Further thoughts on Left Coast Crime

A few random thoughts on the Left Coast Crime conference that bubbled up through the haze over the past few days:

• Putting on a conference like this must be a huge amount of work, but these folks did a great job.
• I'm glad I visited El Paso, but hope I never return.
• Free beer in the hospitality room is just plain cruel. Wonderful, but cruel.
• Fried pickles actually are quite tasty.
• Mexican food in the Southwest is so good that even the stuff served at a hotel banquet is better than most restaurants in the Northeast can manage. (One of the few things I miss about California is the food.)
• When publishers describe your book as "transgressive," that's not a good thing. (Definition: "Of or relating to a genre of fiction, filmmaking, or art characterized by graphic depictions of behavior that violates socially acceptable norms, often involving violence, drug use, and sexual deviancy.")
• I'm not the only guy at these things who is living off a woman with a much better job.
• I missed Victor Gischler dancing, proof that not only does God exist, but He is a loving and merciful deity.
• Crime writers seem to be an unnaturally tall bunch. I'm 6'2" and am only average at such a gathering.
• If James Earl Jones ever retires, Gary Phillips can take over as America's Leading Black Man with a Cool Deep Voice.
• Listening to an author read his/her work aloud can be an incredible experience. (I am still in awe of Jim Fusilli's performance.)
• As a group, mystery writers are among the nicest people you'll ever meet; which, in a weird way, is almost a little scary.

I just realized that I could be writing Larry King's column. Move over, you old fart!