BILL CRIDER goes to BOUCHERCON Part 5 (1992-99)

As eagle-eyed Richard Robinson pointed out, yesterday's post mysteriously skipped over most of the '90s to land in the year 2000. And as Kevin Tipple wisely suggested, I'm choosing to blame it on the Mole People. So here are the photos you should have seen yesterday, and you should be seeing yesterday's today. All clear? Well, have a look anyway.

Pics by kind permission of Emperor Artius Scott

(except those that aren't)

1992 - Toronto

with Art Scott, already on his way to cell phone addiction

1993 - Omaha

 with Don Sandstrom

with Jeff Smith, Judy, Ann Smith and Cap'n Bob Napier

1996 - St. Paul

 with Thom Walls

 with Steve Stilwell

with Judy

1997 - Monterey

  with Mr. & Mrs. Loren Estleman, Fan GOH Cap'n Bob Napier and Leslie Slaasted

(from The Cap'n's Blog)

with Stephen Marlowe

(from Bill's blog)

with Judy

1999 - Milwaukee

with Richard Robinson and Marv Lachman

  with Judy again

and again

Thanks to Bob and Art for help with names.

Join us tomorrow as we time warp ahead to 2002. 

BILL CRIDER goes to BOUCHERCON Part 6 (2000-01)

Photos courtesy of Arthur Scott Photography

(Also available for Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, Etc.

Special discount for Burlesque Shows)

2000 - Denver

with Steve Stilwell

"The Good Old Stuff: Forgotten Paperback Writers from the 1950s" with R. John Hayes, Jan Burke, Gary Warren Niebuhr and Marv Lachman

with Gary Warren Niebuhr and Steve Steinbock

with Leslie and Kevin Dunn

with Judy and Jeff Smith

with Ted Hertel

with a flock of Bruce Taylor fans

with Judy

2001 - Washington D.C.

with Jeff and Ann Smith and Judy

with Steve Stilwell

with Judy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROBERT McGINNIS!

a self-portrait and a blurb by Art Scott from The Paperback Covers of Robert McGinnis (2001)

Robert McGinnis turns 92 today, and I'm pleased to report he's still painting. Below are just a few samples of work, and a look at a book that belongs on every shelf. Our regularly scheduled feature, BILL CRIDER goes to BOUCHERCON, will return tomorrow.

Okay, so I leaned a little heavy on the Bond stuff. So shoot me. I like the Bond stuff. 

 Detail from the 1991 painting "What's the Rush?" with McGinnis looking at his watch

This is the book you want (published 2014), and you can get it HERE. 

Co-author Art Scott with one of his biggest fans, Mr. Bill Crider

Bill Crider said this: The heart of the book is the art, but Art Scott provides an excellent and insightful introduction to the artist and his work, with shorter introductions to each section of the book.  I can't think of anyone better qualified to do so.  Scott might be the only person in the world who owns all the paperbacks for which McGinnis has done the covers.  Following the introduction, there's also a fine interview with McGinnis himself.

Forgotten Books: MANASSAS by James Reasoner (1999)

We take time out from our ongoing series BILL CRIDER goes to BOUCHERCON (see the first four instalments HERE) to look at this book by Bill’s pal James Reasoner. I’m sure Bill won’t mind. Part 5 of Bill at Bouchercon (2000-01) will appear on Sunday. Meanwhile, for those of you jonesing for more photos of Bill, we present several of he and James together (most shamelessly lifted from Bill’s blog).

My favorite James Reasoner novels are the ones with his own name on them. His name is on this one, and the following nine volumes of The Civil War Battle Series, and they’re all damn good. Though officially a “series,” it’s really one humungous meganovel, following the trials and tribulations of one Virginia farm family from the beginning to the end of the war. It would make a great 10-part miniseries for one of the cable networks. (Are you listening, HBO?)

We see a skilled novelist at work here, introducing us to a cast of strong and varied personalities, sure to provide plenty of drama as the saga rolls on.

William Shakespeare Brannon is the Culpepper County sheriff, and the oldest still at home. Macbeth Brannon is a horse whisperer. Titus Andronicus Brannon, an expert tracker and a crack rifle shot, is tragically in love with a girl out of his league. Henry Brannon, the youngest, is still trying to find himself. Their footloose brother, Coriolanus Troilus Brannon has gone West to seek his fortune, and we won’t actually meet him until Book 2. 

Seventeen-year-old Cordelia Brannon is the prettiest girl in the county, and not as empty-headed as her brothers think. Riding herd on them all is their fiercely religious mother Abigail, still bitter over the antics of their late father. And making life difficult for them all are the no-account, thieving and killing Fogarty brothers. (The books were published between 1999 and 2003. Was James listening to Credence at the time?)

There's a cool passage when the war starts:

The ticket agent shouted, "The word just came over the wire! We've captured Fort Sumter! It's war, boys, war!"
     "Cry havoc," Will muttered, quoting his namesake, "'and let slip the dogs of war . . . ,'" as people cheered and shot off guns.
     Those dogs were sure barking now.

Those opening shots of the war take place offstage, but we then ride to  Manassas—the first great battle—with Will Brannon, a newly minted captain of the Culpepper Catamounts in Brigarier General Thomas Jackson’s Thirty-third Virginia. And it’s a good thing Will is there, because without him Jackson may not have been in position to be standing "like a stone wall” and earn his catchy nickname. We’re also introduced to the intriguing notion that the famous “stone wall” comment, uttered by the soon-to-be-deceased Confederate General Bee, may not have intended as a compliment. I don’t recall encountering that before.

The battle scene is nicely handled, and leaves me looking forward to many more. I’ll be finding them in the rest of the saga: Shiloh, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Shenandoah, Savannah and Appomattox.

James and Bill, Western Writers of America conference, 1992

Brownsville, Texas, 1980, with Angela and Allen Crider

and the Howard family

Armadillocon 2017: Dave Hardy, Dwight Simms, Joe Lansdale, Lawrence Pearson, James, Bill, Scott Cupp

Bouchercon 2002: James, Joe Lansdale, Bill, Steve Mertz 

(photo by Art Scott)

BILL CRIDER goes to BOUCHERCON Part 4 (1988-91)

All photos by Sir Arthur Scott, except Pasadena, when he was AWOL 

(and the one he's in, I reckon)

1988 - San Diego

with "Bill Jr.," a gift from Cap'n Bob

with Bruce Taylor and Steve Stilwell

with Richard Moore

with Jeff Smith and Linda Toole

with a cool hat and a Coke(!)

with Junior and Jeff Smith

 with Richard Moore, Steve Stilwell and Bruce Taylor

Talking to the hand

1989 - Philadelphia

 with Steve Stilwell and Art Scott

with Jeff Meyerson and Kevin & Leslie Dunn

with Bob Briney, Ellen Nehr and Bryan Barret

 with Steve Lewis, Ellen Nehr, George Kelley and Bob Briney

with Jeff Smith, Andy Jaysnovitch, Mary Ann Grochowski, 

Linda Toole, Judy Crider and Bob Briney

1991 - Pasadena
pics by Ellen Nehr

with Jeff and Ann Smith and Cap'n Bob Napier

Thanks to Bob and Art for naming names.