Black Cat Mystery Magazine #10

FROM THE CAT’S PERCH

FROM THE CAT’S PERCHAs I write this, the world is slowly recovering from a pandemic that saw many of us staying home—sometimes by choice, sometimes not. Conventions were cancelled or moved online, severely limiting opportunities to gather with other mystery readers, writers, editors, and publishers.

Though I have attended or participated in many formal and informal online events during the past year and a half, Zoom meetings can’t replace in-person events. The unplanned hallway conversations, the planned and impromptu meals in the company of other members of our mystery community, rubbing elbows in the bar (even if we don’t drink!), and the late-night poker games can’t be replicated online.

I attended the 2002 Austin Bouchercon and the 2011 Santa Fe Left Coast Crime, but I did not begin attending mystery conventions on a regular basis until my wife and I attended the New Orleans Bouchercon in 2016. We have attended every Bouchercon since then, and I attended Malice Domestic with Temple in 2018 and alone in 2019. By attending these conventions, I’ve met many of the editors and publishers with whom I work. I have also met several Black Cat Mystery Magazine contributors as well as contributors to the various anthologies I’ve edited.

Temple and I look forward to the return of in-person events, and have optimistically registered for Malice Domestic and Bouchercon in 2022. If you see us at either of these conventions, or at any other event, please introduce yourself. We’ll be glad you did.

—Michael Bracken

Editor, Black Cat Mystery Magazine