Bouchercon Memories

On Saturday, Judy and I went to see Drive. (I reviewed the novel here. If you don't have time for the review, there's a brief but interesting comment from the publisher of the book that's worth a look.) I wanted to see the movie because I'd read and admired the book, of course, but also because I know Jim Sallis a little and think highly of him as a person and as a writer.

I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Great cast, great look, fine performances (and gut-wrenchingly violent at times), but that's not what I wanted to talk about. See, thinking about driving and Jim Sallis caused me to remember the 1997 Bouchercon in Monterey. Jim and his wife, Karyn, were planning to fly into San Jose and drive down, and they invited me and Judy to ride along with them. So I've been driven by the creator of the Driver in Drive. Pretty neat, eh? It was great to be chauffeured by a great writer, and the conversation was good, too.

At the convention, Judy and I found ourselves in the Hospitality Room one day, and we struck up a conversation by a young writer who was sitting alone at a table. She'd just published her first novel, and since she had lived for a while in Waco, Texas, we enjoyed talking to her about her time there. I'll bet that was the last time Laura Lippman was ever alone at a Bouchercon, and while she probably doesn't remember the conversation, I certainly do.

But enough of the nostalgia and name-dropping. Paul McCartney once told me that it was in bad taste, so I'll just move along.