“Not the Usual Suspects” seemed
like a good idea for a promotional link between my next book in the Bishop Hill
Mystery series and Bouchercon’s chosen charity, The Nashville Public
Library Foundation. The idea is a variation on bidding to name a character in
an author’s next book. Here I’ve picked two portraits from the collected work
of Olof Krans, a Swedish folk artist with extensive ties to the Bishop Hill colony
and figured that asking people to vote on their fictional fate with their pocket
change would be fun and painless.
I thought of the many positive
angles: The Discovery Zone, as a new event, would gain some notice; I’d
get some attention for my panel appearance and my books; but the biggest deal
for me would be Bishop Hill getting some much-needed attention at a time when Illinois state
funding is once again on a downward spiral and state-owned historical buildings
are suffering from neglect.
Picking the portraits was
easy enough. My husband helped out by choosing Peter Helstrom, a cantankerous looking
former schoolteacher. I chose the more mild-mannered visage of Olof E. Krans,
the artist’s grandfather, who had the potential to add to a backstory I was
working on.
Dreaming up inventive ideas
to advertise the whole enterprise was fun … and potentially embarrassing. We
made up t-shirts imprinted with our chosen portraits with
the caption “SAVE ME” on each, we basically turned ourselves into walking
billboards for the three days leading up to The Discovery Zone premiere.
All this is brand new for
me, so whatever happens or doesn’t happen will make for an interesting discussion
at the Taking Care of Business panel on Sunday morning. It might keep me
awake and attentive.
The catch, there’s always
one, do people carry pocket change any more?
I’m going to have to
explore the donation opportunities of Zettle, my credit card reader. It might
become an important resource since Gaylord Opryland advertises it is “cashless.” Just
one more prepping step to do before checking in for the Bouchercon
Conference next week.