Poisoned Pen Conference, 6/24-27

The Poisoned Pen extravaganza starts tomorrow! I’m packing my lightest clothes, recharging my camera batteries, and leaving lots of extra room in my bag for the fifty-odd books I know I’ll be lugging back with me come Sunday.

For those of you in the Arizona area, please do stop on by. The conference kicks off Thursday night with a reading by four authors at the Poisoned Pen bookstore and then moves to the Biltmore on Friday for a Georgette Heyer tea party, which I’ll be co-hosting with Jennifer Ashley,Stephanie Barron, Barbara Peters, and Dana Stabenow, followed by panels and readings on Saturday, including a late night reading/pajama party.

I’ll be discussing the upcoming Mischief of the Mistletoe in a panel on “Exploring Jane Austen” Saturday afternoon and reading and signing The Betrayal of the Blood Lily Saturday night.

You can find the full schedule below. Hope to see you there!

Thursday June 24 7:00 pm Edgy Characters: Three Dames and a Guy
at The Poisoned Pen

We have four authors, one a debut, one on book two, one reinventing, and one, a veteran, bringing us her first novel in a new trade edition.
Individual interviews with each author followed by ample time for Q&A.

Lisa Brackmann, Jodi Compton, Stefanie Pintoff, Zoe Sharp

Brackmann signs Rock, Paper, Tiger (Soho $24), an edgy debut
Compton signs Hailey’s War (Harmony $24) start of a remarkable series
Pintoff signs The Curtain Falls (St Martins $25) sequel to her 2010 Edgar winning Best First Novel In the Shadow of Gotham
Sharp signs Killer Instinct (Busted Flush $15) and Fourth Day (Allison & Busby $45) Introduction by Lee Child, the first Charlie Fox

Friday June 25: Georgette Heyer/Regency Tea Tasting
2:00 pm, TeaTime, 7051 E Fifth Avenue. $15. Registration required.

The Tea is full. We are taking no more reservations.

Limited to 15. If registration is higher, second session can be scheduled at 3:30 pm. Please state your preference when prepaying registration. Call 888 560 9919 (480 947-2974) or email sales@poisonedpen.com

Teas will be brewed and served, a short talk on teas follows, the slant being unusual English teas. Discussion leaders include: Jennifer Ashley, Stephanie Barron, Barbara Peters, Dana Stabenow, Lauren Willig.

Come prepared to lobby for your favorite Heyer, with supporting evidence like a couple of great lines. And suggest other Regency novelists you’ve enjoyed. We will compile a list. This will be fun for fans of British mystery as “Regency” is a very broad term.

Friday June 25 7:00 pm A Mash Up: Cozy and Noir
at The Poisoned Pen

Three parts:

Bad girls (the characters, not the authors):Blackwell, Littlefield, Matthews

Blending the past and present: Cantrell, Carrell, Koryta

A Little Noir: Hendricks, Phillips, and new, John Shannon, interviewed by Patrick

Juliet Blackwell, Rebecca Cantrell, Jennifer Lee Carrell, Vicki Hendricks, Sophie Littlefield, Michael Koryta, Jeanne Matthews, Gary Phillips

Blackwell signs The Cast-Off Coven (Signet $6.99), 2nd in her Witchcraft Series of cozies

Cantrell signs The Night of Long Knives (Forge $25) sequel to her Bruce Alexander Award winner A Trace of Smoke

Carrell signs Haunt Me Still (Dutton $26) The Tucson author’s second Lost Shakespeare mystery (Macbeth)

Hendricks signs Florida Gothic Stories (Kit $15), literary and dark, Introduction by Michael Connelly

Koryta signs So Cold the River (LittleBrown $26) — one of the hot books for june, billed as the new Stephen King with a book likened to The Stand. I’d think Dan Simmons….

Littlefield signs A Bad Day for Pretty (St Martins $25), bad girl noir sequel to her Edgar nominated A Bad Day for Sorry

Matthews signs Bones of Contention (Poisoned Pen $25), debut Fantastic origin story for this first time author (how she got to be published) and a book praised by Aaron Elkins, Jacqueline Winspear, Stephen Greenleaf, and Dana Stabenow…and me, Barbara

Phillips signs Underbelly(PM Press $12) and Orange County Noir (Akashic $16), Introduction by T. Jefferson Parker

Saturday June 26: Discussion groups
Arizona Biltmore, The History Room


2:00 pm Barron/Willig: Exploring Jane Austen;

3:30 pm Carrell/Stabenow/Winspear, The Modern Historical.

Note: both groups will discuss the author’s most recent work in depth so there will be Spoilers! Read the new novels before you come.

Saturday June 26: A Walk on the Wild Side in Mystery
6:30 Arizona Biltmore Grand Ballroom, 2400 E Thunderbird Trail Phoenix (East off 24thStreet between Camelback Road and Lincoln Drive)

Our night is still evolving. Look for Koryta to interview Hannah which should be a trip — they are two irrepressible rising stars, highly individualistic, I put them together to see if sparks will fly

A trip into Elizabethan noir with Chisholm, Stabenow, Gabaldon, and me
I have met PF Chisholm. You have not. She is a fantastic trip and generally wears remarkable hats, some with sweeping feathers just like those Elizabethan courtiers and rogues she writes about. The Tudors were definitely bad boys…and girls. So were their poets and playwrites and yes, spies. If you read The Other Boleyn Girl, here is what happened to her son and his kids.

NEW ADDITION!
Connie Mableson, a Phoenix attorney who specializes in copywrite law and is a film agent — she is Stephenie Myers film agent, or one of them, I need to check on that — is coming to do a short talk and take your questions on the wildly evolving world of copywrite and also movie deals. She says she has a couple of funny stories and loves questions. She will be part of Saturday night’s fun. I’m pleased for our authors to be able to hear this as well as you readers.

And then we’ll take a break to relax, brush up,hit the bar or the soft drinks in the Grand Ballroom, and settle back for Readings by the authors, questions, and our Drawing for the $100 Gift Certificate (each book by an attending author you purchase gives you a ticket to put into the drawing) plus our $75 Gift Certificate for the person who writes the best completing line for

“I Came Late to _______”

Barron signs The White Garden ($15): new Jane Austen for fall
Chisholm signs A Murder of Crows (Poisoned Pen $25; $15) 5th in her fantastic Elizabethan noir series with Sir Robert Carey, cousin to Queen Elizabeth and grandson of Henry VIII and That Other Boleyn Girl (Mary)5th in her fantastic Elizabethan noir series with Sir Robert Carey, cousin to Queen Elizabeth and grandson of Henry VIII and That Other Boleyn Girl (Mary)
Gabaldon signs An Echo in the Bone ($17) new in trade paperback in the Outlander series
Hannah signs The Dead Lie Down (Penguin $15) the latest from the “new” Ruth Rendell
Stabenow signs A Night Too Dark (St Martins $25) the 17th Kate Shugak novel
Willig signs Betrayal of the Blood Lily (Dutton $26) where the “Scarlet Pimpernel” style spy stuff discovered by the modern Harvard grad student takes us all to India under the Raj
Winspear signs The Mapping of Love and Death (Morrow $25) latest for Maisie Dobbs who investigates the possible murder of a map-making soldier in WWI trenches…

Saturday June 26 Let’s Read!
9:30 pm Arizona Biltmore Grand Ballroom

Nearly all the June 25/26 authors read from their work and take questions
Hit the bar. Wear street clothes or your pajamas. Mingle.

Sunday June 27 at 2:00PM – Karin Slaughter
at The Poisoned Pen

Signs Broken (Bantam $26) , Will Trent comes to Grant County from Atlanta to work with Sara Linton on a tough case…

1 Comment

  1. Carole on June 23, 2010 at 2:19 pm

    SOunds like you are going to be a busy little bee. ^.^

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