The next few months promise a bunch of touring authors, that I'm eager to see, headed my way. I may live in fly-over country, but so far in 2012 I've already caught bang-up live performances from the legend Robert Randisi (The End of Brooklyn), the unsettling Caleb J. Ross (Stranger Will) and the force of nature Benjamin Whitmer (Satan Is Real). And in one fantastic event in Chicago I caught Pinckney Benedict (Miracle Boy And Other Stories), Kyle Minor (In the Devil's Territory), Seth Harwood (This Is Life), and Anthony Neil Smith (Hogdoggin')... Still reeling from that one.
(I've missed Robert Crais and C.J. Box, but) tomorrow night I'm catching a wildly incongruous (but all the more intriguing for its Lollapalooza of style and voice) lineup that will be Reed Farrel Coleman (Hurt Machine), Sara J. Henry (Learning to Swim), Duane Swierczynski (Hell and Gone), and Frank Bill (Crimes in Southern Indiana). The week after I'll check out Les Edgerton (The Bitch), Cortright McMeel (Short), David James Keaton (Zombie Bed & Breakfast) and stand-up-comic/short-story hack/comic book writer-illustrator Erik Lundy. That's gonna close out the first quarter of 2012 strong.
Author events really run the spectrum from engrossing and engaging to cold and stiff, so here's who's coming through my neck of the woods soon, and here's hoping that the events resemble the former more than the latter... No pressure:
Craig Johnson's Sheriff Longmire has a lot to celebrate. Book number eight in his own series As the Crow Flies comes out in May and the new crime drama/modern western Longmire based on the Walt Longmire books premieres on A&E in June. Also touring for the eighth entry in a series will be Philip Kerr whose Field Gray has been nominated for an Edgar Allen Poe Award and he'll be here a mere two nights before the winners are announced, (he'll also be answering my nerdy questions about some of his lesser known work like the Isaac Newton thriller Dark Matter), and promoting the latest Bernie Gunther book Prague Fatale. While Ace Atkins who's also nominated for the Edgar this year is pulling double duty, The Lost Ones follows up last year's nominated The Ranger and unveiling his own contribution to the legacy of the late Robert B. Parker with Lullaby a new Spenser novel. Ridley Pearson may be participating in a panel on writing for a teen audience, but having read Lou Boldt and Walt Fleming, I will be demanding the skinny on The Risk Agent - the first title in (what I hope will be) his brand new series. Meanwhile, Alafair Burke promotes her new Ellie Hatcher title Never Tell, and Daniel Silva whose persevering Gabriel Allon er, perseveres in his twelfth outing The Fallen Angel.
Do you attend author events? Who are you going to see?
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.
