Mystery Writers of America

April Meeting in St. Louis

Tony — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:58:31 +0000

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.

May 17th Outreach meeting in Milwaukee

Tony — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:45:19 +0000

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

Printer’s Row authors and workshops

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:00:10 +0000

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”

The Edgars

Tony — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:09:22 +0000

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!

Midwest meetings, update

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:30:17 +0000

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.

Weekend at MWA national

Tony — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:37:10 +0000

Hey, Tony Perona here. I just wanted to let everyone know that the reason I missed the January meeting in Chicago was because I was at the MWA Board meeting in NYC., which proved to be an incredible experience. Those of us new to the Board received excellent training from national, and it’s going to be a big help knowing the presidents in the other chapters. Already we’ve traded ideas on how to approach certain situations. MWA is a great organization, and everyone on the Board wants to make it even stronger.

We’ve got some very cool things going on right here in the Midwest chapter: Tim Broderick’s got the February meeting scheduled with a panel discussion on writers’ groups and how to get the most out of them; Board member Claire Applewhite and I are working on an outreach meeting in St. Louis for April with a panel discussion on “Ten Things Mystery Writers Should Know about Publishing in the Marketplace Today.” And Ted Hertel is working on another outreach meeting in Milwaukee for May, with Ben LeRoy and Alison Janssen of Tyrus Books. And Julie Hyzy is working on Printers Row for June. For those of you who don’t know about Printers Row, it’s a book festival in downtown Chicago where people who love books go to buy books from people who write books–people like us! So watch for more on all of these things.

The Midwest Chapter’s Board is meeting this month to talk about our goals for this year and the future, and that means figuring out how to add more value to MWA membership. We’ll be looking for new ideas, so expect to see more from us coming soon!

A look at upcoming MWMWA meetings

Tony — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:15:30 +0000

Sunday, February 21

Location: Centuries & Sleuths, Forest Park, IL
Time: 1 p.m.
Panel Discussion: How to Get the Most out of Writers’ Groups
Panelists: Lee Williams and Helen Macie Osterman and more!

Sunday, March 21

Location: Centuries & Sleuths, Forest Park, IL
Time: 1 p.m.
Topic: To be determined

Friday, April 16 Outreach meeting in St. Louis

Location: Drury Plaza Hotel, 355 Chesterfield Center East, Chesterfield, MO
Time: 5:30 Dinner ($25), 6:15 Program
Program: Panel Discussion: Ten Things Mystery Writers Should Know about Publishing in the Marketplace Today
Panelists: will be announced soon.

Coming in May: Outreach meeting in Milwaukee

Details to be announced soon.

Back up and running

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:37:01 +0000

OK, we’re back up and running at a new site mwamidwest.com.
Don’t worry about updating your links though, when things finally are settled both .org and .com will point to this site.

Technical difficulties

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:51:08 +0000

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.

Bouchercon 2009 report

Tony — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:11:35 +0000

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