Smatterings, Post-Debate Edition

Bouchercon is less than a week away. Early next week I’ll do some serious previewing (and if there’s anyone who needs further information about options with regards to the Yom Kippur fast, contact me off-list; also, volunteers are still very much needed) but in the meantime, the Howard County Times has its own advance word on the convention.

In advance of Bouchercon, Declan Burke talks up the publication process of THE BIG O with the Philly City Paper.

Mark Billingham chats with Ali Karim about IN THE DARK, standup comedy, and setting the record straight on how authors end up at Harrogate.

John Connolly explains why he’s determined to read books of all stripes, especially those already on his bookshelves. As someone in the midst of something similar, this is a welcome post.

Kate Summerscale explains the appeal of true crime in the Times.

Ed Park on SF master Howard Waldrop.

The Nobel Prize for Literature will be announced on Thursday (Yom Kippur? Boo!) and I am 99.99% certain an American writer will not win, although I think it would be a genius move if one did.

In Maisonneuve, Michael Carbert probes why literary readings are often excruciating.(via)

Is Books in Canada dead as a print publication?

I suspect this will be the plot of a future Donald Westlake novel.

And finally, Confessions is five years old today. Where the hell did the time go? Seriously, I never thought blogs as a medium would last this long, let alone that there would still be so much to say about crime fiction – and more – after this much time. Thanks to one and all who make this site, which has changed my life in ways I cannot even calculate, a part of their reading lives.