Killer Thrills in the Big Apple

For four intense days in July, some 600 thriller authors, hopeful wannabes, editors, publishers, librarians, and just plain fans gathered at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City for the second annual ThrillerFest convention, sponsored by the International Thriller Writers Inc (ITW). Covering the event were longtime LJ reviewers Stacy Alesi and Jeff Ayers. Go to www.thrillerwriters.org and click on audio under The Big Thrill for a series of audio interviews conducted by Ayers.

Unlike last year's ThrillerFest in Phoenix when two actual serial killers stalked the city (see Alesi's "The Thriller in the Desert," LJ 8/06, p. 60–61), the halls of the Grand Hyatt were relatively crime-free, with plenty of panels, parties, and charity auctions.

Kicking off the convention on Thursday, July 12, was CraftFest, a one-day preconference geared toward novices and taught by top names in the business. More than 250 people attended, and participants especially raved about Tess Gerritson's workshop, "Eureka! Developing Great Thriller Ideas," and James Rollins's program, "Opening Thrill: How To Hook Readers and Keep Them Turning Pages." Also receiving high marks was the hugely popular luncheon where in between bites, published and unpublished writers got to chat with agents and editors.

The ITW worked very hard to present diverse panels and to make them audience-inclusive, with games, giveaways, and even mimosas. These libations were served (by the panelists themselves) at one of the conference's most popular panels, "Thrilling Sex: Part Deux with Booze," an update from last year's session on the role of sex in thrillers. Moderator Steve Berry noted he had included only one sex scene in his first novel, The Amber Room, which his ex-wife suggested he remove on the advice that he should only "write what you know." Barry Eisler admitted he often has to fight with his "inner 14-year-old" when crafting a sex scene in his John Rain thrillers, and John Lescroart pointed out that sex helps make characters real and suggested that Dan Brown would have had an even bigger hit if he had spiced up The Da Vinci Code with some sex.

One of the nicest things the ThrillerFest organizers sponsored was Author Bingo—conference attendees asked various authors specific questions to fill in their bingo cards, which made for easy mingling between authors and fans. While there were lots of great prizes (e.g., advanced reading copies, Sonye-readers) to be won, the best windfall for me was spending time with some of my favorite authors.—Stacy Alesi

This year's ThrillerFest strongly promoted first-time authors by throwing a July 13 breakfast emceed by Lee Child in honor of 28 writers who had or will have their debut novels published in 2007. Each author, wearing a button that read "First Kill," had five minutes to discuss his or her work. Among the "debutants" were Marcus Sakey (The Blade Itself), J.T. Ellison (All the Pretty Girls), Laura Benedict (Isabella Moon), Patry Francis (The Liar's Diary), and Dave White (When One Man Dies).

At "The Day of the Thriller," an insightful panel moderated by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, authors Gayle Lynds, David Morrell, Jim Rollins, and David Hewson discussed what works and doesn't work in their genre, citing books that taught them the craft of thriller writing, including Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle and James Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Among the winners at the Saturday evening Thriller Awards banquet were Joseph Finder, whose amazing Killer Instinct won Best Thriller, and P.J. Parrish for her paperback original An Unquiet Grave. Prior to the event, Parrish (a pseudonym for sisters Kris Montee and Kelly Nichols) told me she had been nominated nine times for different awards but had never won. I was happy to see her curse lifted. [For a full list of the winners, see www.thrillerwriters.org.—Ed.]

On ThrillerFest's final day, the business side of publishing was the focus of "The Snare of the Hunter: How Writers and Publishers Work To Get You To Buy Their Books," a standing-room-only session moderated by Putnam editor Neil Nyren and featuring author Tess Gerritsen, St. Martin's VP Matthew Baldacci, St. Martin's editor and debut author Jason Pinter, reviewer David Montgomery, and author Joseph Finder. Panelists debated such issues as how many copies of a title needed to be sold to hit the New York Times best seller list, do better sales or a higher position on the Times list constitute success, and is a bad review better than no review at all. The lack of consensus proved that there was no surefire answer for a commercially successful book.

Like Stacy, I was amazed how authors I have been reading for years were not only approachable but also willing to talk. If you want to chat with your favorite author next year, make your plans now, as ThrillerFest 2008 will return to New York's Grand Hyatt July 10–13.—Jeff Ayers