Bouchercon!! Bouchercon!! Aaaaaaah!!

Headed out to Chicago for Bouchercon, a mystery conference that is quite large. I'm on a panel with four others and the topic is "Write what you know." That would be precious little, so I've decided instead to make stuff up for my stories. I'm hoping to hit the Art Institute while in town. Looking forward to the Crimespree and St. Martins parties. There may be other parties I don't know about... yet.

I haven't got a book out, so it feels a little strange going to the conference this year, but I like Chicago and going can't hurt my career. Unless I do something really stupid. In any event, I will have a couple of short stories available -- one in Crimepree and on in AHMM. That should be pretty cool. I don't think I sent in a photo, so I'll probably be very ably represented by a cartoon skeleton or a raven or something in the yearbook.

Should be some fun, but I'll report back if anything happens business wise or if I get an idea for a story.

How About...?

How about a novel based on Viktor Petrenko? If you've read the short story, let me know what you think. If you haven't read the story then, a) read it, and b) understand it is NOT the ice skater.

Although that would be a nice twist, no?

Don Quijote, P.I.

I'm reading Don Quijote for a class I'll be teaching this coming semester, and I am struck by the fact that Don Q is essentially a Private Eye -- this is where the genre comes from. What PI doesn't tilt at windmills? Which isn't a knight errant? Which PI doesn't go out into the world righting wrongs, helping the little guy? Which PI doesn't sometimes get it all very wrong?

The problem with recognizing Don Q as a PI comes from the fact that Cervantes created the prototype as a spoof of itself.