BoucherCon Revisited (IV)

(BoucherCon San Francisco starts in three days—take a look at the schedule, and you can always get day passes.  Here’s another memory from a BoucherCon past.)

Seattle, BoucherCon 1994, had some sun.  Not LA-in-summer type sun, but still—I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest, and I know what a treasure blue skies are in October.  I went in part because A Grave Talent was nominated for a Best First Anthony award, losing to Nevada Barr’s fabulous Track of the Cat.

But I don’t remember any sense of loss, and I only vaguely remember meeting a number of people (Nevada, and Sue Grafton.)  My strongest memory is of a book cover.

My third book would be out four months later, and in those pre-Internet days, the first time an author tended to see cover art was when it was on a cover.  The year before, I’d had strong objections to the image for Beekeeper’s Apprentice (you can see that original cover here) and, thanks be on their heads, St Martin’s had changed it.  This year, I had a late afternoon meeting in Seattle with my SMP editor, the blessed Ruth Cavin, and she gave me the cover for To Play the Fool.

Any trepidation I had vanished at the sight of one of my favorite covers of all times.  And that has meant that my strongest impression of the Seattle BCon was: standing outside the hotel in the evening, talking to Nevada who just happened to come out at the same time, and gloating over that beautiful cover:

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1 Comment

  1. Margaret Wood on October 11, 2010 at 2:51 pm

    To Play the Fool is my favorite among the Martinellis and the most often reread (re-listened to). That first cover is GORGEOUS!

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