Pictures from the BOSTON NOIR launch weekend

I've done a number of events at the Boston Public Library, and have always loved the place. Just check out the architecture.


The place was packed for the Boston Book Festival. This is just one of the lines, on a day that was cold and rainy. We were waiting to hear Nicholas Negroponte discuss his "One Laptop Per Child" program.



Before the Boston Noir event got under way, there was a green room for us: I'm sitting on the left, Lynne Heitman on the right. Standing, left to right: Jim Fusilli, Brendan DuBois, Russ Aborn, and Dennis Lehane.



The auditorium was packed and the signing line went on forever, it seemed...


...but the Noiristes were up for it.


And then there was the cocktail party. You can see some of the folks from the New England Chapters of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.


As if such a boffo event wasn't enough, the organizers of the Boston Book Festival gave us...

CHOCOLATE!

The Sunday event was at the Brattle Theatre. I was appropriately shod, of course.


After the introduction and the readings, we took Q and A. Left to right: Lynne, Jim, Dennis, me, and Russ.




And more signing. Both the audiences and my fellow panelists were really cool.


And did I mention the shoes? I only stress these because I spent most of last month in hiking boots and I wanted to get my girly-shoe card punched.


It's been an incredible pleasure to work with everyone at Akashic Books. It's an honor to be part of the collection. Thank you to everyone at the BBF and the Brattle Theatre.

Boston Book Festival and BOSTON NOIR!

Today is the official launch of Boston Noir, including my story, "Femme Sole." The launch will be at a special (ticketed) event at the first Boston Book Festival this evening, and will include readings by the volume's editor, Dennis Lehane, and contributors Russ Aborn, Brendan DuBois, Jim Fusilli, Lynne Heitman, and me. I am really looking forward to this; it was terrific fun writing the story and I'm delighted to be a part of the Akashic Noir series.

Also, I happen to know that Fellow Femme Fatale Hank Phillippi Ryan will be at the BBF--don't miss her reading and the open mic event!

Tomorrow, the celebration of Boston Noir continues with an event at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. You need to get (free) tickets in advance, so check out the details here.

I promise pictures when I get back! Hope to see you there!

Macavity at Bouchercon! On to the Boston Book Festival!

I'm delighted to let you know that "The Night Things Changed," my Agatha Award-winning short story (in Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner) won the Macavity Award at Bouchercon in Indianapolis! The Macavity, nominated and voted on by the members of Mystery Readers International, is named for T. S. Eliot's "mystery cat."

To say that I am honored and surprised is an understatement. I was nominated with Toni Kelner, Laura Lippman, Sean Chercover, and Tom Piccirilli, writers I admire tremendously.

I'll be sure to post a picture of the award itself when it arrives (Janet Rudolph and MRI are going green, and rather than shipping the awards several times, she brought an example with her. I think this is a smashing idea!). In the mean time, you can check out the pictures at my Facebook page, to see some of the fun we had.

Later, I'll be posting to the Femmes Fatales about what we all got up to--man, we were BUSY!

It doesn't stop there. October 24 and 25, I'll be participating in the launch of Boston Noir at the Boston Book Festival. Boston Noir, of course, is an entry in the Akashic noir series, and is edited by Dennis Lehane. My short story, "Femme Sole," is my first crack at noir, and I loved every minute of it. There'll be tons of events to support the book, so be sure to check out my appearances calendar.

What an autumn!

Where I'll be at Bouchercon

I'll be at the following Bouchercon panels:

Friday 9-9:50 SHORT, DARK, AND GOOD READING
Five of the 2009 Anthony nominees for short story and a previous winner discuss their
work. Simon Wood (M), Sean Chercover, Jane K. Cleland, Toni L.P. Kelner,
Kristine Kathryn Rusch

and

Sunday 10:00 am – 10:55 WOULD I LIE TO YOU?
S.J. Rozan poses questions to a star-studded panel of authors: Charlaine Harris, Ed Lin and Eric Stone. Three of the authors will answer truthfully. One will lie. Can you identify the liar? The audience will vote, and prizes will be awarded at the end of the hour.

And all the Femmes Fatales who are attending B'con will listing our collective whereabouts on our blog--we are a busy bunch!

Safe travels, and hope to see you in Indy!

For your Anthony and Macavity consideration...

If you'd like to read my Anthony- and Macavity-nominated short story, "The Night Things Changed," in Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner, the link is here.

The full list of Anthony-nominated short stories is:

“The Night Things Changed” by Dana Cameron, Wolfsbane & Mistletoe (Ace)

“A Sleep Not Unlike Death” by Sean Chercover, Hardcore Hardboiled (Kensington)

“Killing Time” by Jane K. Cleland, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - November 2008

“Skull and Cross-Examinations” by Toni L.P. Kelner, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - February 2008

“Scratch a Woman” by Laura Lippman, Hardly Knew Her (William Morrow)

“The Secret Lives of Cats” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - July 2008


And the list of Macavity Award nominees for best short story is:

“The Night Things Changed” by Dana Cameron (Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner, Ace)

“A Sleep Not Unlike Death” by Sean Chercover (Hardcore Hardboiled, edited by Todd Robinson, Kensington)

“Keeping Watch Over His Flock” by Toni L.P. Kelner (Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner, Ace)

“Scratch a Woman” by Laura Lippman (Hardly Knew Her, by Laura Lippman, Wm. Morrow)

“Between the Dark and the Daylight” by Tom Piccirilli (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2008)

See you all at Bouchercon in Indianapolis!

Chapter Four: Diary of a werewolf in Turkey (Ephesus)

(Editor's note: Gerry, sterling werewolf that he is, seems to be more concerned with beer and sailing than some other salient details. For example, our WGF (wicked good friend) Tess Gerritsen suggested this trip: in addition to being an amazing writer, Tess is a fan of archaeology, food, and travel. We were guided by the fine folks at Peter Sommer Travels (specialists in archaeological tours by gulet). Can you see how this was destined to work out brilliantly? Tess also has a description of our tour on her blog, along with her adventures in Cappadocia after. Now, back to Gerry.)

Although it is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the temple of Artemis at Ephesus is now almost nonexistent. Its marble and columns were robbed out to decorate other sites. Before, it might have looked like this (below):

If you look carefully enough, you might be able to see the cult statue of Artemis/Cybele in the back. Several were found in the city of Ephesus, and would have looked like this:


or this:

I dig a chick with architecture on her head.

The city of Ephesus itself, was HUGE and amazingly intact. It was one of the cities of the Ionian League and later the capital of Roman Asia Minor.



Not only do you have beautifully painted plaster walls still standing, like these (above),

but you get rows of high-style houses so well preserved that they have their own structure to protect them. It's also where the archaeologist do some of their restoration work. Nice gig.

And it's not only the big stuff that survives, like this temple to Hadrian,


or this major city roadway--imagine it filled with thousands of citizens, slaves, and visitors--but you also learn about some of the details of every day life, like this public toilet, below. Hope you get along with your friends.


But the best known buildings in Ephesus are still pretty neat. Like the Library of Celsus, below,
which made Dana and Tess downright giddy, and pose as caryatids.


To be fair, anyone would get excited about this place. Look at that crane--that's big boy archaeology!

And then there was an amazing theater, with much of the staging area and orchestra intact.


Some of the smaller artifacts are in the museum in the modern city of Ephesus.

This shows a battle, not with garden gnomes (check out the seated prisoner with the pointed hat in the middle), but with barbarians.
And this relief shows a bull tied to a ring on an altar, ready for sacrifice. Temples, like that of Artemis (above), had their altars outside (and you can still find some of those rings), so everyone could share in the offering. Barbecue!


I'm not sure I want to know what this one above is...

But I know a certain Herpet-American vampire who'll be very interested in the snakes in this carving!

Chapter Three: Diary of a werewolf in Turkey (Claros and Notion)

Claros, outside of the modern city of Kusadasi, was an oracular temple dedicated to Apollo. We werewolves are very interested in oracles, even if they're not very accurate. Or specific. Or helpful.


There's a lot visible of the temple complex (which also contained a small temple to Artemis), thanks to the diligent work of archaeologists who removed layers and layers of silt deposited by the river nearby. Pilgrims would have come from all over to visit the temple and oracle, sacrifice animals and ask questions of the gods.


You can see that the site still floods, and the water has to be pumped out. You can also see the remains of an ancient water pipe, running across the ditch (by the ladder). The site was used for almost a thousand years, and rebuilt seven times, until it was defaced by Christians in 385A.D.

The reason it was rebuilt so often was that it was one of the most important oracles in the Greek world, after Delphi. In this case, the oracle was probably located under the temple. It may be that if you had a question, you'd descend beneath the temple...

...and move through a labyrinth of narrow tunnels. Remember, it would have been dark and quiet, and very eerie. Think claustrophobia, flickering torches, the sound of water dripping, perhaps chanting.

The oracle might have been situated near the spring, perhaps drinking from it, to be inspired by the gods. Or maybe the oracle inhaled gases released by the spring, which also would have been pretty inspiring. The oracle would provide an answer in a riddle; the job was to provide answers from the gods, not translate them.

But now, there are only frogs in the spring. Don't know if they are prophetic or not.


There's a lot going on in this picture. There's a cave on the hill; you can see the entrance in the cliff, just above the house. This might have been what originally led people to establish a temple nearby. You can also see a HUGE fragment of the statue of Artemis on the left (compare that torso with the person in blue).

This is a fragment of the statue's foot. The leg, found nearby, weighs close to seven tons.


Nearby Notion was a strategically-placed city. Where there is now a floodplain, you can see where the sea would have been, centuries ago. Great view.


Although there are some remains still visible on the site--walls, an agora--they're not as plainly visible as on other sites. Here, for example, is the remains of a theater.

It's a little easier to see from this angle.

There won't be any problem seeing any of the buildings or structures at our next stop, one of the most important in the ancient world: Ephesus.

Man, I love this cover

I've been getting ready for Bouchercon and the Boston Book Festival and so have been sending the usual author photos and cover art jpegs. I just love the cover of Boston Noir. Although I'm not sure where this was shot, it reminds me of your standard springtime view of the Public Gardens, usually in full bloom, with the swan boats swanning and everything looking very clean, colorful, pretty, and ready to be on a tourist brochure. This is...something else. You can feel the cold, you can feel the slush seeping into your shoes. It sets the tone right away.

You'll love the rest of the book, too. I promise.

(Next blog will be more of Gerry's adventures in Turkey. I promise.)