Jack:
Not to pour salt in the wound, but the program doesn't do the conference itself justice. The beauty of it was its size, or lack of it. We were all arranged at tables in a space the size of a generous classroom, and the collegiality was impressive and inspiring. The panels were interesting and actually informative. Scott Phillips and Vicki Hendricks and SJ Rozan and Reed Coleman and Christa Faust often fired questions to the panels or commented wittily or poignantly, as though it was one big seminar. (Poor Scott was teased mercilessly, but he's such a wonderful guy he took it like a trooper.) Johnny Temple and George Pelecanos were frank, smart and inspiring. Everyone was accessible and friendly. The city is stunning (though the Mummers Museum, where we had dinner Friday nigh, is populated with dummies dressed in costumes that resemble something a Persian astronaut with a death fetish would wear.) You not only met interesting people, you actually had time to talk to them. And on Saturday night, Vicki and Lou Boxer and Charles Benoit and a handful of of the rest of us went to a bingo benefit for AIDS charities led by two drag queens! (Can't beat that with a dick.)
Lou and Deen Kogan earned my lifelong respect and gratitude. An intimate, fun, intense, inspiring conference. Definitely check out 2012.
> Damn did I miss a good conference! And the next one's not until 2012!
>
> Philadelphia, here I come.
>
> Jack Bludis
>
> "Shadow of the Dahlia," a Shamus finalist novel at Amazon.com
> and BarnesandNoble.com New edition trade-paper, Kindle, and Nook
>
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