Gettin' Ready

THREE DAYS! THREE DAYS to San Francisco and 2010's Bouchercon. I've been a bit crazy getting ready: preparing for my panel, finishing up the memoir scrapbooks for the authors who will be at the convention, making arrangements for my critters while I'm gone...you know, all that fun stuff. Today is going to be a day of laundry, packing and dog washes.

While I'm doing all that craziness, however, you can be checking out the fantastic signing line-up at the Bouchercon 2011/Crimespree table. Authors will be available at the following times to sign for you. There will not be books available at the table, but we will be in the book room and there are gads of booksellers there all too happy to accommodate you. Or you can bring your own books from home. Heck, some of the authors might even be willing to sign YOU if you ask nice. I hear those literary tattoos are all the rage these days. But, I digress, here's the entire schedule as it stands:

Thursday:

Kelli Stanley - 11:00 a.m.
Tasha Alexander - 11:00
Libby Fischer Hellmann - 2:30
Martyn Waites - 3:00
Todd Ritter - 3:00
Brett Battles - 3:30
Stephen Jay Schwartz - 3:30
Meg Gardiner - 4:00

Friday:

Val McDermid - 10:30
Meredith Cole - 11:00
Rebecca Cantrell - 11:00
Joe Finder - 11:30
Jonathan King - 12:00*
Duane Swierczynski - 12:30
David Corbett - 1:00
Shane Gericke - 1:00
Toby Ball - 1:30
Hilary Davidson - 2:00
Douglas Corleone - 2:00
Lou Berney - 2:30
Cara Black - 2:30
Steve Hockensmith - 3:00
Sophie Littlefield - 3:00
Juliet Blackwell - 3:00
Christa Faust - 3:30
Carla Buckley - 3:30

Saturday:

Alafair Burke - 10:00
Bill Crider - 10:30
Marcus Sakey - 11:00
R.J. Ellory - 11:00
Brad Parks - 11:00
Hank Phillippi Ryan - 11:30
Andrew Grant - 11:30
Bryan Gruley - 12:00
Ken Bruen - 2:00**
Reed Farrel Coleman - 2:00**
Michelle Gagnon - 2:00
Megan Abbott - 3:00
Sara Gran - 3:00

*Jonathon King will have free USB drives with video and a sample chapter from his new book Midnight Guardians, the fifth book in his Edgar-winning Max Freeman series.

** Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman will be signing together at the table. We have been informed that this is the only formal signing they will do together. Come get your copies of TOWER signed by both authors at the same time!

You can also sign up for Bouchercon 2011 while you're at the table! The registration price will be $150 until January 1st. Plus, if you register by January 1st you get the discount rate in addition to a chance at some free books. There have been some extremely luscious donations of books - lots of books - to be raffled off to early registrants. As you can see, this is THE place to be. And if you aren't coming to Bouchercon this year, you can stop by the website to register for next year's blowout in St. Louis. Registration online or by mail before January 1st also makes you eligible for the discounted registration and the book raffle.

O.k. so that's the lowdown on Bouchercon for right now. I have not had time to prepare my interview with Hilary Davidson yet. I got new editing software, so I'm having to learn how to use it as I go, but that will be coming up in the not too distant future, as well as some video from Bouchercon.

Not sure if you know about this, but HARDCOVER MYSTERIES will have its first episode on Monday. It's on the Discovery Channel and they have a phenomenal line-up of authors who are going to be highlighted on this series. You can check out information on the website and the show debuts at 9:00p.m. Eastern tomorrow.

If I'm able, I'll get some photos posted from San Francisco, but blog posts will be light overall until I return. When I return, count on lots of recap! In the meantime, here are a few still shots I took from Hilary's event in Pennsylvania. Have a great week everyone!