Honolulu Havoc Newsletter: April 1, 2016

Aloha!

Welcome to the first newsletter for Left Coast Crime 2017: Honolulu Havoc. You are receiving this newsletter either because you are registered for LCC 2017 or because you attended LCC 2016 in Phoenix. LCC 2016 attendees, who are eligible to submit nominations for the LCC 2017 Lefty Awards, will remain on the distribution list through the nomination period in January 2017. To unsubscribe, click the link at the bottom of the newsletter and you will be removed from our list (and will not receive a nomination form).

Hotel Reservations

An email with the information you need to make your hotel reservations at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort was sent to everyone registered for LCC 2017 on March 31. If for some reason your email was lost in cyber space, please email registrar Stan Ulrich. If you share an email address with someone, only one email was sent. Not sure if you are registered for LCC 2017: Honolulu Havoc? Check our Attendee page.
Note: You must be registered for LCC 2017 to make a hotel reservation.

Our apologies for any problems you are having making room reservations. Because of the way the Hilton is allocating rooms for our block it has been difficult to make a reservation for certain date ranges, especially for ocean view rooms. If you are having problems, please email registrar Stan Ulrich for our hotel event manager's contact information.

Note: When you check in, you will be offered the opportunity to add a Daily Resort Charge which includes sleeping room internet access, PS3 console games/movies, cultural activity lessons, resort audio tour, outdoor exercise classes, personalized postcard, and dive-in movies. The Daily Resort Charge is optional, notwithstanding boilerplate language on the hotel reservation page.

Keeping in touch with our Special Guests…


News from Dana Stabenow, American Guest of Honor

Aloha! Dana Stabenow here, from the second-year-in-a-row unfrozen north. It’s not looking quite like Hawaii but I can’t even remember the last time I put on skis. I just finished the Silk and Song trilogy, about Marco Polo’s granddaughter traveling the Silk Road from China to England in the years 1322-1327, and I’m currently working on the 21st Kate Shugak novel. After that I’m beginning a series set in Alexandria, featuring a woman who is Cleopatra’s Eye of Ra, aka the royal PI. And of course one year and counting until the havoc in Honolulu! I understand the hotel has five pools, one of them with a swim-in bar. Put that together with the hula lessons which are also on offer and anything could happen. See you there…

News from Colin Cotterill, International Guest of Honor

Lost in Moscow
I seem to have contributed to havoc for most of my life but only recently realized it had its own newsletter. Here is my offering. You see, the kind people at Left Coast Crime have invited me to be the foreign guest of honour in March 2017. I realize that’s a year away and anything could happen in the next twelve months. Lance Armstrong fell from grace in the flick of a needle. Bill Cosby went from beloved to be-loathed overnight. What will the organizers think of me if the cellar below my house where I keep book reviewers chained to rusting pipes is discovered? So, I have to bask in this honour while I’m still moderately popular and before I’m arrested.
I have reached the stage where my books are more intelligent than me. I should have been satisfied with simplicity but I am a wicked critic of other people’s work and I swear often at the creators of these dramas if they dare bore me. If I’m spending twenty pounds to see a movie, the least the writer can do is entertain me. So I go to great lengths to create intricate plot threads and fascinating back stories just to keep everyone hanging on till the end.
But that’s where I lose myself. I am lost at the moment. I have reached book number twelve of the Dr. Siri Mysteries set in Laos. The year is 1980 and my characters talk their way into a passage to Moscow for the Olympics. Not only do I have to discover all I can about the Soviet Union, and the Games and the Lao participation, I have to assemble credible storylines that are in turn humorous and informative. I have to kill a number of people and solve their murders but be faithful to the policing techniques of the place and the time. I hid myself away for a month with all my research and several casks of red wine and I put my story together. After a short hiatus I took out my barely legible handwritten script and started to type it up. I have to trust that the slightly plastered Colin has got it right. That there are no loose ends. That the stories work. But that bugger, Colin has let me down. He seemed to know what he was doing but I have no idea what he’s talking about. I write to you in desperation — lost in Moscow.

News from Laurie R. King, Toastmaster

Left Coast in Phoenix was, frankly, daunting, since Catriona McPherson showed with such clarity just How It Is Done. Sigh. Still, I have a year to collect ridiculous jokes and Scottish phrases, so we should be fine. In the meantime, I’m both gearing up for a book tour (The Murder of Mary Russell) and trying to finish a first draft of the 2017 novel (Career Day), rather a split-brain problem — and, one that will be all over with when we meet in Honolulu next year! (At which time I will be gearing up for the Career Day tour, and trying to write the one for 2018…)

Hawaii Hints from Chair Gay Gale (and Koa)


Honolulu on a Budget

At first glance, Honolulu can be very expensive to visit or to live but this section will provide helpful hints for those who need or want to watch their pennies (and dollars!). We will provide proven ways to stretch your budget so that you can enjoy all Oahu has to offer and not break the bank.

Today’s Topic – Airport to Hilton Hawaiian Village options
If you bring just one rolling suitcase and don’t mind a little walk at both ends, you can get from the airport to the Hilton Hawaiian Village in 40 minutes by the Number 19 Bus. Here are the details:
  • 4 minute walk (.2 mile) from terminal to Road
  • 33 minute ride (35 stops)
  • 3 minute walk (.2 mile) from bus stop to Registration Desk at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort
  • Cost: $2.50 or $1.00 if you show your Medicare card
Other options in order of increasing expense (prices vary) are Shuttle bus, Taxi, and Limo.
Note: Once we select our Tour operator for Honolulu Havoc, there will be discount on airport transport from this company.


Recommendations for Rookies (hints for first time visitors)

Getting around Oahu
Renting a car on Oahu is not recommended or necessary unless you plan to go to the North Shore and even then a tour bus excursion will provide local facts and lore that you will miss if you are driving on your own. Reasons not to rent a car:
  • Prices for rental cars are very high
  • Parking is hard to find in Waikiki and very expensive
  • Traffic during rush hour is just like on the Mainland
  • Roads are always under construction
  • Waikiki is very walkable and you can find almost anything there
  • Cabs are plentiful and there are lots of tourist trolleys
  • Tours go anywhere you want for a reasonable price
  • MOST IMPORTANTLY – “The Bus” system is one of the best in the U.S.

Hawaiiana

The Hawaiian Language
There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian Language – the five vowels found in English (A, E, I, O, U) and seven consonants – H, K, L, M, N, P and W. All Hawaiian words end in a vowel. All letters are pronounced and there are no diphthongs where the sounds change because two vowels are together in a word. Vowels are generally pronounced as follows:
  • “A” sounds like “ah” as in father;
  • “E” sounds like “ay” as in the Spanish language;
  • “I” sounds like “ee” as in the Spanish language;
  • “O” sounds like “oh” like a long O in English;
  • “U” sounds like “oo” or “you” as in English.
Five common Hawaiian words to jump start your vocabulary:
  • Aloha – hello, welcome, goodbye
  • Mahalo – thank you
  • Wahine – woman
  • Kane – man
  • Keiki – child
Questions about your visit to Hawaii? Email Chair Gay Gale.

Meet the New Authors

We are thrilled to announce that the fabulous Meet the New Authors Breakfast Team of Mike Befeler and Rochelle Staab will be joining us in Honolulu! If your debut mystery/thriller novel will be published any time between LCC 2016 and LCC 2017, you are invited to give a one-minute description of your book at the breakfast on Friday morning. More information will be coming your way closer to the convention.