After Malice

It’s been a while:  I apologize.  It’s all too easy to think of a conference as being “just Friday to Sunday,” but there’s prep before, travel time, re-entry…and it all adds up.  Plus there’s new and exciting mayhem at home (but more about that shortly).

To recap:  Malice is always a hoot.  There’s always so many friends to catch up (and get into trouble) with, and new folks to meet (and get into trouble with:  hi, Charlatans!).  Friend and Fellow Femme Fatale Charlaine Harris (left) was the Guest of honor and friend and Fellow Femme Fatale Toni Kelner (right) ably interviewed her in front of a packed house. 

My panel, “You’re History,” was fun because everyone on the panel had worked as a historian, researcher, archaeologist and had used their experiences in their books.  And there were great questions from the audience, which adds to any event.  In the picture are:  Moderator Sharan Newman, your humble blogger, Kate Gallison, and Sally Wright; (seated) Kathy Lynn Emerson and Aileen Baron. 

I think my favorite panel was the one where the Guest of Honor and International Guest of Honor(Charlaine and Lindsey Davis), Lifetime Achievement honoree(Peter Lovesy), and Toastmaster (Dan Stashower) were asked by Verena Rose about their fan mail and fan responses.  The fans in some of the accounts made themselves memorable by exceptionally bad or good behavior, but everyone in the audience was riveted.

And then…there was playing hooky.  Yes, I know Malice is a short conference, and there is really no time to play hooky.  Except…knowing this, it becomes both a challenge and a point of honor to do so.  So, on various occasions when I thought no one was looking, I went to the Newseum, The International Spy Museum (because I don’t have enough books), and the National Gallery (one of my favorite museums in the world; brilliant collection in a space that manages to be both grand and human-scaled).

Every school bus in the world was on the Mall, because it was school trip or school vacation time for EVERYONE.  I had to be at my most nimble to dodge them all.