Prepping For Malice

by Sybil Johnson

No, I’m not preparing to commit bad acts. I’m heading to Malice Domestic next week (April 25-27). I am very much looking forward to it, even if there's a 3 hour time difference.

I love Malice. It’s a fan convention devoted to celebrating traditional and cozy mysteries, my favorite kind of crime novels. There are generally around 800 attendees. I would count it as a medium size convention. Some call it small. I’ve been to the California Crime Writers conference, which has around 200 people. I’ve also been to Left Coast Crime and Bouchercon a few times. The last time I went to Bouchercon was in San Diego. I heard it had a whopping 1700 attendees.

At Bouchercon and Left Coast, I feel like cozies get lost in the shuffle. Though this does seem to be changing a bit. They are also often degraded by some attendees. I know at Malice that I don’t have to worry about someone making snarky comments about the kind of books I write and love to read.

This time around I am doing the Malice Go-Round, aka Speed Dating with Authors. Two authors go table to table. Each has 2 minutes to talk about their books. Then it’s off to the next table. There are 20 tables plus a rest table. So the key is to start around table 10 or 11 so you get your rest halfway through. I’m hoping I’ll be able to do that this time around, but who knows.

Some people memorize a prepared script. After doing this many times, I’ve decided that just knowing what points I want to make works better for me. I am busy doing practice runs to see what I can get into 2 minutes.

The Agatha Award banquet is optional. I know people who attend Malice, but don’t go to the banquet because they aren’t interested in the awards. I do enjoy seeing who wins, but I mostly go because you never know who’s going to be at your table. I hosted a table once with Kathleen Valenti. We had a great time.

I pretty much root for everyone when it comes to the awards. I know a lot of the people nominated. This time, though, I contributed to one of the nominated books so I’m hoping it wins. Nominated for Best Non-fiction: Writing the Cozy Mystery: Authors' Perspectives On Their Craft edited by Phyllis M. Betz

I have been lucky to be assigned a panel every year I’ve attended Malice as an author. This year I’m on a short story panel on Sunday morning moderated by Barb Goffman who edited the anthology I’m in, Angel City Beat. The panel is called “Short Fiction – How Readers Influence the Craft. Also on the panel are Paul Awad, Tina Kashian, P.M. Raymond. I’ve never been on a short story panel before. Should be interesting.

I’m also looking forward to seeing people I haven’t seen in a while and meeting new fans and authors.

 Besides wandering the halls, I will be here:

• Friday, April 25: 10am-11:45am Malice Go-Round 
• Sunday, April 27: 10am Signing time 
• Sunday, April 27: 11 am-11:50am short story panel 

If you’re attending Malice, stop me in the hall and say hi.