Appearing at Left Coast Crime

I am spending this weekend at the Left Coast Crime 2013 conference in Colorado Springs, home of Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods as shown above. If you are attending, here's when you can see me speak at the conference:

Friday 3:00–3:45 PM - Authors With Altitude: Colorado Authors panel

Saturday 7:30–9:00 AM - Meet the Established Authors Breakfast
Saturday 2:15 - 3:00 PM: The Sporting Side of Murder panel
Saturday 3:15 - 4:00 PM: Writing the West: The Rocky Nominees panel

I'll also be volunteering at Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America information tables. I hope to have a chance to talk to many mystery readers at the conference!

Left Coast Crime

Left Coast Crime is a mystery conference that is help annually in the spring in some location in Western North America. It is sponsored by fans and is held for fans, so they can meet and mingle with each other and the mystery authors they love reading. Past conferences have been held in California, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Hawaii, Oregon, and Alaska. This year's conference, Left Coast Crime 2013, is being held in Colorado Springs, Colorado during March 21-24.

I have registered to attend LCC 2013 and hope to be on a panel of outdoor-oriented mystery authors. I'm also looking forward to reconnecting with fellow mystery author friends and mystery reader friends. I hope some of my blog readers will be able to attend, so I can hang out with you! Behind the scenes, I'm working with Sisters in Crime to sponsor a cocktail reception and man an information table and with the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America to sponsor a reception. I'll also be putting together gift baskets/bags for the key presenters.

One aspect of the conference is to vote on and present awards in various categories of mystery fiction. This year's awards include:

THE LEFTY — Best humorous mystery novel

THE BRUCE ALEXANDER MEMORIAL HISTORICAL MYSTERY — Best historical mystery novel covering events before 1960

THE ROCKY — Best mystery novel set in the Left Coast Crime Geographical Region (Mountain Time Zone and all time zones westward to Hawaii)

THE WATSON — Mystery novel with the best sidekick

Wicked Eddies, the second book in my RM OutdoorAdventures mystery series, is eligible for THE ROCKY. In the book, whitewater river ranger Mandy Tanner discovers a murdered fly fisherman along the banks of the Arkansas River near Salida, Colorado. I hope those of you who are registered to attend the conference and have a nomination form will consider listing Wicked Eddies as one of your nominees for THE ROCKY.

I'd love to hear from those of you who are attending, so I can be sure to look for you at the conference!

Mountain of Authors

Last Saturday, I participated in the 5th Annual Mountain of Authors program put on by the Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) at the East Library branch in Colorado Springs. The event began for us authors at 11:00 am, when check-in opened up. For that first hour, we registered our books with the Friends of the Library volunteers who would be handling book sales, set up our tables, helped ourselves to the author and staff lunch buffet, and schmoozed with each other. I ran around during this hour and took as many photos of the participating authors as I could (see below).


Alice Scott and Bev Sninchak, with guest.


Jeanne Stein and Rod Summitt.


Stewart Green and Mario Acevedo.


DeAnna DeAngelo and Rebecca Dunning.


Richard Gibson and me.


Nancy Mills and Terry Odell.


Carol Hightshoe and K. D. Huxman (Karin Huxman).


Evangeline Denmark and Donita K. Paul (daughter and mother).


M. J. Brett (Margaret Brettschneider) and Jim Ciletti, the Poet Laureate of the Pikes Peak region.


Doris Baker and Parker Blue (Pam McCutcheon).


Mike Hamel and Barry James Hickey.

Then at noon, the doors opened to the public. Three writer friends served on the 12:30 - 1:30 PM Panel on Paranormal Fiction: Mario Acevedo, Parker Blue (Pam McCutcheon), and Jeanne Stein. Kirk Farber moderated. The panel is shown below.

From 1:30 - 2 PM was the Author Showcase, when each attending author took 2 minutes to talk about their books, and the Golden Quill Award was presented to Stewart Green. After a half hour break, when attendees could visit the author tables, the second panel was held from 2:30 - 3:30 PM on Publishing. Moderated by Tim Blevins, the panel included Doris Baker, owner of Filter Press, Teresa Funke, owner of Victory House Press, and Nancy Mills, President of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association. Doris and I serve on the Mountain of Authors planning committee, she as a publisher representative and me as an author representative, so we've gotten to know each other well. The panel is shown below.


After another half hour break for schmoozing, selling, and signing, Keynote Speaker Jerry B. Jenkins, author of the Left Behind series, spoke from 4 - 5 PM. He's shown in the photo below. The event finished up with a final book signing and reception, complete with sparkling cider and treats such as chocolate-dipped strawberries, decorated cupcakes, cannoli, cheesecake and more. Yum!


The hard-working library staff put on a well-attended and well-run event. I'm already looking forward to next year's Mountain of Authors!

Bike Path Discovery--Rock Island Railroad Roswell Museum

My husband and I were biking along the Pikes Peak Greenway when I spotted a sign that said "Railroad Museum" and pointed off onto Steel Drive. I said to my husband, "That's one museum I've never been to. In fact, I've never heard of it." He suggested we go check it out, so we did. Boy, did we find a hidden gem!

Did you know that there used to be a town named Roswell in Colorado, which was annexed into Colorado Springs? And that the Rock Island Railroad operated a roundhouse and repair yard in that small town, at the end of one of its lines? And that the remaining portion of that roundhouse contains a railroad and streetcar museum chock full of old photographs, artifacts, maps, books, and model trains and layouts? That they have 500 feet of active track along which they can run a restored trolley car which you can ride? That the grounds are littered with antique rail cars, streetcars, and locomotives?

What a treasure trove of history! And the passionate guys working on restoring the cars are a treasure trove of information themselves. They just love to talk about the history of railroads!

The museum is open Monday - Saturday, 9:30 am - 4:00 pm, and is located at 2333 Steel Drive. Admission is only $5 for adults. Check it out! We can't wait to return with our cameras. For more information, go to the website of the Pikes Peak Historical Street Railway Foundation, one of three historical foundations that share the grounds and whose members restore trolleys and rail cars.

Now, if I could only figure out some way to incorporate all this into one of my mystery novels--maybe stash a dead body in one of the rail cars?