The hotel was stunning. Large stone buildings surround a withered unruly court yard with an oxidized observatory perched at the top of on of the corner that faces the road overlooking the town. Grand arched doorways led into narrow exquisitely decorated hallways lined with floor length windows linked the antique ballrooms, cozy sitting areas, makeshift book shop, and old fashioned reception. I wandered around trying to memorize the layout as I looked for the reception area so I could collect my event tickets and marveled at how surreal my surroundings were. Old and beautiful is always the perfect setting for murder, mystery, and mayhem. My first event featured an interview with Denise Mina who spoke about writing for graphic novels and about her work adapting Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy into graphic novel format. Being a bit of a fan of graphic novels it was interesting to listen to someone who writes both crime novels and graphic novels talk about the differences in writing style and process between the two formats. I then proceeded to a talk with both Charles Cumming and Chris Morgan Jones. They spoke about their real life experiences within the world of spies and espionage as if they were talking about what they did last weekend and inadvertently made the presenter look like a quivering puddle of cowardice in a bow-tie. I left longing for my John Le Carré novels and the world of George Smiley. I grabbed a coffee and wandered around the hotel a bit more before reluctantly making my way out to the court yard and off of the grounds. My last event at Bloody Scotland and primary reason for attending the festival was in little theater standing in the shadow of the Stirling Highland Hotel. My current favorite author, Stuart MacBride, and the excellent Val McDermid were taking the stage and joining up to give a presentation entitled "The Great, the Good, and the Gory." Before the presentation began I quickly visited the bookshop set up in the theater and purchased a few MacBride's novels, including his latest Close to the Bone, justifying it by reminding myself how hard they were to find back home and that ordering them online is so much more expensive. It's bizarre seeing someone whose words you know so well in the flesh. Hearing them talk about one of your favorite characters as if they were talking about a friend they just saw the other day is surreal. I fancy myself to be a bit of a writer and have messed around with fiction on numerous, so I found myself better able to relate and understand than I thought I would. I sat for an hour enthralled at every piece of information about writing and every hilarious anecdote. Afterwards unable to help myself I followed the crowd back up to the bookshop to get my brand new copy of Close to the Bone signed by Mr. MacBride himself. As I waited in the queue I tried to come up with something clever and insightful to say but upon reaching the table my mind abandoned me and I was very proud of my meager "thank you."
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