by Dana
So here I am. Not at Bouchercon, like many of the Femmes Fatales, like so many of my friends. At the moment, I'm actually at New York Comic-Con 2015, promoting my Fangborn series and Seize the Night, a collection of short stories of terrifying vampires that includes my first horror story, “Whiskey and Light.”
It's the first time since 2002 and the publication of my first two Emma Fielding archaeology mysteries, and my first Bouchercon in Austin, TX, that I've missed out on B'con. It's a strange feeling. If you'd suggested to me thirteen years ago that I'd be writing urban fantasy in addition to traditional mystery, and noir, and historical mystery, and thrillers, and, whoa, hey, erotica, and science fiction, and horror and Sherlockian pastiche and a whole bunch of other stuff, I would have laughed in your face. I would have said, “I'm an academic, I stick to reality even when I'm writing fiction.” If you'd have told me I would be writing short stories—the prospect of which filled me with terror as a writer—I would have said, I can't write anything under 300 pages. Not emails, not grocery lists, not birthday cards.
And yet, here I am.
Thing is, it all makes a kind of sense. I wanted to be a writer from a very early age, and yet did not like the idea of having “experiences” like running with the bulls or bar fights that I believed writers needed to have. Archaeology made sense—and, coincidentally, it also trained me to tell stories about people and why they do things. And when an unanticipated “experience” happened in the course of doing archaeology, it actually brought me back to the idea of writing fiction—crime fiction. And being asked by my dear friends and Fellow Femmes Charlaine and Toni to write a werewolf story—that was just a side effect of having written mysteries. And that led to trying other genres, all of which I'd always loved but didn't think I had the guts to write my own. Those short stories led to others, and to the Fangborn novels.
See? It really does makes sense.
And while I'll miss hugging my way across the conference lobby at B'con, I'm looking forward to hugs at NYCC. I have friends here, too, some from the mystery community, and some I met along the way. It's an even bigger family, now, just...spread out across country and across genres. But all rooted in my mystery background.
It's just getting better.
So I've packed my best t-shirts. I'll hoist a glass to my friends in Raleigh, and I'll toast my friends here in NYC. I'll do some business and have some fun and keep my fingers crossed during the Anthony Awards—wishing all the nominees the very best of luck.
It's not the journey I expected, but it is wonderful, and I hope everyone in Raleigh and NYC is having fabulous time.
Too bad you can't beam yourself back and forth between the two! Have a great time in NY.
Kathy/Kaitlyn (at B'con)
Posted by: Kathy Lynn Emerson | October 09, 2015 at 06:35 AM