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Simon talks about dyslexia and his writing and the back doors you learn to use to do what you want to do when the dyslexia is holding you back. Simon, for those who don’t know him, writes thrillers (as Simon Wood) and horror (as Simon Janus) and (under yet another pseudonym, Simon Oaks) has a nonfiction book out last month, WILL MARRY FOR FOOD SEX AND LAUNDRY.

Simon’s Web site

This time to Baltimore and Bouchercon.

Have to be at the airport by 5A, which means up by 4A in order to get some espresso in my system.

Walked down the hill tonight for a gathering to talk about our neighborhood community center, Tel-Hi. Our friend Donna is the development director. She spends her days raising money for the center. Another friend, Gail, is on the board and spoke tonight and sent e-mails to people she knew on the invite list, saying you must come, will I see you there.

Met some nice people. Bumped into some old friends. The hosts had a Dali on their wall, a portrait of the wife at age maybe eight twelve with her mother. A definite Dali, but no melting watches or weirdnesses. Wonderful place filled with interesting stuff.

Wonderful place. Genuine people. Good cause.

We — well, I — missed the debate. We walked down the hill and over to the gathering and I could hear Obama’s voice coming out of open windows as neighbors watched the debate we’d jettisoned in order to support a good cause. I’m sure I’ll be able to pick up on what happened at the debate some time between now and when the next debate happens.

See you ’round some time after I get back. I get back late Monday. Give me at least Tuesday to veg out on the couch and restore my social equilibrium.

His nibs will be home for Fleet Week and the Blue Angels, but I’ll miss all that. C’est la vie.

Baltimore here I come.

Drat.

Double drat because I’d already begun ratcheting up my “maybe I don’t want to go after all” “who really will I know” misgivings and this almost completely derailed me.

I’ve recovered. I’ll call the hotel and tell them I won’t be there until the 9th.

But drat anyway.

Update: His nibs, being the sweet feller he is, called Delta and asked how much it would cost to change my tickets from Thursday 7A to Wednesday and they said, $100. So, his nibs, being the sweet feller he is, changed the tickets. Bless his heart. Plane leaves at 6A Wednesday and xfers through Atlanta, then on to Baltimore.

A rotating editorship collecting the best of the best crime fiction blogging.

Last May, in honor of its one-year anniversary, The Rap Sheet organized The Rap Sheet's ONE BOOK PROJECT.

We invited more than 100 crime novelists, book critics, and bloggers from all over the English-speaking world to choose the one crime/mystery/thriller novel that they thought had been “most unjustly overlooked, criminally forgotten, or underappreciated over the years.”

Interesting list. Steve Hockensmith, author of Holmes on the Range and On the Wrong Track, nominates THE DOORBELL RANG (1965) by Rex Stout and explains why. J.D. Rhoades, lawyer, blogger, and author of Safe and Sound nominates Katy Munger’s MONEY TO BURN [1999]. Linda Fairstein, author of Bad Blood, chose Robert Traver’s ANATOMY OF A MURDER.

… and the list goes on.

If you’re a crime fiction fan, this list will keep you in reading material for a long, long time.

[via The Rap Sheet]

I HAVE DEDICATED every shooting star, broken wishbone and blown-out birthday candle to the same thing during the last year: I want my health back.

We want the same for you too, Barbara.

op-ed continues

(Seranella’s ninth Munch Mancini murder mystery, DEADMAN’S SWITCH, is due out in April from St. Martins/Minotaur.)

[Thanks for the heads-up on the article, Miss Snark.]