It's another hot day, with a wildland fire up in the Angeles National Forest. Yup, it's a typical day in southern California. But not so typical is the final day of the book festival.
We arrived early enough to wander a bit, pass out more bookmarks, and catch pal Cornelia Read, who is the blurber of record (so far) for Veil of Lies. Bought her new book The Crazy School and chatted, wishing her great luck as she is a fantastic writer and an even more fantastic gal.
My hubby and I were at leisure to do more shopping, where we picked up Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know and a book I've been wanting to read, Mary Roach's Stiff. You know. Light reading.
We finally wandered over to our first panel in the splendor of air-conditioned comfort, which was Starting a Mystery Series with Jacqueline Winspear, Sandi Ault, Chris Reich, and Sarah Weinman(m). Winspear has had great success with her Maisie Dobbs series, started about five years ago; Ault's debut novel is nominated for an Edgar and a second book is on the way; and Reich is embarking on series fiction for the first time, with many stand alones to his name.
The questions posed by Weinman sought to pin these authors down on whether they expected to write a series or not, who were their influences, and a little insight into their characters. It's gratifying to hear--even in such diverse voices--that it is the same with most authors, where their ideas and characters come from. Makes me feel I'm on the right road, indeed, when I can commiserate on these topics (for instance, when I was good and decided on the medieval noir theme, Crispin sprang forth whole, like Athena from Zeus's forehead, fully formed and ready-armed).
At the end of the interesting discussion, I finally had my moment with Sarah Weinman and gave her the inevitable bookmark. A very nice lady. Don't forget to pop over to her blog. You won't be disappointed.
I was late for the Julie Andrews interview with Pat Morrison, but did get my seat. Really wanted to see her as Julie Andrews was definitely a presence when I was growing up. Having a hankering to act myself, I spent a lot of time listening to records (yeah, records. Remember those?) of her Broadway performances of My Fair Lady and Camelot. I loved Camelot. I'm a mezzo soprano and can't quite hit her notes and, of course, I was never ingenue material. But it never hurt to try and I knew them quite well. It was a very heartwarming interview, with great encouragement coming from Ms. Andrews to aspiring artists, no matter their stripe.
After that, it was just a quick bite and we were done.
Snapshots:
- Working on the crossword puzzles and getting quite a few on the board.
- An eight-year-old kid at one of the comic book booths rushing over to a Batman book and exclaiming, "I've been looking for this all my life!"
- Strolling down "Wacko Walk" where the enthusiastic conspiracy theorists had at it.
- $5 lemonades
- Scoring great parking.
We'll see you there next year. I hope to be so busy signing at various places, I won't have time to see panels (maybe even be on one myself!). Cheers!
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