Highlights of Malice Domestic 2009

It's been an absolute whirlwind weekend - this is the first time I've been online in 72 hours! (The withdrawal symptoms have almost passed...)

I'm tired and I want to catch up, so just highlights, starting with Notable Quotes:

The T-shirt I couldn't resist buying: "...And then Buffy staked Edward. The end."

The Poison Lady (Lucy Zahray) whose speech was as always, fascinating, informative, and fun: "Just because it's organic doesn't mean it's safe... my best shopping [for deadly poisons] is at organic stores."

Also the Poison Lady, discussing people being overcome by poisonous gas and then their rescuers dying as well. "The record is five. Five! If I saw three men lying dead, I wouldn't run in there to save them!"

Maria Lima (chickwriter) on horror and the supernatural (aka "woo woo"): "Horror doesn't have to be woo woo. The scariest thing I ever read was The Lottery and there's no supernatural in it."

Mary Stanton on notable things that have happened at signings: a nine-year old slapping one of her books down and saying, "Can you make these more interesting?"

Elaine Viets on discovering the kink of "pedal pushing" little films of women pumping gas pedals in high heels: "I thought y'know, they're paid $3,000 for this and royalties are down..."

Carole Nelson Douglas (in character as Irene Adler) being asked: "You're Sherlock Holmes' 'Only Woman.' In your association with him, have you run across that slut, Mary Russell?"

Parnell Hall (in full drag as his sleuth character, asked if he wore funny clothes at home): "What funny clothes? (He would go on to do his signing without changing.)

( I enjoyed... )

It was a good con. A quiet one, with the economy - some of the people who haven't missed in years weren't there - and next year may well be quieter. (I simply could not afford the membership, even at the preregistration discount.) But in a couple of years, if it's still around, I'll be back like a shot.

(And the Poison Lady has given me some story ideas...)

Oh, and to round out the mystery theme, my review for the audiobook of Afraid is up on Reviewing the Evidence.