sunny, temps 70
Baltimore! Bouchercon. Such fun. Left home (and Michael) at 9am - drove to the Burlington Airport. First time using it. There are two huge advantages to using it over the Montreal airport - especially for trips to the US. I pass through customs on the road, don't have to do the awful Mtl customs, especially coming back. a nightmare. And it was hundreds of dollars cheaper. Flew AirTran. Direct from Burlington to Baltimore. What are the chances there'd be a direct flight, but there was.
Was a little concerned about AirTran, never having heard of it before. Expected it to be like AirBob or AirLouise. Some guys former cropduster or bush plane. But it's a wonderful airline. Big 717 jet. I got to upgrade to Business for 50 dollars. Which, of course, I did. Also upgraded my hotel room to Club level.
Ah, luxury. Anyway, the flight was smooth, fun. Relaxing. Only took slightly over an hour. Then waited an hour for the luggage. But it finally arrived and I wasn't in a hurry. Didn't have anything until the book signing at the Mystery News desk at 4pm.
The Sheraton hotel seems good. My room is wonderful. Big corner King...21st floor. Windows on two sides - great view. very bright.
I only had time to drop the luggage, register for Bouchercon and head to the dealers room. For those of you who've never been to this convention, it's a riot. Thjousands of mystery readers and hundreds of mystery authors. The authors are put on panels, then sign their books afterward. There's a dealers room filled with mystery booksellers from the US and Canada. It's like a candy store. For anyone who adores mysteries it's heaven. And, of course, being surrounded by people who also adore the books is wonderful.
Did the signing - met up with the wonderful Chris and Lynn who own and publish Mystery News, a real agenda setter in the crime writing community. They also sponsor and organize the annual Barry Aards, given out tonight. Lynn and I are having dinner together tomorrow night. She's a wonderful woman, and someone I'm glad to call a friend.
Next door at Mystery Mikes they managed to get in hardcover copies of The Murder Stone, so I signed three cases for them and they said The Murder Stone was far and away their bestseller today at the convention. I'm thrilled to hear that.
I should be going to the ceremony tonight to open Bouchercon and give out awards but I'm a little tired and tomorrow's a hectic day - so have just ordered a burger and key lime pie.
Talk to you tomorrow.
3 comments:
It seems we crossed paths this morning. Bill and I started today in Burlington, then drove to Ottawa(via Hudson, Que.). We kept seeing airplanes flying low overhead on the edge of Burlington and finally realized that we were near an airport. Maybe you were on one of the planes! We had a wierd customs experience as part of our journey. We crossed Lake Champlain on the ferry (amazing views of mountains with morning mist) and planned to drive up I-87 to the border. When we got close, it became apparent that the wait time was going to be ridiculous--2 hours at least. We backtracked and ended up following a country road marked on our map, but not by any road signs, until we came to 2 little booths on a road in the middle of the wilderness. It seems that the U.S. government has removed all indications of the crossing station, but it is still there, probably used just by the locals. Isn't it lucky that Bill is such a good map reader? Enjoy Baltimore.
too many cooks spoil the broth.
but Elizabeth's tiny border crossing stations on a back country road twig something ...
were these unmanned stations. can people just cross. one hears of these unmanned stations farther east, between maine & quebec. but perhaps the US of A now has digital surveillance equipment as they are said to have along the mexican border ...
hummm says hum. it might be nice to see a novel set in the gigantic quebec/us marijuana smuggling trade. grass not corn is said to be quebec's biggest ag export. there are said to be lots of cops & lawyers involved.
ok i'll stop with the stirring spoon.
Dear Elizabeth and Hum,
Love the cabins as national security. Brilliant to go through there. Elizabeth, the Lake Champlain crossing sounds beautiful.anke had a similar experience as we took off and banked over the lake...it was stunning...the water, the mountains, the leaves changing.
Hope the crossing into Canada tomorrow isn't too crowded...don't want to miss Michael's Thanksgiving dinner!
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