In addition to attending sessions, I was able to meet up with an old friend, Sandra Parshall. Sandra and I used to work on the Fairfax County Audubon Society newsletter eons ago, before I got married and moved south. Oddly enough, we both started writing mysteries and are now, both published! I was so happy to see her again--she hasn't changed a bit in fifteen years. She was a terrific newsletter editor and makes an even better mystery writer!

I also got a chance to catch up with my sister, and we visited Mount Vernan as well as some local Virginia wineries. At Mount Vernan, I bought a small boxwood, since it's pungent fragrance brings back so many wonderful memories of summer trips to Williamsburg and Mount Vernan in the days when those places had just opened to the public. In fact, when we first visited Williamsburg, it was still being excavated and I remember buying their wonderful gingerbread cookies and wandering around the newly exposed foundations of what would eventually be the various historic buildings.

Sadly, I forgot my boxwood at my sister's house, but she has room in her garden for it and there's always next year! I can't wait to attend my second Malice Domestic and see what new authors are participating!

The trip turned out even better than I hoped.

Getting Ready for Malice Domestic

It's time for the Malice Domestic mystery writers conference in Silver Spring, Maryland! I'm pretty excited about it, but it does mean that for a second week in a row, I'll sort of be "off 'Net". Which can be a good thing. Not to get side-tracked from my main blog, but I remember a few winters ago when we had a severe ice storm that caused us to lose electricity for about 5 days. At first, it was a bit of a hassle, but once we got the old wood stoves cranked up and the generator to run the well pump, it was sort of nice to realize that even if we didn't want to be, we were off the Internet grid. It was a bit of a relief, actually, to be disconnected.

Anyway, I thought I'd just do a quick blog before I go off into the wilds of Silver Spring.

For me, conferences are all about learning. I'm lousy at networking and although there are some wonderful friends I hope to catch up with at the conference, like mystery writer Sandra Parshall (we used to work on the local Audubon society newsletter together many eons ago--right after the earth's crust cooled and the dinosaurs turned into birds) my main goal is to attend some of the fantastic classes.

What classes have caught my beady little eye?

Here's a taste of the exotic and curious fare:

1. Malice 101: An Introduction to all things Malice for First-Time Attendees. Well, yes, although this is not my first writers conference, it is my first Malice conference. And you get to meet a lot of nice people at these sort of intro classes.

2. The Poison Lady Presents Elemental Murder: Death by the Periodic Table. The presenter is Luci Zahray. I have to admit as a one-time biology major with a strong interest in poisons (for my mysteries, of course!) this is right up my alley. In fact, for my first mystery, The Vital Principle, I used Agatha Christie's favorite poison, cynanide. (No, I'm not actually giving anything away as you learn that in the third chapter, anyway.)
3. Things We Wish We Hadn't Written: Authors With Belated Second Thoughts. Yeah. This is a common problem for me. I almost always regret the titles I give my books, for one thing. And there are things that I write that make me wince when I read them a year later. It's nice to know I'm not alone. Of course, it would be just my luck to go to this and discover that I *am* actually alone in this and that the topic is something else entirely.
4. World Building: Making the Past Come Alive. I'm one of the panel for this one, so I sort of have to attend. LOL But I'm actually interested in hearing what the others say about how to write a mystery set in another era without making it hopelessly stuffy or inaccessible to the modern reader.
5. 
   Tea, Scones, and Death: Murder in the English Countryside. Most of my favorite mysteries are set in England. Don't ask me why. Nonetheless, I can't resist this topic.
6. Cold Winters, Deadly Nights: Murder in New England. After attending college in Northampton, MA, I can only ask--where else would you kill someone? In a book, of course.

Those are only a few of the offerings. I'm really, really excited and can't wait to attend the classes. Whenever I go to a conference, it's the classes that most renew my spirits and get me jazzed about writing again. Even if you don't write for a living, I really encourage folks to attend conferences. They are a wonderful way to meet writers and find out about all kinds of interesting things.

Well, I've got to run. My husband is looming over me, threatening me with a stack of unfolded laundry and I guess I really ought to pack, as well.

I'm off tomorrow! Can't wait!

Good News

Just got back from a business trip to Chicago and got the best news! My book, The Bricklayer's Helper, has been nominated for the best historical romance in 2010! Wow--I really can't believe it. I'm just thrilled.

But I need help to actually win, so if you'd like to lend a hand, you can click on this link: http://www.theromancereviews.com/bookvote.php  and vote for The Bricklayer's Helper. I'd certainly appreciate it.

I'm also happy to see that The Vital Principle, the first book in the Second Sons Inquiry Agency historical mystery series is now available on the Nook as well as the Kindle. It is selling steadily and already received a good review (5 stars and a lovely comparison to Amanda Quick's books), which I take to be an excellent sign.

Before I left, I may have mentioned that my publisher, The Wild Rose Press, has offered me a contract for my second paranormal romance and we have a title! Thanks to all my friends on Facebook who helped me weed through a list of possibilities, we finally decided on A Fall of Silver. I'm hoping it may come out late this year (2011) but you just never know.

Lastly, I may have mentioned that I'm looking forward to attending the Malice Domestic conference later this spring. I'll be part of a panel scheduled on April 30th at 4:10PM on making the past come alive. The moderator is Sally Fellows, and the panelists will include: Andrea Penrose, Elena Santangelo, Elizabeth Zelvin, and yours truly--Amy Corwin. I am so honored and thrilled about this. I'm actually more excited about hearing what the others have to say, because I always wrestle with historical accuracy versus the modern reader's taste, sensibility and knowledge. It's more of a pickle than you might think.

That's it for now from the odd world of fiction writing..