On May 31, I saw Craig Johnson, creator of the Longmire series, at Main Point Books in Wayne, PA. The event was one of Craig’s stops on his launch tour for the twenty-second Longmire book, The Brothers McKay. As always, Craig told marvelous stories and kept us all laughing.
The third annual ShortCon, the “premier conference for writers of short crime fiction,” was held at Elaine’s Restaurant in Alexandria, VA, on June 6. Author Gary Phillips led two morning sessions focusing on character building, what they say and what they do, and how everything leads to the all-important twist. Michele Slung, Otto Penzler’s first reader, began the afternoon by talking about her many years of experience putting together best-of-year anthologies. In the last session, author Art Taylor addressed using short stories to build full-length novels. The ShortCon organizers are Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson.