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The Claymore Award for an unpublished manuscript is awarded, with second and third place mentions.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!