September 8th, 2010
After a summer break, we’re ready to get back to our regular and outreach meetings.
Well, almost. In September, we’re meeting all month long.
Where? At Augie Alesky’s wonderful bookstore in Forest Park, Centuries & Sleuths, which is celebrating its 20th year in business in September. This is where we regularly have our Chicagoland meetings. Augie’s month-long celebration features so many panels and special events that we can’t find a time to have a meeting! But the good news (besides Augie’s 20th year) is that many of our members are included in Augie’s panels, and so, in a sense, we’ll be meeting all month. Stop by Augie’s bookstore at 7419 Madison in Forest Park, Illinois, sometime during the month and celebrate with him. The phone number for the bookstore is 708-771-7243. Augie can also provide you with information about the panels–when they are and which writers are on them.
October Outreach Meeting — Madison, Wisconsin
Come to Madison, Wisconsin, in October for the our Midwest Chapter meeting, complete with pizza and beer, on Friday evening, October 8, at 6:30 p.m. This will take place at Madison’s mystery bookstore, Booked for Murder, and is a part of the Wisconsin Book Festival. The following day is The Legends of the Fall, a full day of author events and book talks. For more information, contact MWMWA member Jerry Peterson at petersonjerry@att.net.
November Outreach Meeting–Magna cum Murder
The November meeting will be another outreach meeting, one that actually takes place a day ahead of November on Sunday, October 31 at Magna Cum Murder in Muncie, Indiana. The meeting will be at 10 a.m. More to come on our special guest speaker.
December Holiday Party–back in Chicagoland
The December meeting will be our annual holiday party, back in the Chicagoland area. Tentative date is Sunday, December 12th at Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore. More to come!
all month long.
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June 1st, 2010
Okay, we are soooo far behind in keeping this website current …
I hope that all you members have been kept up to date by reading your monthly Clues, but for those who are just visiting the website, let me tell you at least one cool thing … our outreach meeting in St. Louis on April 16 was awesome! We had a houseful.
Held in conjunction with the Missouri Writers Guild workshop, the program included dinner and a panel discussion on “Ten Things Mystery Writers Should Know About Publishing in the Marketplace Today.” Our panelists were (left to right in the photo below) author Raymond Benson, agent Suzie Townsend, agent Joanna Stampfel-Volpe, author Dakota Banks, and bookstore owner Ed King (of Big Sleep Books).
Want to know what the Ten Things were? If you’re a member, you can find my write-up in the May issue of Clues. If you’re not a member–or if you’re a member of another chapter–send me an email at tony perona (separated by a period) at gmail.com.
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June 1st, 2010
The May Meeting of the Midwest Chapter was another outreach meeting, this one held in Milwaukee. Ted Hertel (one of MWMWA’s past presidents) helped out the chapter by arranging for a dinner meeting, held at the Best Western at the Milwaukee airport. Our guest speakers were Ben LeRoy and Alison Janssen of Tyrus Books.
After dinner, everyone introduced themselves and members gave updates on their latest news. Then MWMWA President Tony Perona introduced our speakers. They immediately befriended everyone there by offering us free books, review copies of their fall titles. (”It’s like Christmas!” said Alison.) Then Ben gave us a brief history of how he founded Bleak House Books, Alison’s joining the company first as an intern and then as editor, and their break when Big Earth Books bought the company and provided them the capital to go from 2 books a year to 15 to 20.
In 2008 Bleak House Books had three Edgar nominations, one for Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Short Story. Alison holds the distinction of being the only editor to have accomplished having three titles be Edgar nominees in the same year.
However, in 2009, Ben and Alison had philosophical differences with the owners and decided to go out on their own. They created Tyrus Books and produced three books that year. This year, 2010, will be their first year to produce a full line, and they are very excited the ten titles they are offering.
Ben said that they are currently closed to submissions as they are working hard to make their books a success. They hope to re-open the submission process later in the year. Tyrus Books is mainly interested in manuscripts where a crime has been committed and everyone is dealing with the consequences. (They are not, as both Ben and Alison mentioned, interested in thrillers.)
The meeting was adjourned about 8:45 p.m.
Here are a couple of other photos from the meeting:
(Left to right) Ben LeRoy, Alison Janssen, Jon & Ruth Jordan, and Libby Fischer Hellmann have a talk before the meeting starts.
MWMWA members gather with our guest speakers for a photo. Back row: Ted Hertel, Ben LeRoy, Tony Perona, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Jon Jordan, Ruth Jordan, David Walker. Front row: Katie Vanderjack, Alison Janssen
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June 1st, 2010
We have a terrific lineup planned for Printer’s Row this year:
SATURDAY
Signings 10:00 am – Noon
Clare O’Donohue
John McEvoy
Jess Lourey
Betty Hechtman
Erin Hart
Michael Wiley
Workshop 10:30 am -11:30 am
Michael A. Black “Plotting murder”
Signing 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Henry Perez
Workshop 11:30 am -12:30 pm
Michael Wiley “Plotting your novel”
Signing 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Michael A. Black
Signings Noon – 2 pm
Luisa Buehler
Craig McDonald
Laura DiSilverio
Dirk Robertson
Wendy Lyn Watson
Helen Osterman
David Walker
Workshop 12:30 pm -1:30 pm
Libby Hellmann “Building suspense”
Signing 12:30 pm -2:30 pm
Michael Wiley
Workshop 1:30 pm -2:30 pm
Erin Hart “Writing the literary crime novel”
Signing 1:30:00 pm -2:30 pm
Libby Hellmann
Signings 2 pm – 4 pm
Sharon Fiffer (until 3:30)
Michael A. Black
Clare O’Donohue
Jack Fredrickson (until 4:30)
Raymond Benson
Mary Gruner
Workshop 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Michael Dymmoch “The importance of point-of-view in Crime fiction”
Signing 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Erin Hart
Workshop 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Luisa Buehler “Fact, Fiction, Fantasy – How real does fiction need to be?”
Signing 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Gail Lukasik (until 4:30)
Michael Dymmoch
Workshop 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Gail Lukasik “Creating characters”
Signings 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Luisa Buehler
Bob Goldsborough
Libby Hellmann
Signing 5:30 pm – 6 pm
Gall Lukasik
SUNDAY
Workshop 10 am -11 am
Dirk Robertson “Characterization in storytelling”
Signings 10:00 am – Noon
Michael Dymmoch
Sam Reeves
Michael Wiley
Bob Goldsborough
Erin Hart
Libby Hellmann
Tony Perona (until 11 am)
Signing 11 am – 1 pm
Dirk Robertson
Workshop Noon -1 pm
Bob Goldsborough “Writing the historical mystery”
Signings Noon – 2 pm
Michael Black
David Walker
Clare O’Donohue
Sam Reeves
Tony Perona (Starting at 1 pm)
Workshop 1 pm – 2 pm
Wendy Lyn Watson “Write naked”
Signing 1 pm – 3 pm
Bob Goldsborough
2 PM – 3 PM
MWA MEETING OPEN TO ALL
Signings 2 pm – 4 pm
Wendy Lyn Watson
Maggie Sefton (until 5 pm)
Sam Reeves (until 3 pm)
Sharon Fiffer
Tony Perona
Workshop 3 pm – 4 pm
Sam Reeves “Writing dialogue”
Signing 3 pm – 5 pm
Helen Osterman
Workshop 4 pm – 5 pm
Raymond Benson “Suspense in Crime Fiction”
Signings 4 pm – 6 pm
Sam Reeves
Todd Allen
Michael Dymmoch
Tony Perona
Raymond Benson (starting at 5 pm)
Workshop 5 pm – 6 pm
Sharon Fiffer “The accidental author”
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June 1st, 2010
As president, I was privileged to represent the Midwest chapter at the 2010 Edgar Awards held April 29. But it wasn’t just the Thursday ceremony that was amazing. I arrived on Tuesday and, as chairman of the PR committee, had the opportunity to hang out with a group of Edgar nominees and Executive Vice President Larry Light at Sirius Radio Headquarters, where the others (not me) were interviewed on the show Cover to Cover. Here are Stefanie Pintoff, Megan Abbott, and Larry Light at the microphones. Later, those three plus Peter Abrahams, who was also interviewed, posed for my camera.
After that it was off to the Mysterious Bookshop for the book launch for Crimes by Moonlight, the new MWA anthology edited by Charlaine Harris. The event was pretty crowded.
The next day (Wednesday) was the Edgar Symposium, where a lot more of the Edgar nominees shared their expertise with the attendees. The Symposium was recorded and copies of the DVD are available, so I’m not going to spend too much time talking about it. All I can say is that I learned a lot. Here are some selected photos from the Symposium.
Superagent Donald Maass presented a one-hour version of his “Writing the Breakout Novel.”
Hank Philippi Ryan moderated a panel on ‘Falling in Love with your Research.’
SJ Rozan moderated a panel on short stories versus novels.
The Agents and Editors party followed the Symposium. The event was free to all MWA members. Over 100 agents and editors attend the reception. Members had the opportunity to network with this group of the publishing elite and make new connections.
The highlight of Thursday was the Edgar Awards ceremonies. I hung out with the other MWA Board members, like Simon Wood, the Northern California chapter president, and Margaret McLean, the New England chapter president.
Current MWA President Laura Lippmann and outgoing president Lee Child did a great job of keeping the ceremony moving on stage, and Margery Flax (MWA’s Executive Assistant) and the Danielides Agency kept thing moving off-stage. A great ceremony that left me wanting to read nearly every book that was nominated! It was a terrific time. If you are able to swing it, you should take in the Edgars at least once!
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February 16th, 2010
Our Sunday meeting featuring Lee Williams and Helen Macie Osterman on how to get the most out of writers’ groups is shaping up to be terrific. Be sure to come by Centuries & Sleuths, 7419 W. Madison St. in Forest Park, IL (708)771-7243 , at 1 p.m.
In March, Raymond Benson has arranged a terrific field trip to the Headquarters of the IAN FLEMING FOUNDATION in Momence, Illinois. You will meet Doug Redenius, Vice President of the foundation, and curator of a whole lot of Bond stuff.
Raymond needs an RSVP of who all wants to go no later than March 8. There is no fee. Please email him at RBinPerson@comcast.net. If we don’t have at least 10 people, the event will be cancelled.
For more information, check out the calendar item.
Finally, Ted Hertel has arranged for Ben LeRoy and Alison Janssen of Tyrus Books to headline the MWA Midwest Chapter meeting in Milwaukee on Monday, May 17, at the Best Western near the airport. We’ll have more information on that soon.
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January 21st, 2010
Our hosting service is apparently having issues that somehow affect our site. We’re working on resolving them and we’re very sorry that the site is unstable right now.
We hope to have these problems resolved soon.
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November 9th, 2009
Bouchercon 2009, Elementary, My Dear Indy, has now come and gone, and the Midwest Chapter has much to be proud of.
Awards
First, we were well represented in both Barry and Anthony Award nominations. For the Barry, we had
• Sean Chercover, William Kent Krueger, and Michael Koryta; Best Novel
• Michael Stanley (half of which is our own Stanley Trollip) and Julie Kramer; Best First Novel
• Julie Hyzy and Max Allen Collins: Best Paperback Original.
For the Anthony, we had
• Sean Chercover and William Kent Kruger; Best Novel
• Julie Kramer; Best First Novel
• Julie Hyzy and Max Allen Collins; Best Paperback Original
• Jeffrey Marks; Best Critical Non-fiction
• Sean Chercover; Best Short Story
• Jon & Ruth Jordan and Gary Warren Niebuhr; Special Service Awards.
Those nominations make a great statement about the talent in this chapter.
And the winners were:
• Julie Hyzy, our MWMWA President, took home both the Barry and the Anthony for State of the Onion.
• Sean Chercover took home the Anthony for “A Sleep Not Unlike Death” from Hardcore Hardboiled.
• Jeffrey Marks the Anthony for Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography,
• Jon & Ruth Jordan won the Anthony’s Special Service category.
Congratulations to all the nominees and the winners!
Participation and MWA HOT TICKET
Because Indianapolis is in our chapter, we had many, many members there. I think I counted nearly 50 active and affiliate members, and we were represented on at least 28 panels.
Plus, our chapter ran the MWA HOT TICKET program, which enabled ten lucky fans to get an hour with one of eleven bestselling MWA authors. Among the authors participating was one of our own big names, Sara Paretsky. The program was a major success with both the authors and the fans. We received written thank you notes from Carolyn Hart and Sue Grafton, and all of the other authors expressed verbal thanks and said what a wonderful time they’d had. Many of those fans who won tickets said it was the highlight of their Bouchercon experience. Special thanks to our hosting authors who helped things move smoothly. They included Michael Black, Larry Sweazy, Libby Hellman, Jess Lourey, Julie Hyzy, Kit Ehrman, Luisa Buehler, Tony Perona, Raymond Benson, Jim Doherty, Ted Hertel, Deb Baker, Marlis Day, Albert Bell, Carl Brookins, Michael Dymmoch, Beverle Graves Myers, Joanna Slan, Jeanne Dams, Julie Kramer, Jack Fredrickson, Jamie Freveletti, and Sam Reaves. All of these authors had the chance to display their books and do some soft-selling to fans, hopefully gaining them some name recognition and sales. That was all part of MWMWA’s goal, not only to promote the chapter but also some of our authors as well.
In summary, Bouchercon was a huge success!
Tony Perona, Vice President
Categories: Hot Ticket, Meetings, Uncategorized |
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October 13th, 2009
10 Going to work on Wednesday
9 Going to work on Thursday
8 Going to work on Friday
7 Balancing the checkbook
6 Putting together a new bedframe for my daughter
5 Going to the hardware store at least three times because the right bolts weren’t included with the bedframe
4 Touring a high school my kids are thinking of attending next year, along with 10,000 other people.
3 Getting stuck in traffic
2 Writing the next bestselling mystery novel while everyone else is in Indianapolis! Ha! (Who am I kidding? I’ll probably stare at a blank page a while then watch the last Castle episode again online).
And the number one thing I’ll be doing instead of attending Bouchercon in Indianapolis: Picking up after the dog in the backyard, just like I do EVERY Saturday morning!
Have fun in Indy! – Tim Broderick
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July 21st, 2009
UPDATED 10/8/09 Oops! Bad email address in the last update.
To enter the second chance drawing for SJ Rozan and Joseph Finder, please email boucherconhotticket@earthlink.net. (Got one too many t’s in the email address in the earlier update, although I’ve fixed it now.) Sorry to all those who found it bounced.
Please re-enter!!!
UPDATED 10/1/09 Second chance entries for SJ Rozan and Joseph Finder now being accepted via email!
The contest for winning one of the first five HOT TICKETS for each of the authors has closed. All winners were notified and all those who didn’t win were notified that they have been automatically entered into the second chance drawing. You can submit additional second chance entries at the MWA booth when you arrive at the convention. However, there are two exceptions: SJ Rozan and Joseph Finder. You can enter those now.
Since the HOT TICKET events for SJ Rozan and Joseph Finder are on Thursday, October 15, the day Bouchercon begins, attendees won’t have time to submit their second chance entries at the MWA booth. Therefore, we’re now accepting email entries for the second chance drawings for those events. To enter, please send your name, your email address, your cell phone or home phone number (however we can get hold of you) and the author you’d like to win a HOT TICKET for (either SJ or Joseph, and yes, you can enter for both, although you can only win a ticket to one event, not both.) to boucherconhotticket@earthlink.net The winners for the second five tickets to SJ and Joseph’s events will be randomly selected on Monday, October 12, from all those who’ve entered. GOOD LUCK!
UPDATED 9/8/09: Got more questions? Read our Hot Ticket FAQ!
The Midwest Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) presents a way to win one of ten lucky tickets that will enable you to spend approximately an hour with one of your favorite MWA authors:
- Lee Child
- Michael Connelly
- Joseph Finder
- Sue Grafton
- Charlaine Harris
- Carolyn Hart
- David Morrell
- Sara Paretsky
- PJ Parrish
- SJ Rozan
- Wendelin Van Draanen
Explanation: You know what it’s like at a big convention. You’re dying to meet your favorite author, but he or she is always surrounded by crowds. Even if you catch them at a free moment, it’s just that…a moment. You can get a book signed or maybe even a photo with them, but do you really get a chance to know them? Here’s your chance.
Eleven bestselling MWA authors have committed to giving ten lucky fans an hour of their time in a small group setting during Bouchercon. Five of the tickets for each author will be given away before the convention, and the remaining five will be chosen there.
How to get a HOT TICKET: The quest for one of the first five tickets for each author begins now! Tell us, in less than 150 words, why you should get a ticket. Be creative! For example, tell us about your six degrees of separation from the author, or cite a quote from one of their books and what it means to you, or tell us the question you’ve always wanted to ask him or her. You have 150 words to convince us you’re the one who should be in that small group setting. Give us your best reason! Click here to submit an entry.
Second Chances: If you don’t win one of the first five tickets, don’t despair…there’s a second chance drawing for the remaining five tickets to each author’s event. Watch this website for more details on how to get into the second chance drawing, or visit the MWA booth at Bouchercon to enter.
Categories: Extra event, Hot Ticket, Uncategorized |
Tags: Add new tag, Bouchercon 2009, Carolyn Hart, Charlaine Harris, David Morrell, Joseph Finder, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, PJ Parrish, Sara Paretsky, SJ Rozan, Sue Grafton, Wendelin Van Draanen | No Comments
