DAMN NEAR DEAD 2, just a year away!

With the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention nearly upon us (next week in Indianapolis... and if you haven't yet registered, it's not too late!), I thought this would be a good opportunity not only to announce the list of planned contributors to BFP's sequel to the award-winning "geezer noir" anthology, Damn Near Dead (edited by Duane Swierczynski), but also to give a plug to the convention at which it'll be launched next November!

First, the scheduled line-up (with possible surprise additions later!) of Damn Near Dead 2...

Patti Abbott
Ace Atkins
Neal Barrett, Jr.
C. J. Box
Declan Burke
Scott Cupp
Christa Faust
Ed Gorman
Carolyn Haines
David Handler
Gar Anthony Haywood
Dean James
Jennifer Jordan
Toni Kelner
Russel McLean
Denise Mina
Gary Phillips
Scott Phillips
Tom Piccirilli
Bill Pronzini
Cornelia Read
James Reasoner
Kat Richardson
SJ Rozan
Anthony Neil Smith
Don Winslow

Wow!! It doesn't get much better than that. All of it presided over by editor Bill Crider (whose story, "Cranked," from the first Damn Near Dead was nominated for the Edgar & Anthony and won the Derringer!) and with an introduction by Charlaine Harris!

As we get closer to the release, we'll feature on the blog, excerpts & bios & whatnot, so please stay tuned through 2010. But you definitely need to mark your calendars now for the main launch event: NoirCon 2010 in Philadelphia! There's a good chance that many of the contributors will be at the convention (which is, of course, dedicated to noir & hard-boiled crime fiction... books, graphic novels, movies, TV, more!), so what better place to get your copies signed by several authors.

NoirCon will also mark the release of Akashic Books' latest in their noir anthology series, Philadelphia Noir. Guests of Honor include George Pelecanos & Johnny Temple (owner of Akashic Books). Please go here for more information on NoirCon (or to register).