Creatures, Crimes and Creativity

I spent this past weekend at Creatures, Crimes and Creativity, a genre fiction con in Columbia, Md. Mystery and thriller writers are always well represented. If you were there, you might have attended a  workshop on how to write action in thrillers from guest of honor Jamie Freveletti (shown at left, with author, publisher, and conference organizer Austin Camacho).

You might have attended panels with writers like Dana King, Debbi Mack, Bill Rapp, Ilene Schneider, Penny Clover Peterson, David Swinson, John DeDakis, and John Gilstrap.

And because it’s not a con just for crime fiction, you might have also met guest of honor Keith R.A. DeCandido, who has written stories in just about every popular science fiction and fantasy universe. Keith reminded us of a simple truth in his keynote: “You are responsible for your own career.”

E.A. Aymar was there, and with him came a con Noir at the Bar. I was pleased to read my short story, “Twelve Steps,” out this week in the anthology A Plague of Shadows from Smart Rhino Publications.

There was good food and drink, and camaraderie. There were books bought and sold.

There were members of the chapter who don’t get to Manhattan. Members like Bernard Shaffer and Lanny Larcinese.

If you’re looking for a great small con, you might want to look into Creatures, Crimes and Creativity.

Jeff Markowitz is the author of the Cassie O’Malley Mysteries, an amateur sleuth mystery series set deep in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.  He loves to write early in the morning. You can usually find him at his computer at 5:30 in the morning plotting someone’s murder. When he’s not out looking for dead bodies, Markowitz keeps busy as the founder and Executive Director of a network of programs and services for adults with autism.