Alas Poor Yorrick

The final day of the conference featured a number of events. The first was my birthday, so to celebrate we had one of the booksellers take the photo of Maureen and I together in a Victorian pose. The second event was Maureen's discussion with a packed room of conventioneers. The theme was "how to write an historical mystery without offended readers' modern sensiblitlies". Huge success, with a wonderfully lively discussion that featured comments from readers of her work, new fans she made over the weekend, authors, and those who have not yet had the privelege of reading one of Maureen's books, plus a number of historical mystery writers. It was a lively discussion and everyone was quite energized. The woman on the podium with the colourful outfit is Kate Kennisonk, the organizer and coordinator of the Magna Cum Murder conference. She is considering screening Except the Dying at next years coference, which will give many Americans an opportunity to see the adaptation, which is not available in the U.S. We hope she agrees to do it because it will be special. Drove home today after driving to Sarnia last night. Total milage, 850 kilometers. Got used to the long drive but would not want to do it more than once a year. We will be back to Magna in 06.

And more photos from Magna Cum Murder

Another wonderful day at Magna. We are coming back next year. See Harlan Coben by the hat rack? And these two amazing ladies did needle point all weekend, even during the panels. Maureen signs a book for John Ramsey Miller and his wife Susan who you can read about in the previous Blog. We made such wonderful friends here and feel blessed to have shared in a terrific weekend with so many new friends. Desert at lunch today was the apple pie. I only had one bite, too sweet.

Having a ball at Ball House

Here we are at Ball House, an old historic Mansion built by the Ball family who were glass manufacturers back after the turn of the 20th century. The building is now part of Ball State University and we were lucky enough to get a mini tour by our host Arnold. This was a relief because one of the authors kept going on and on about the Davinci Code and how her book, which is all about interpreting the book The Davinci Code, was making her tons of dough, and how sick of it she was. Listening to this was a bit tiresome.
We went off to a Starbucks this morning and it is a drive-in Starbucks which I have never seen before, and which was located on a street that has stores with signs that line the road. Sort of like a logo infested highway. This is very unique to the USA as
everybody with a shop has a highway sign you can see from far away, and it looks like miles of logos. Back to the mansion, I had a wonderful time shooting pictures over lunch of the group and of the house. My lunch was delicious, real southern style with cornbread and barbecue. Choice of chicken or pork, I chose the pork as I had chicken last night. Got back in time for Maureen's panel which was packed, then we went over for the author signings which was very busy and so nice to see
many American fans who love Maureen's work. Lots of questions about her movies. Tonight we did another author event with
everyone going to an Italian restaurant to eat more chicken. It was about the worst dinner I have had in a long tme, but we got talking with Lucy from Texas who is a poisons specialist. This was very interesting and incredibly informative. Then we all rushed back to the convention centre across from the Hotel for a panel with Harlan Coben, and a few others. He has had a lot of success and writes a series about a sports agent, and one off thrillers. So far I am loving the time I have with my wife, but the Zadie Smith interview, which I went to last week at the IFOA in Toronto was quite superior to a lot of what I have heard here so far. I think the panel format can be a bit dul unless you have a very good moderator who knows how to ask really lively questions. More tomorrow. I never want to write crime novels, too difficult, and too challenging, no thanks, I'll be a reader and a writer, but not of crime whodunnits. Leave that to my wife and the other great Crime Writers out there.

On the way to Muncie

We drove from Toronto to Windsor yesterday where we stopped off to visit Maureen's cousin and stayed overnight. Met up with Madison who is the daughter of the daughter (Tanya Harrison) of Maureen's very close cousin Angie, who Maureen grew up with back in the UK. We had a wonderful visit and you can see how delightful Madison is in the photo with Angie. Featured in the group shot are Maragaret, Todd (Tanya's brother and Madison's Uncle), Tanya, Angie, and Maureen. We crossed the border about 1:00 today at Detroit and we had a nice border guard who had sunglasses on, was youngish, and seemed to like Canadians although he could use a visit to the gym.Then we traveled through Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana to Muncie, there is nowhere to eat anything in Antwerp, Indiana as everything was closed at 4:00 so never go there if you can avoid it. Arrived at the Roberts Hotel in Muncie and it all seems very quiet here so far, the conference starts tomorrow, hopefully a few people show up for it after all this driving. Had dinner in the Hotel Restaurant and enjoyed chicken and dumplings with turnip greens plus the most amazing wheat beer called Blue Moon with a slice of orange. Maureen had a veggie burger. We tried listening to the cd of And then There Were None by Agatha Christie on the way down, which is supposedly something all attendees were to read before the conference. We both lasted 15 minutes on that. We'll watch the movie instead. This is a bit of an experiment for us as we have not really enjoyed conferences that much lately, but this one is small and intimate so let's see. check back tomorrow I will put something up late.

The Dominion Tavern on Queen for a chat

One of the great joys an author experiences is meeting new readers who have just come to the author's work, and subsequently become quite enthusiastic about the particular novel they've just finished, or in the case of a mystery writer, their series. This afternoon Maureen was invited to attend a discussion of Poor Tom Is Cold, by a group of nine readers all of whom, with the exception of one person, had never read any of Maureen's books. In addition to that, they all said that they do not particularly read or like historical novels. All I can say is that this group of nine women were so high on the Murdoch novels, and so much enjoyed Poor Tom Is Cold, I sold them all the copies of Night's Child I had brought along in case any of them wanted to carry on with the series. It was a wonderful discussion of Toronto, Victorian habits, Culture of the time, Dentistry, the insane asylum, and lots more. We met at the Dominion Tavern on Queen Street which seemed a fitting location for the talk. Hopefully, many of these wonderful women will attend the two screenings we are having at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse on November 10th and 24th. Check with Maureen's website for the details on upcoming events. http://www.maureenjennings.com

On the set of Except the Dying

As is standard with every author, they have to dream, conjure, tap into the muse, and imagine their characters. Maureen is here with Peter Outerbridge just outside the film set for Except the Dying, when we were in Winnipeg two years ago. Given that here eyes are closed in the photo, this is one of those moments where she is connecting her character from her imagination, to the real life Murdoch in the person of Peter Outerbridge. To say that the experience on that weekend that we went out to the film set was magical, is to put it very mildly. Although the movie was done in Winnipeg, they still managed to capture the feeling of Victorian Toronto with all the great sets, and also the warehouse district in Winnipeg, which was very much like an old Victorian district. We are both still reeling with joy from that weekend, and now especially that Except the Dying has been nominated for Best TV Movie in Canada for the Gemini awards. Maureen is with Constable Wicken in the other photo, Phillip Graeme. The extras were also a big part of the film and Maureen is posing with a handful of them as there seemed to be hundreds. And then there was the carriage, which is an original Victorian carriage. On to the Gemini's and more films to be made!!

Except the Dying nominations

We are thrilled with the news that the made for tv movie based on Maureen's first novel Except the Dying, which was produced by Shaftesbury Films for BRAVO/CHUM television, was nominated for Gemini award for "Best TV Movie". We are also delighted that there are three other categories the film was nominated in, Best background music, Best costume design, Best supporting actor for Richard Zeppieri. I must admit that we are perplexed as to why there were no nominations in the category of Best Actor and Best supporting actress. But awards are funny business and you never know the politics of what goes on in the judging process. Nevertheless we are rejoicing in the recognition this film has recieved and justly deserves.

Gemini Dream

On Tuesday, the Gemini nominees will be announced for the best work in television by Canadian broadcasters that was televised over the period of May 04 to May 05. We, meaning the producer of our television movies Shaftesbury Films, and BRAVO/CHUM the broadcaster, plus Maureen and I are all hoping that the first two Murdoch Mysteries will be nominated in many categories. If the Directors Guild Awards were any sign of things to come, we will be. But you never know until the announcements are made. We are also waiting for some other news about our TV series, but I can't tell you yet, and it also may not amount to any real change from what they are doing right now which is Movies of the Week for all of Maureen's novels. But if this potential change in format does take place, it means a significant difference in the format, frequency, and manner in which people will see the stories for television that are based on Maureen's novels. We hope to know if that is going to change in any way within the next few weeks. The thing was, that BRAVO's ratings for Under the Dragon's Tail were so good, they want alot more material. So it is up to the Producer to propose a way in which they can deliver that product. I'm being cagey here only because The Murdoch Mysteries may continue to be Movies of the week where one or two are produced every year for broadcast. But in the television business, if you have a winning idea and that it is proven through broadcast and ratings, and also selling internationally, it only makes sense to expand that format. Enough about that. I went shopping today at St Lawrence Market and caught this couple dancing ballroom style to music in the sqaure besides the north market. I love the colours of the peppers, they seem to capture the Fall colours which we have yet to see. And then I looked up and saw the Flatiron building dwarfed by the two TD/Canada Trust towers. Good shot of Front street looking west with both new and old Toronto in the picture. More on Tuesday once I know about the awards.

Can I be in the movie Mr Director??

Our beloved Michael DeCarlo is nominated for best director, in the category of Best Movie of the Week or Mini Series, by The Directors Guild of Canada for Except the Dying. Today we went down to Ryerson University to hear a talk by all of the nominated directors. A clip of each film was shown and then the director got to talk about technique and what it was like to shoot that particular scene. We feel Michael's work is the best, but awards don't always go to the best unfortunately. Tonight is the presentation and we hope he wins but given all the publicity we are getting, it is already a win. We also have now concluded a deal through our distributor in the UK with Hallmark Television South East Asia, which means that the Murdoch TV series will now be seen in the following countries on their feed:
Afghanistan Bangladesh Brunei Cambodia China Hong Kong India Indonesia Korea Laos Macau Malaysia Maldives Myanmar Nepal New Caledonia Pakistan Papua New Guinea Philippines Singapore Sri Lanka Taiwan Thailand Vietnam, The series has already been sold or shown in the UK, New Zealand, France, Portugal, most of eastern Europe including Poland, Czech Republic, Romania and many others as well as Canada of course.
Just heard we WON the DGC award in the Category of Production design for a tv movie or mini series