Zoom

© by Gerald So | 7:00 AM

If all stays on track, Long Island will be eligible for Phase 1 of reopening someday next week. The illness and death toll prevents me from "enjoying" lockdown, but one bright spot is it's compelled me to set up video conferencing, which has actually let me attend more events than I could get to in person before.

Last night my old boss, Thrilling Detective's Kevin Burton Smith, hosted a virtual Noir at the Bar on Zoom. I was most motivated to attend for the chance to see Thrilling's original fiction editor, Victoria Esposito, who mentored me into the job in mid-2001, before she left to focus on HandHeldCrime, the first crime fiction magazine for portable devices.

Victoria and I had IMed and emailed, but had never spoken live before last night. As part of the event, she read my December 2019 Mystery Tribune story "Fred", which debuts PI Lisa Regina. She, Kevin, and I also divvied up the readers' bios to co-host.


UPDATE (May 30): Kevin has posted a two-hour cut of the recorded event:



Here's the video cued up to Victoria's reading of Fred:



Thanks again to everyone who attended.