NEWS FLASH: Reine Harrington Carter won The Immaculate! Marian will be contacting you, Reine. Congratulations!
The Wickeds did Malice last weekend. Malice Domestic is an annual fan convention in Bethesda, Maryland. We’ve all been several times, but haven’t all been there together for a couple of years. Panels, banquets, dinners, meetings, catching up with friends and laughs, lots of laughs. You’ll be hearing a lot about the weekend in the next few weeks, but for this Wicked Wednesday, here’s the question. What is your favorite Malice Memory of 2016?
Edith: Can I have three? I got to listen to two of my very favorite authors be interviewed as honorees and later get my picture with each. Katherine Hall Page was the Lifetime Achievement awardee – and she’s one of the reasons I write the kind of mysteries I do. Victoria Thompson was this year’s Guest of Honor – and she also writes about a historical midwife solving crimes. And then the great Margaret Maron moderated Julie’s Best First Novel panel, the panel she has moderated every year – and brought us all to tears with her farewell ending remarks, because she is retiring from the business. Three awesome, talented, productive women. Truly a Malice to remember.
Sherry: I have to share three also. Getting to see people I only see at conferences and catching up with them is first! I’m going to have Leslie Budewitz withdrawals since we’ve been at five conferences together in the last six months. Second, I signed next to the amazing Charlaine Harris — what a thrill and she is lovely! And third, I’m still new enough at this author thing that when someone asks me to sign a book I want to leap up and hug them.
Liz: Every moment at Malice is a fabulous memory. Just being able to be on a panel and sign books that people have bought is a fabulous feeling. Seeing old friends and meeting new ones is the best part of the weekend, and of course enjoying two of the Wickeds being nominated was fabulous! And agree with Edith – Julie’s panel moderated by Margaret Maron was unforgettable.
Jessie: I loved the interviews with both Victoria Thompson and with Hank Phillippi Ryan. It was such a pleasure to hear about their careers and the plans they have for the future. I also love being surrounded by all the positive energy that always fills the conference.
Barb: Seeing friends, especially the people I only see once a year is a definite. Malice-Go-Round was a blast. I remember what a deer-in-the-headlights I was the first time I did it. Also, so wonderful, the third New Author Breakfast including a Wicked in a row–Liz, then Sherry, then Julie. So cool!
Julie: Being nominated for Best First Novel was wonderful. I can remember the first time I went to Malice, and walked in the hotel alone, seeing groups of friends (authors I knew and admired) sitting together, laughing and talking. I wasn’t jealous as much as I could never imagine sitting on one of those couches, laughing. Yet, here I am, living my dream, seeing friends, meeting new ones.
Winning the Wicked basket at the live auction, meeting the Wickeds I hadn’t met before, having lunch with Wicked Liz. Can we detect a pattern here? 🙂 The panels and interviews were all very good. Great to see people I only see once or twice a year.
Thanks so much for loving the Wickeds, Elaine!
So great to see you Elaine. Thank you so much for bidding on the Wicked Basket! And rocking those socks!
I have to tell you, I’m sitting here crying reading this! It was such a wickedly wonderful weekend! I was thrilled to host a table at the banquet and to moderate my first panel. They were definitely big thrills for me. Seeing my dear friend and mentor Dorothy Cannell also made my weekend special. It also was lovely to have both of my writing worlds, Wicked Cozy Authors and The Dames of Detection/ Level Best Books, all hanging out together! I feel so blessed to be a part of it all. I almost forgot, meeting Mark and Jacki was also wonderful. It is nice to meet the people who are so faithful to this blog!
I feel the same way, Kim!
It was SO great to see you! You did a wonderful job moderating. As always, you also made me laugh really, really hard.
I aim to please! I always enjoy the time we spend together.
It was great seeing all of you there, hanging out with you, and getting to know you all a little better!
You are a class act Annette! It was wonderful to see you as well. Congratulations on the new book!
Aww, thanks, Julie!
I’d say I wished we could get together like that every week, but then we’d all be exhausted and never get any writing done. I guess we’ll have to settle for once a year! I had so much fun seeing some of you again, and meeting others for the first time. I love yinz guys!
I think my favorite part was the New Author breakfast. It was fun doing that short little interview. And the panel I was on with Leslie Budewicz, Daryl Gerber, and Nadine Nettman was fun. Cathy Ace was a great moderator. Oh, and signing books, too. I guess I had three favorites as well!
And the amazing thing is Malice brought us all together at some point or another! It’s always great to see you, Joyce!
Sherry, I love that photo of you and Charlaine Harris. So cute!
I love it too, Joyce!
Great panel!
It was a fun panel to be on!
Joyce, why didn’t you and I think to marry a guy with the last name Harris? WE could have sat there, too! 😉
Ha! I had the pleasure of sitting across from Charlaine at the Berkley dinner and right next to Ginjer Buchanan. It was great!
I’m on the Jungle Red Writers blog today and in one of the comments I was plotting pen names — Holly Ephron, Lily Burdette, Dorothy Crombie, Harry Phillipi Ryan, — what do you think?
Malice feels like joining a (very big) family reunion. It’s such a pleasure to be able to greet so many people, and have someone to talk to wherever you are. It’s also a rare privilege to get together with blog sisters face to face, even though we’re in touch all the time. Our Lebanese dinner rocked!
Oddly enough, one of my (other) best moments was when I had a face to face meeting with my editor, who is currently head of mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime, which is currently going through a lot of changes. He was very careful not to say much of anything specific, which I can understand. But it was important to me (and my cozy friends) to ask the hard questions and to see how he responded. I guess for the first time I felt like an equal partner in this enterprise, not someone grateful to have a toe-hold in publishing. We’re all in this together!
I’d love to hear what he said sometime if you’re able to share.
Sounds like a wonderful time. Now i must try to get there next year! Still, nothing beats Crimebake for me in the US!
Crime Bake is much more intimate and fabulous in a different way! But I hope you make Malice some time!
Reblogged this on Brand Fearless ~ Kim Fleck and commented:
Another successful Malice Domestic in the books.
For me the highlight was getting to meet so many authors I’d never met before, including the Wickeds and all but one accomplice. Hanging out with all of you was definitely a highlight of a great weekend.
It was really great to meet you, Mark! So glad you made it to Malice, and I hope you come back.
So great to meet you in the real world, Mark!