Wednesday, August 28, 2013

What fun at Killer Nashville!

I attended Killer Nashville for the first time last weekend and it’s going onto my list of cons to go back to--every year if I can. It’s run by Clay Stafford, Tracy and Mike Bunch, and Beth Hicks. These people pour their hearts into this project and it shows.

I’ll begin with the Hutton Hotel. The layout was a little odd, but no worse than the one Malice Domestic uses now. OK, it’s a whole lot better than that. My room was on the small size, 

but look how many hangers they gave me. Enough to actually hang my clothes!



And I’ve never seen such a fancy bathroom--an all-glass sink.



Dr. D.P. Lyle gave a talk at the beginning and discussed Scott Peterson and OJ Simpson. He says Scott’s main problem was ego. A divorce (and a child) wouldn’t have fit his self-image, so he had to get rid of this problems another way. He says, as I think, that it’s obvious OJ is guilty, but that the evidence wasn’t handled well.

Our panel on Friday morning went well. I was on a short story panel led by Phil Bowie and consisting of me, Chris F. Holm, Robert Mangeot, and Suzanne Berube Rorhus. We meshed well together and brought some differing views to the discussion. I got an awful lot of compliments on the panel afterwards. In fact, I’m still getting them via email.

I attended fascinating presentations by Leo J. Maloney--An Inside Look at the Life of a Black Ops Contractor, Jon Jefferson (half of Jefferson Bass)--Serial Killers, Rick Helms--Forensic Psychology, Dr. Hugh Berryman--Forensic Anthropology, and Ernest Lancaster--Firearms for Writers. I also got to several panels.

The banquet meal was one of the best I’ve ever had at a function like this. I also have nothing but praise for the staff of the hotel. They went out of their way to cheerfully assist us.

The Claymore Award for an unpublished manuscript is awarded, with second and third place mentions. This year they were: #1 Terry Coop, #2 Jacob Appel, #3 Elizabeth Visser.

The Silver Falchion Award is given for the best novel published since the last Killer Nashville. I was THRILLED that EINE KLEINE MURDER was a finalist for this!! The awards went to #1 Sara J. Henry, #2 Alana White, #3 a tie with Molly MacRae and Jamie Mason.

After the awards were given at the banquet, I was surprised and Dr. Lyle was stunned when Clay gave him a shiny black Fender guitar! Then he gave one to Anne Perry, who was speechless. What a fun time!


Here are a few people I snapped shots of:

Vinnie Hansen and Julie Tollefson

 
Molly Weston
attendee w Nan and Dr. Lyle

My picture of Clay Stafford (on the right) interviewing Dr. D.P. Lyle is blurry, but that’s the only way my camera works at that distance, unfortunately. 


My shot of Clay interviewing Anne Perry isn’t much better.


The Guppy lunch on Saturday turned into a half-Guppy lunch with a bunch of other people, but it was a good time. (I don't think you can see me. I'm the last one of the left.)

picture from Paula Petty




I wish I could remember all the people I connected with, but I failed to keep a journal and the days mushed together. There were those that I had befriended online that I got to meet for the first time, quite a few, and that was so good!



18 comments:

  1. Loved getting together. Conference was excellent. Impressed with the picture of the sink...it, as well as the different ones in the various public restrooms, was unique for a hotel. Congrats again on being a finalist....from the one sitting next to you at the Guppy lunch.

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  2. I wish I could name the people in the lunch photo! The ones you can see, who were at the other end of the table, are people I don't know, mostly.

    Paula Petty is actually between us. You can see a small slice of my face as I was trying to get into the picture--last one of the left.

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  3. It was great meeting you,Kaye. I agree--Killer Nashville was a great conference, and I hope to make it back some day.

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  4. Since I'm a short drive away, I plan to go every year. Loved it!

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  5. Loved this, Kaye! Thanks for mentioning the Silver Falchion Award:)

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  6. You're welcome, Alana. Congratulations! I'm glad we all (I think) got the awards straightened out. The white board I snapped a picture of was wrong and I'm sorry I posted that!

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  7. Good pictures, especially the sink. Not the most unusual I've seen, but surprising.
    Glad you had a good time.
    Patg

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  9. What sink have you seen more unusual than this one, Pat? It's the weirdest one I've come across.

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  10. Wow, I've never seen an all-glass sink. Very cool. You've hit the big time now. I'm glad you had such a great time. I've got to get to that conference some day!

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  11. And I had lunch at the table right next to the huge gaggle of 'guppies.

    Author Randy Rawls, my hubby, Bill and I could barely hear ourselves think... !! LOL

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  12. Oh my, were we that loud? Sorry! You could have crashed. Dave did. :)

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  13. As a first timer, it was all that I hoped that it would be. I'm so glad that we finally got to meet, Kaye. I really enjoyed your panel on writing short fiction. It's something that I've contemplated, but never waded into. I might now.

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  14. That's a good thing, Ricky! It never hurts to try something new.

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  15. Kaye, the weirdest sink I've ever seen was at Poipu Beach hotel on the island of Kauaii. It was a gaint conch shell. Several rooms had them.
    Patg

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  16. That sounds very cool, Pat! It would be an awfully big conch shell--yikes!

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