The Heirs of Anthony Boucher Marvin Lachman

30 Bouchercon:
21st Century
Bouchercon: 21st Century
2000: Denver
Because it can snow in Denver even in late September, Tom Schantz and Rebecca
Bates, co-chairpersons, wisely scheduled the 2000 Bouchercon for September 7–10.
(There is debate over when the 21st century began, but for convenience I have placed
the 2000 Bouchercon in that century.) The setting was the Adam’s Mark Hotel, and
attendance was about 1,250. Elmore Leonard was Guest of Honor, and Jane Langton
received a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The program book recognized that the primary interest of many (possibly most)
attendees was recent mysteries. However, it said in the welcome, “Even if you never
read anything published before 1990, come prepared to learn something about what
has gone before.” Panels among the eight tracks such as “Forgotten Paperback Writers
of the 1950s” drew surprisingly good crowds. Most panels were directed at new
writers, especially those still unpublished. I counted twenty-one panels about the
“business” of writing and being published, including “After Your First Book Is Published,”
“Studio Publishing: Self and Small Presses,” “Foreign Rights and International
Markets,” “E-Publishing Roundtable,” and “Self-Publishing.”
Steve Stilwell was Fan Guest of Honor, and his reputation for “chatting up” attractive
females made him an ideal target for a hilarious, standing-room-only “Roast.”
Of course, his allegedly lecherous instincts received much attention, but Bill Deeck
got the biggest laugh when, recalling the 1987 Bouchercon, he uttered two words:
“The Magician.”
In addition to the Anthonys, awards were given out by a virtual alphabet of organizations,
including IACW(NA), PWA, MRI, and DP. The last named, Deadly
Pleasures magazine, gives out the Barry Awards, honoring the late Barry Gardner.
There were several receptions and a Bouchercon Ball, with a jazz quartet, though
it was sparsely attended because it was scheduled opposite the popular auction and
a Colorado Rockies baseball game at which a block of seats had been reserved for
Bouchercon attendees. Probably no one gives more at auctions to be “Tuckerized” in
future mysteries than Maggie Mason. Even pets were an excuse to give to charity. After
Denver, Deen Kogan said, “I am well on my way to having my Doberman, Miata,
become the most Tuckerized animal in detective fiction.”
This seemed the best attended Anthony banquet because its price was included in
the cost of registration. Unfortunately, the food was possibly the worst of any Bouchercon
banquet. A mystery was identifying the “yellow glob” on the plate; it turned
out to be risotto. Val McDermid was a popular Toastmaster, singing a Scottish murder
ballad while accompanying herself on the guitar. I paid tribute to Phyllis White
who was too ill to attend. One of the Anthony categories, for Best Critical/Biographical
work, mixed literary apples and oranges when it pitted two fan magazines against
two biographies and the third edition of Willetta Heising’s bibliography, Detecting
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