The Heirs of Anthony Boucher Marvin Lachman

had tea in the garden of mystery author Kate Charles.
Other Conventions
BuffCon (1995)
A convention in Buffalo, New York, BuffCon, was held only once, in May 1995. It
was organized by Douglas Anderson, who published a detective novel with a Buffalo
setting in 1993. The Guest of Honor was Lawrence Block, who was born in Buffalo.
EyeCon (1995, 1999)
Some fans, and even writer Donald Westlake, were wondering whether the private
eye story had grown stale, even moribund, in the ’90s. Gary Warren Niebuhr, its
most dedicated fan, put on EyeCon, the first convention devoted to that sub-genre,
in Milwaukee June 15–18, 1995. Sue Grafton was Guest of Honor, and Les Roberts
the Toastmaster. There were three auctions during the convention to raise funds so
Milwaukee County libraries could purchase copies of Hubin’s bibliography. Almost
all who attended thought EyeCon was a great convention, justifying eighteen months
of work by Niebuhr and his committee. Attendance was 325, including Naomi Hoida
from Japan.
There were panels
called “Dead Folk’s Dues,”
about dead writers, and
an Art Scott slide show.
Much attention centered
on the EyeCon debate between
George Kelley and
Barry Gardner on whether
the private eye story was
dead; Kelley said it was.
Bob Napier officiated and
even wore a bow tie, as do
boxing referees. Kelley was
preaching to the uncommitted
since people attending
a private eye convention,
especially writers in
that field, were not especially
open to his idea. He
hoped to prove his point by
giving out paper for the audience
to list their favorite
Cap’n Bob Napier (r.) declaring Barry Gardner the winner
of the great 1985 EyeCon debate.
private eye stories. He planned to use a timeline to show most favorites were not
recent. Unfortunately, some of the audience grew restive at what they perceived as
a pedantic approach and became rowdy, with several turning the sheets into paper
airplanes, which they threw. Some who were more open to being convinced, such as
John Apostolou, felt that Kelley might have had a better chance of proving his point
if he had stated, as Westlake once did, that it has lost its vitality, not that it was to-
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