Monday, 20 October 2008

Three more editors

Janet Hutchings wasn’t the only editor I met at Bouchercon. George Easter, Andrew Gulli and Arthur Vidro are great enthusiasts for mystery fiction and they edit very enjoyable, though very different, magazines. George and I have known each other for more than fifteen years – which was even before he started up ‘Deadly Pleasures’, a fanzine to which I have often contributed. He introduced himself to me at the Toronto Bouchecon back in 1992, when the ‘Deadly Pleasures’ project was meant to be a book rather than a magazine. We’ve been in touch ever since.

George has long been a fan of the Harry Devlin books and he kindly supplied me with an early copy of the latest issue of ‘Deadly Pleasures’. By happy coincidence, this issue includes a great review of Waterloo Sunset:

‘…this wonderful series…..Martin Edwards is a fine writer and in Waterloo Sunset he kept me guessing to the very end.’

Very good for morale, needless to say!

In contrast to George, Andrew Gulli is someone I haven’t met before, although I’ve contributed a number of stories to ‘The Strand Magazine’, which he edits. It was good to have a chat with him (and get a sneak preview of the next edition.) I owe Andrew quite a debt, because it was he who first published ‘The Bookbinder’s Apprentice’. If he hadn’t asked me for a story, it’s not certain I’d have written the story that won the CWA Dagger for me this summer.

Finally, Arthur Vidro is responsible for the Old Time Detection fanzine I’ve featured here a couple of times. And again, albeit all too briefly, I had the pleasure of meeting at long last someone whose publications I’ve enjoyed for quite a while.

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