March 2008 Archives

Here's what was featured in the April edition of THE BIG THRILL.

• TWISTED by ANDREA KANE is a "high octane thriller"
• Get the scoop on WHERE ARE YOU NOW? by MARY HIGGINS CLARK
• JOHN RAMSEY MILLER "knows how to generate suspense" in SMOKE & MIRRORS
• GARY PHILLIPS edits a collection of "dark tales from the corridors of power" with POLITICS NOIR
• DANIEL KALLA is a "force to be reckoned with" with his new thriller COLD PLAGUE
• RAYMOND BENSON writes a "sizzling story full of thriller twists" in A HARD DAY'S DEATH
• LAST RUN by HILARY NORMAN is filled with "heart-stopping suspense"
• DAN FESPERMAN is "honing the genre of intelligent political thrillers" with THE AMATEUR SPY
• Don't miss SANTA FE DEAD by STUART WOODS
• IN THE KEY OF DEATH by ROBERT S. LEVINSON is called "a riveting thrill from start to finish"
• KATHLEEN LAWLESS delivers "wickedly erotic adventures" in XXX MARKS THE SPOT
• JEFF SHERRATT's THE BRIMSTONE MURDERS is filled with "good fun and great action"
• SHAKEDOWN by JOEL GOLDMAN is "chillingly realistic"
• Plus our contributing editors deliver in-depth feature interviews with LIBBY FISCHER HELLMANN, JORDAN DANE, GREGG OLSEN, THOMAS GREANIAS, and LISA JACKSON
• Bonus 1: 2008 Silver Bullet award winner DAVID BALDACCI and his newest thriller THE WHOLE TRUTH
  
• Bonus 2: a special BETWEEN THE LINES interview with ALEX KAVA
• And so much more from the best thriller writers on the planet!

For Alex Kava, bestselling thriller writer (A Necessary Evil; Whitwash), literary inspiration didn't come from the usual murder and mayhem sources. Her favorite novel is Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, followed closely by Willa Cather's My Antonia.

"I write from the basic premise that good fiction, no matter what genre, must include compelling characters," Kava says. "No matter how brilliant the plot or how incredible the twist may be, if readers aren't interested in your characters they're not going to stay with you for 300-400 pages."

Bring along your stake and cross--TW contributing editor Cathy Clamp talks to Lisa Jackson about her upcoming thriller Lost Souls.

Every author has that favorite secondary character . . . the one who steals the show from who the book should be focusing on. Such is the case with Lisa Jackson's new thriller, Lost Souls. "From the moment Kristi Bentz first set foot on the pages of Hot Blooded and Cold Blooded, I loved writing about her. She literally stole the show." The daughter of Jackson's fictional New Orleans Detective Rick Bentz, Kristi's had a rough life. She's nearly been killed several times during her father's cases, she tossed her boyfriend, and is a survivor of Hurricane Katrina--all of which lead to a great background for her own story. "She's pushing thirty, unmarried and unsettled in a job. It seemed natural that she'd be searching for something. I loved the idea of sending her back to school at All Saints College, her old alma mater in Baton Rouge, all the while struggling to be an independent adult."

The debut deal is as big and as bold as Jordan Dane's personality.  Three books published back to back, one month after another starting with April's release No One Heard Her Scream.  "They (HarperCollins/Avon) made me an offer I couldn't refuse-and without a horse head in my bed.  For a debut author, this is an amazing first step in launching my writing career."  Unusual for sure, but there is a method to Avon's madness.  Avon's publisher, Liate Stehlik had this to say, "We are pursuing an aggressive release schedule because we believe strongly in this author.  Jordan Dane is poised to be the 'next big thing' in the romantic suspense genre."

A killer identified via fleeting facial expression and behavioral clues turns a middle-aged FBI agent dealing with a disruptive disability into an unexpected hero in Goldman's latest terrific thriller. After the brutal murder of Marcellus Pearson, a notorious Kansas City drug dealer, the collateral damage includes his cronies; his young son, Jalise; Jalise's mother and another woman who witnesses the killer fleeing the crime scene. FBI Special Agent Jack Davis understands secrets - he has seizures he's been able to hide until he's exposed at the Pearson crime scene. Forced to take medical leave, he conducts a private investigation that connects to another chilling puzzler involving his missing daughter, while his girlfriend, jury consultant Kate Scranton, helps him deal with both cases by teaching him how to read faces with the Facial Action Coding System.

"Goldman's surefooted plotting ...make this a fascinating and compelling read." -- Publisher's Weekly

"Locked and loaded and full of the blood of character and the gritty detail that make up the truth...I loved it." -- Michael Connelly

"Chillingly realistic. Fast-paced, smartly plotted, gripping." Linda Fairstein

Joel Goldman is the author of the Edgar and Shamus nominated thriller series featuring trial lawyer, Lou Mason. SHAKEDOWN marks the beginning of a new series featuring FBI Special Agent Jack Davis. Jack's world is coming apart and there is nothing he can do about it. One reason is a rare movement disorder that has come out of nowhere, causing him to shake when he should shoot. It is something Jack Davis and Joel Goldman have in common, Jack's story providing the author with a way of understanding his.

Robbie Farris stabbed his junior college professor twenty-seven times.

At his arraignment, after he pulls a gun and escapes, and after his mother is found murdered in her shabby house trailer, Robbie's lawyer, Jimmy O'Brien, is led into the seemingly unrelated worlds of high-profile, religious evangelism and old-fashioned Mojave Desert borax mining.

Jimmy fights the clock, the cops, and the DA in his effort to find and return Robbie before he himself is charged with Section 187--murder in the first degree.

Author Jeff Sherratt has obviously studied the masters of the crime genre, yet he still manages to bring his own unique and talented spin to the table. Reading The Brimstone Murders is like going to an old-fashioned Saturday matinee - so sit back and enjoy the action, the fun, and the cast of colorful characters. Popcorn optional. -- Sue Ann Jaffarian, author of The Odelia Grey mystery series

The Brimstone Murders is filled to the brim with good fun and great action. Jeff Sherratt has come up with a winner in this wonderful vintage mystery featuring criminal defense attorney Jimmy O'Brien. -- Michele Scott, author of The Wine Lovers Mystery Series and the Horse Lovers Mystery Series (Berkley Prime Crime)

Mystery writer, Jeff Sherratt lives in Newport Beach, California with his wife, Judy. He is a member of the board of Sisters in Crime, Los Angeles, an organization combating discrimination against women in the mystery field, and the professional association, Mystery Writers of America. Jeff Sherratt is scheduled to be a guest speaker and panelist at the Southern California Writer's Conference held in San Diego.

Three best friends on vacation in a luxurious golf community, embark on a pleasure hunt like no other. Their sexcapades, an X-rated scavenger hunt, is the stuff of every single girl's fantasy vacation.

One week. One list. One very hot vacation....

Springing for an impromptu get-away for her two best girlfriends wasn't entirely a selfless act on Kennedy James' part. Sure, she wanted to help Lisa get over her cheating ex-husband, and Justine to quit obsessing about the ticking of her biological clock. But Kennedy had her own raging libido in mind when she booked their trip to Walker Hook, North Carolina. What could be more fun than a week in a beach paradise surrounded by wealthy, eligible, and smokingly sexy men? What about an X-rated scavenger hunt? Kennedy's cooked up a checklist to die for: Your date's boxers . . . Sex in a limo . . . Skinny dipping with him . . . A shooter he slurps from your belly button. . . . and more wickedly erotic adventures sure to blissfully obliterate their heartaches back home in Seattle. The first one among their try-anything trio to complete the list is the winner--but in sexcapades this uninhibited, you just might bag a prize even bigger and more irresistible than you ever dreamed . . . with a lover who knows just the right spot for unleashing sensations not even these daring huntresses have experienced.

A resident of the Pacific Norhtwest, Kathleen Lawless lives in a cottage steps from the beach, where she can often be found writing on her Neo, inspired by the sounds, smell and energy of the west coast. The award winning author of 16 published novels, both historical and contemporary, she believes chocolate and red wine are basic good groups and knows first hand that oysters are a natural aphrodesiac. Kathleen is currently at work on a very sexy thriller.

The ugly underbelly of the record industry is exposed in this taut mystery thriller, a fast-paced behind-the-scenes, below-the-belt account of deceit, treachery, romance, revenge and retribution that pits ex-LAPD detective Josh Wainwright against Clyde ("Mr. Magic") Davenport, the rich, famous, eccentric relic of the Golden Age of Rock-and-Roll he blames for the murder of his wife, international signing idol Katie Sunshine. His pursuit of the truth takes Josh to Las Vegas, Nashville, more danger, and an unpredictable turn of events before he finds an answer he never expected about the death of his beloved Katie.

"Pure Levinson--smart, dark and funny. Levinson's vision of human foible has never been sharper.-- T. Jefferson Parker

"A smooth and well-turned tale of music, murder and revenge...A novel of sparkling wit and complicated characters, of keen suspense and shocking revelations. A riveting thrill from start to finish." -- James Rollins

"A gem--fast-paced and full of surprises, with a wonderful assortment of twists, turns and oddball characters... Superbly written." -- Michael Palmer

ROBERT S. LEVINSON is the author of seven novels: In the Key of Death, Where the Lies Begin, Ask a Dead Man, Hot Paint, The James Dean Affair, The John Lennon Affair, and The Elvis and Marilyn Affair, and a three-time Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Award "Top 10" finisher. He has stories in two new anthologies, Hollywood and Crime and A Prisoner of Memory and 24 of the Year's Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. His play, "Murder Times Two," has been nominated for an International Mystery Writers Festival "Angie" award and will be performed in June at RiverPark Center, Owensboro, KY. He served four years on the Mystery Writers of America board of directors, wrote and produced two MWA Edgar Awards shows and two International Thriller Writers Thriller Awards shows. More at www.robertslevinson.com.

Freeman Lockhart, a burned-out American aid worker still trying to live down his own dark secrets, is recruited to spy on an old Palestinian friend, who may or may not be funneling money to all the wrong places. Freeman is plunged into the maelstrom of the Middle East, and is quickly in over his head. He is then confronted with a terrible dilemma -- no matter what he does, lives will be ruined, and perhaps lost. The only question is how many, and whether the casualties will include those who are closest to him.

"Dan Fesperman is honing the genre of intelligent political thrillers... The Amateur Spy offers a gritty versimilitude against a subtle political backdrop. Every foreign correspondent supposedly dreams of becoming a successful thriller writer. They now have some new standards to match." -- The Economist

"A fine thriller to add to his impressive body of work." -- The (London) Sunday Telegraph

Dan Fesperman's travels as a writer have taken him to three war zones and more than 30 foreign countries. Two of his novels have won Dagger awards from the UK's Crime Writers Association, and his previous book, The Prisoner of Guantanamo, won the Dashiell Hammett Award from the International Crime Writers Association. He lives in Baltimore. The Amateur Spy is his fifth novel.

When a lone runner is savagely murdered on Miami Beach's North Shore, Detective Sam Becket is concerned for his adopted daughter Cathy. She's a runner, too, and vulnerable. After a second beach slaying, others are drawn into the web: a troubled boy patient of Sam's child psychologist wife, Grace; Kez Flanagan, a charismatic runner to whom Cathy feels powerfully drawn; and Terri Suarez, an ambitious cop and Sam's brother's girlfriend. With ever-increasing fears for his family's safety, Sam has no choice but to put his career and life on the line to stop the killer.

'Norman's fearless willingness to kill off sympathetic characters and explore the dark side of the human psyche should earn her new fans...a mind blowing ending.' -- Publishers Weekly

'An accomplished novelist' -- New York Times Book Review

'Heart-stopping suspense' -- Mary Higgins Clark

'Norman is still superior to many rivals at their very best.' Gerald Kaufman, The Scotsman

Hilary Norman is the author of eighteen internationally bestselling novels, translated into seventeen languages, including "Mind Games", her first Sam Becket suspense. She lives in London with her husband.

From Raymond Benson, author of sixteen novels including six James Bond 007 novels, comes this original mystery/thriller set in the world of rock 'n' roll. Rock star Peter Flame is found dead. It looked like he hanged himself, but the coroner ruled it a homicide. Now it's up to Spike Berenger and Rockin' Security to find out who killed Flame... and why. Was it his ex-wife? A former bandmate? A religious cult that had become Flame's groupies? A member of one of the mysterious rock 'n' roll gangs terrorizing New York? Only a music insider like Spike can hope to wade through the rumors and the legends and find the cold hard facts... and a cold-blooded killer.

"A frantic dash through the world of rock and roll. Thrills a-plenty and backstage passes to the magical mystery musical twilight zone." -- Ian Anderson of JETHRO TULL

"A sizzling story full of classic thriller twists, humor, and a dead-on look at the music business."
--Jeffery Deaver, author of The Sleeping Doll

RAYMOND BENSON wrote six original James Bond novels, three film novelizations, and three short stories--all published worldwide. As "David Michaels" Raymond was the author of the NY Times best-sellers TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL and TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL--OPERATION BARRACUDA. Raymond's recent original thrillers are FACE BLIND, EVIL HOURS, and SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS; and there are three titles for 2008--A HARD DAY'S DEATH, METAL GEAR SOLID, and an anthology of his 007 work. 

Pristine water--millions of years old and untouched by pollution--is discovered miles under Antarctic ice. Meanwhile, a cluster of new cases of Mad Cow disease explodes in a rural France. Dr. Noah Haldane and his WHO team are urgently summoned. Noah recognizes the deadliness of a prion that kills with the speed and ferocity of a virus, but he suspects factors other than nature have ignited its spread among animals and people in France. Facing a spate of disappearances and unexplained deaths, he uncovers a conspiracy that stretches from Moscow to Beverly Hills, and from the North to the South Pole. He soon realizes that the scientific find of the century--a body of water the size of Lake Michigan buried under the Antarctic ice--might hold the key to a microscopic Jurassic Park.

"Fast paced and smartly written. Kalla has quickly matured into a force to be reckoned with." -- Booklist

"Meticulously detailed and carefully plotted new thriller..." -- Publishers Weekly

Born and raised in Vancouver, Dan Kalla is as an Emergency Room physician and author of five suspense and medical thriller. His works have been translated into ten languages, and two of his novels, Resistance and Pandemic, have been optioned for film. Cold Plague (April '08) is his first sequel, to the novel, Pandemic. Next year, his epic multi-generational novel, Hospital, will be released. At forty-one, Dan is married and the father of two girls. When not doctoring or writing, he is an avid skier and hockey player.

From authors including National Book Award winner Pete Hautman, Shamus award winner Ken Bruen, best seller Michele Martinez, and renowned social commentator turned short-story writer Mike Davis, a chilling and subversive collection of new crime and thriller stories with stark themes of greed, corruption and insatiable ambition in the very highest places.

Gary Phillips, editor of this collection, has previously co-edited the jaw grinding anthology of aberrant behavior, the Cocaine Chrinicles. Currently he's writing an online, weekly political thriller, Citizen Kang, on The Nation magazine's website

Winter Massey, former deputy U.S. marshal, tangles with an old enemy in Miller's latest intense thriller. After the shooting of an African-American teen in Tunica County, Miss., Sheriff Brad Barnett suspects it's a hunting-related accident until he spots one of Winter's old business cards, left where the shooter set up. He locates Winter deer hunting with his family in the Mississippi Delta and secures his help. Winter asks FBI agent Alexa Keen to analyze something else left at the scene of the crime: a clove-flavored toothpick, the hallmark of ruthless assassin Paulus Styer.

This time Styer, last seen in New Orleans, has some black op experts on his tail. The victim was killed at Six Oaks, a cotton plantation owned by Sheriff Barnett's old lover Leigh Gardner, and her desperate ex, Jacob, is secretly trying to sell it. Styer abducts Leigh's daughter Cynthia, who's having an affair with Jack Beals, a security officer at Roundtable Casino. Kurt Klein, Roundtable's offsite German industrialist owner, needs Six Oaks for a resort/casino complex. But at what cost? Full of breathless blood and guts action, hairpin twists and turns, Miller's cocktail of murder and dirty business is potent and compelling.

John Ramsey Miller, a native son of the Mississippi Delta, is the author of six thrillers published by Bantam/ Dell: THE LAST FAMILY, INSIDE OUT, UPSIDE DOWN, SIDE BY SIDE, TOO FAR GONE, and SMOKE & MIRRORS. His books have been translated into twelve languages. UPSIDE DOWN was nominated for ITW's THRILLER AWARD and INSIDE OUT was nominated for a BARRY Award. John lives and writes full time from near Gold Hill, North Carolina.

Who will be Next?

Former FBI Special Agent Sloane Burbank has survived a life-threatening injury sustained in the line of duty, only to face leaving a job she loves in order to recuperate. As an independent consultant, she now uses her specialized skills to train law enforcement and private organizations in crisis resolution. But when one of her closest childhood friends mysteriously disappears, and the woman's devastated parents beg for her help, Sloane takes the case--even though her ex-lover Derek Parker is the FBI agent in charge.

New York Times bestseller Stuart Woods returns with Santa Fe Dead, a dynamic thriller starring take-no-prisoners attorney Ed Eagle.

In this new thriller featuring the colorful Santa Fe trial lawyer, Ed Eagle finds the tables turned when he testifies as a witness for the prosecution in the trial of his ex-wife, Barbara Eagle, who has been a very, very bad girl.

The trial ends in a way Ed had not anticipated, and Barbara is still in a position to make his life and that of others, a living hell.

With private detectives, hit men, double crosses and billion-dollar-bank accounts involved, Ed calls in every favor and follows every lead, no matter where they take him. From the posh resorts of desert California and the lush wine country of Napa, to the New Mexico high country and the seedy hotels of Tijuana, Ed Eagle won't rest until he's discovered the truth about what Barbara is up to - and settled the score.

With Santa Fe Dead, Stuart Woods once again proves he's the master of an unstoppably good read.

Stuart Woods is the author of thirty-six novels. He has a run of twenty-two straight New York Times bestsellers. He lives in Key West, Florida, Mt. Desert Island, Maine and New York City.

From Mary Higgins Clark, America's Queen of Suspense, comes Where Are You Now?, a gripping tale of a young woman trying to unravel the mystery of a family tragedy -- a quest with terrifying repercussions.

It has been ten years since twenty-one-year-old Charles MacKenzie Jr. ("Mack") went missing. A Columbia University senior, about to graduate and already accepted at Duke University Law School, he walked out of his apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side without a word to his college roommates and has never been seen again. However, he does make one ritual phone call to his mother every year: on Mother's Day. Each time, he assures her he is fine, refuses to answer her frantic questions, then hangs up. Even the death of his father, a corporate lawyer, in the tragedy of 9/11 does not bring him home or break the pattern of his calls.

The Silver Bullet Award

David Baldacci is not only an international bestselling author with over 50 million copies of his thrillers in print, he's also an advocate for supporting family literacy in the United States. His Wish You Well Foundation was established to foster and promote the development and expansion of new and existing literacy and educational programs. David, along with his wife Michelle, established the Wish You Well Foundation to do just that: help fight illiteracy.

Because of their deep caring and dedication to this cause, David has been designated as the 2008 recipient of the ITW Silver Bullet Award at ThrillerFest in New York this July. The Silver Bullet Award is given annually in recognition of outstanding achievement in the promotion and advancement of literacy. David will received the Silver Bullet at a special ThrillerFest awards banquet on Saturday, July 12 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan.

Gregg Olsen had written six bestselling true crime books before turning to fiction. His latest novel, A Cold Dark Place is his second. Taking place in the Pacific Northwest, A Cold Dark Place focuses on cop Emily Kenyon, a single mother whose teenage daughter, Jenna, becomes entangled in her current investigation. A family is murdered and the teenage son disappears. Jenna knows the boy and wants to help him. Emily finds herself investigating a murder and struggling to keep her daughter safe from a killer.

Olsen says the idea for A Cold Dark Place came from reading a magazine article about Hurricane Katrina. "There was suspicion that perhaps a body that had been found after the hurricane was actually murdered, not killed by the hurricane. The idea was somebody had used the hurricane to cover up a crime."

Anything and everything ITW is at the Store. Key rings, T-shirts, hats, mouse pads, coffee mugs--you name it and we've got it. So visit the official ITW Store today and display your pride in being a part of the International Thriller Writers.

Monthly Book Giveaway

Congratulations to Colleen Robbins, the winner of this month's BIG THRILL giveaway. Colleen will receive an assortment of thrillers including LEADING LADY by HEYWOOD GOULD, EMPTY EVER AFTER by REED FARREL COLEMAN, ISLAND LIFE by MICHAEL W. SHERER, A HARD DAY'S DEATH by RAYMOND BENSON, SHAKE DOWN by JOEL GOLDMAN, TWISTED by ANDREA KANE, THE AMATEUR SPY by DAN FESPERMAN, THE BRIMSTONE MURDERS by JEFF SHERRATT, and NAMELESS by DEBRA WEBB.

All subscribers to THE BIG THRILL webzine are automatically eligible for the monthly drawing. Click here to subscribe to the BIG THRILL email.

The English call them thrillers, and in our clumsier way we call them novels of suspense.

They contain elements of mystery, romance and adventure, but they don't fall into restrictive categories. And they're not circumscribed by artificial systems of rules like those that govern the whodunit or the gothic romance.

The field is wide enough to include Alistair MacLean, Allen Drury, Helen Maclnnes, Robert Crichton, Graham Greene, and Donald E. Westlake. (Now there's a parlay.) The market is not limited by the stigmata of genre labels, and therefore the potential for success of a novel in this field is unrestricted: DAY OF THE JACKAL, for instance, was a first novel.

The game's object:  To perch the reader on edge  ---  to keep him flipping pages to find out what's going to happen next.

The nominees for the 2008 Thriller awards have been selected. Out of a field of over five hundred books, the list has been narrowed to five titles in each of the following categories:

BEST NOVEL

No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (Bantam)
The Watchman by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster)
The Ghost by Robert Harris (Simon & Schuster)
The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz (Viking)
Trouble by Jesse Kellerman (Putnam)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell (Dutton)
Big City, Bad Blood by Sean Chercover (William Morrow)
From the Depths by Gerry Doyle (McBook Press)
Volk's Game by Brent Ghelfi (Henry Holt and Co.)
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (William Morrow)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

The Last Nightingale by Anthony Flacco (Ballantine)
A Thousand Bones by P.J. Parrish (Pocket)
The Midnight Road by Tom Piccirilli (Bantam)
The Queen of Bedlam by Robert McCammon (Pocket)
Shattered by Jay Bonansinga (Pinnacle)

The winners will be announced at Thrillerfest 2008 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City during a gala awards banquet on Saturday, July 12th.

Wyoming authors W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear have been selected to receive the 2008 Literary Contribution Award from the Mountain Plains Library Association. Beth Avery, the Chair of the Awards Committee, says "The award is given to an author whose published writings are most successfully furthering an understanding and appreciation of the Mountain Plains region." The MPLA Award banquet will be held at the annual conference, Thursday evening, May 1, 2008, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Gears, who say they are "deeply honored" by the award, will give the keynote speech at the conference. For more information go to:http://www.ula.org/conference/2008conf/index.php.

Eight professional novelists, screenwriters and reviewers have banded together to form a unique group, The Liars Club. The Club includes Jonathan Maberry (Bram Stoker Award-winner who writes supernatural thrillers for Pinnacle, nonfic for Citadel and has just turned in his firs bio-terrorism thriller to St. Martins Press); Gregory Frost (currently writing YA fantasy for Random House); Jon McGoran (who publishes forensics mysteries for Penguin as D H Dublin); L. A. Banks (New York Times best-selling author of the Vampire Huntress series); Kelly Simmons (her debut novel from Atria nailed a starred review from PW); Duane Swierczynski (author of gritty crime novels for St. Martin's Minotaur and comics for Marvel); Laura Schrock (Emmy Award-winning TV producer and scriptwriter); and Ed Pettit (book reviewer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and renowned expert on Edgar Allen Poe).

Bram Stoker Award-winning author Jonathan Maberry will be the keynote speaker at The Write Stuff Writers Conference on March 28-29, 2008. The conference, which will be held at The Four Points Sheraton, Allentown, PA is sponsored by the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group.
Maberry's topic is "I Can Write That."
For more information visit http://www.glvwg.org/conference/index.html