A busy week resulted in a delayed after-action report of my first experience with Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity (C3). While this annual writers conference in Columbia, MD is geared toward crime fiction, mystery, paranormal, fantasy, and science fiction, all genres are welcome. This year’s keynote speakers were Hank Phillippi Ryan, NYT bestselling author and 37-time Emmy-award winning journalist andSherrilyn Kenyon, NYT bestselling author of over 80 novels. Sherrilyn’s inspiring, poignant speech damn near brought many of us to tears.
With Vaughn Jackson and Sherrilyn Kenyon at Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity Con (C3).
Special guests included Kathleen Barber, whose novel Are You Sleeping was the basis for Apple TV’s Truth Be Told, and James Grady, author of Six Days of the Condor, which was made into the classic 1975 Robert Redford film, Three Days of the Condor. I suspect the other three days were victims of Hollywood budget cuts, but I digress.
With James Grady at Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity Con (C3).
The conference delivered a fun and edifying variety of discussion panels and presentations on various aspects of writing and publishing, ranging from creating captivating characters and writing believable fight scenes to the value of deep listening and the elements of world building. I participated in the latter panel as well as another on writing in the paranormal and speculative fiction genres.
Friday night’s Noir at the Bar treated us to eight talented storytellers who read samples of their work from a breadth of genres including crime fiction, fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal.
It was a joy to meet and chat with several amazing writers throughout the weekend including Lanny Larcinese, Ef Deal, Glenn Parris, Vaughn Jackson, F.J. Talley, Frank Hopkins, Sharon Buchbinder, and former MMA fighter, J.R. White. A special shout-out to Weldon Burge on the debut of his first novel, Harvester of Sorrow. Weldon is also the owner of Smart Rhino Publications and had published my ghost story, “Bottom of the Hour,” in his anthology A Plague of Shadows in 2018. He and I have stories in about four different anthologies, each from different presses.
Speaking of anthologies, C3 produces a limited edition anthology available only to attendees of the conference each year. Although the book is not available to the public, it was no less exciting to see my Sherlock Holmes and Johnny Watson tale, “The Five-Day Killer,” in print for the first time since I wrote it six years ago. Perhaps it’ll become a valuable collector’s item if I ever hit the big time.
I carpooled to the con with fellow speculative fiction writer, Chris Ochs, who also happens to be the president of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group. After the con ended on Sunday, Chris and I drove to the Common Kitchen in Clarksville where we met several local friends for lunch before heading home.
My deepest gratitude and admiration to redoubtable C3 organizers Austin Camacho, Denise Camacho, Cynthia Lauth, Susan Henry McBride, and Jodi Schwartz for their Herculean efforts to make the conference a success!
The C3 Team! (L to R): Jodi Schwartz, Cynthia Lauth, Austin Camacho, Susan Henry McBride, Denise Camacho
The 82nd annual Philadelpha SF Convention (Philcon) has come and gone and, for me, it was one of the best yet. I participated in four edifying and—in the case of Compassionate Representation of Mental Illness in Fiction—intense discussion panels.
I was not scheduled for any panels on Friday, which allowed me to browse the dealer room and pick up over 20 classic SF paperbacks before enjoying dinner at Houlihan’s with Sharon Van Blarcom and Sarah Yaworsky from the Farpoint Convention and fellow writer Chris Ochs.
Saturday was a busy day with three discussion panels and an autograph session. I was honored to share the autograph table with Hugo and Nebula award-winning SF author Michael Swanwick. We had a delightful conversation about classic speculative fiction authors such as Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison, Phil K. Dick, Philip José Farmer, and others.
Saturday Discussion Panel – How Does a Reader Discover New Authors? – Photo Credit: Michael VentrellaSunday Discussion Panel – Your Story Doesn’t Start until Page Eleven? – Photo Credit: James Beall
In between panels, I sat with Farpoint Chair Sharon Van Blarcom at the Farpoint Convention table. Once we closed up at 6PM, I joined Sharon, Farpoint committee member Brian Sarcinelli, and Shore Leave Co-Chair Inge Heyer in the hotel restaurant for about an hour before joining writer pals Aaron Rosenberg, Glenn Hauman, Heather Hutsell, and several others for dinner at Whole Hog BBQ.
One of the highlights of the weekend was the launch of the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign by Oddity Prodigy Productions for their upcoming horror anthology, Scary Stuff. My ghost story, “Burn After Writing” will be included in the book. Scary Stuff is an homage to the classic EC Comics titles such as Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Haunt of Fear, Creepy, etc. Click here to learn more about the project including the contributing authors and the various donation levels. Thank you for supporting small press authors!
Sunday morning saw me at two discussion panels–Your Story Doesn’t Start Until Page Eleven? and Rituals for Conjuring Novel Titles. Both of which were fun and engaging for the panelists and the audience.
As I was packing my car to leave on Sunday, I noticed this massive Christmas tree directly across from the Crowne Plaza hotel on Park Avenue. Although still a bit early in the season, it was a cheerful ending to a succesful weekend. As always, I look forward to returning next November!
Last weekend, the Shore LeaveSF convention celebrated its 41st anniversary with yet another stellar line-up of celebrity guests, writers, scientists, and artists.
My wife and I arrived on Friday evening straight from our vacation in Rehoboth Beach, DE. Due to an accident on 695, we were delayed and by the time we arrived, checked in to the hotel, and registered for the con, I was exhausted, sweaty, and in some physical pain. As a result, I missed my 6PM panel (for which I received a lecture from Bob Greenberger).
After a brief rest, my wife and I caught up with several friends in the restaurant including my buddy and former co-worker, Dan Torok, and his daughter, as well as writer pal Richard White, and Farpoint chairwoman Sharon Van Blarcom. Ultimately, the best reason for attending cons is not the celebrities, autographs, or collectibles, but to reunite with friends.
At 9PM, I met up with the entire cadre of writer guests to set up for the traditional Friday night book fair, Meet the Pros, where fellow Firebringer Press writer Diane Baron debuted her latest book, The Fandom Fifty: 50+ Fascinating People of the Maryland Science Fiction Conventions (aka, The Fandom Fifty for short). Since many of the people interviewed for the book (myself included) were present at the con, Diane’s launch was extremely successful and generated quite the buzz around the con! Everyone interviewed for the book who attended Shore Leave was chasing the others for autographs throughout the weekend, myself included. I believe Diane sold nearly 20 books by the end of the night and another 10 or more by the close of the con.
The Fandom Fifty was published by Firebringer Press, owned by writer pal, Steven H. Wilson who was, of course, with us at Meet the Pros. (As an aside, my wife and I co-rented the beach house in Rehoboth with Steve, his wife Renee, and their son and future daughter-in-law, all of whom had also volunteered to work Shore Leave!)
I managed to sell a few copies of my latest anthology, Beach Pulp, and signed many copies of The Fandom Fifty (which I also helped edit along with Diane and Steve).
Before breakfast on Saturday morning, I met up with veteran author Howard Weinstein who gifted me with More of the Monkees on vinyl. We arranged this before the con as Howie was reducing his vinyl collection and knew that I was a Monkees fan.
At 1PM, Steve, Diane, and I gathered once more for Firebringer Press Presents, our one-hour discussion panel where we talk about our current and upcoming releases. Of course, the hot topic was The Fandom Fifty, but we also discussed the third volume in our Middle of Eternity anthology series.
As usual, we carved out a few minutes near the end of the panel to mention publishing successes outside of Firebringer. Steve will have his first western tale included in Five Star Publishing’s next anthology, Hobnail and Other Frontier Stories and I was pleased to announce that I will have a Christmas story published in Over the River and Through the Woods by Year of the Book Press.
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At 3PM, I joined fellow scribes Kim Headlee, Jenifer Rosenberg, Amy Imhoff, and Richard White for Getting the Word Out, our discussion panel on book promotion. We discussed the various methods and tools that writers can use to promote their work, from the social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to book trailers on YouTube and from Goodreads and LibraryThing giveaways to the importance of creating your Author Central page on Amazon. More items were expounded, but as I write this, the clock is ticking past my bedtime and I worked a 12-hour day so my brain is beyond weary.
Thus endeth my discussion panels for Saturday. After Evon and I shared a wonderful dinner at the Iron Rooster with writer friends Susanna Reilly and Heather Hutsell, we returned to the hotel where I met up with Dan and his daughter again in the restaurant while Evon crashed in our room for a few hours.
Shortly after we sat down at a table, Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels, Star Trek: Discovery) ambled up to the bar for a late dinner. To our surprise, only a handful of fans interrupted him in an attempt to schmooze, but he handled it well before making his way to the back of the restaurant to hang out with the Star Trek authors.
Before calling it a night, I was invited via text message to a small gathering up in Sharon Van Blarcom’s room. By the time I arrived, Evon was already there and we were shortly joined by Steve and Renee Wilson, Brian Sarcinelli, and Ethan Wilson. We chatted about cons, fandom, and all the mayhem and chaos intrinsic to both.
After packing up the car on Sunday morning, I made my way to the McCormick Suite at 10AM for a conversation on How to Cut that Story or Novel Down. My fellow panelists included Joshua Palmatier, Hildy Silverman, Susan Olesen, and Kathleen David. We discussed ways to trim the fat our of your novel or short story. Some examples included removal of excess dialogue tags, cutting extraneous descriptions, avoiding infodumps, combining two or more characters into one where possible, and more.
Next up was Building an Anthology with Mike McPhail, Joshua Palmatier, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and Michael Jan Friedman. As the name implies, discussion points included all of the ingredients that go into creating an anthology whether multi-genre, themed, or shared universe. We touched on invitation-only versus open call, the importance of cover art and back cover copy, using a series bible, editing, formatting, and much more.
Photo credit: Lorraine J. Anderson
With that, another Shore Leave came to an end almost as quickly as it took you to read this blog post. One thing to note was that after 26 years of attendance, this was the first time I did not stand in line for autographs and/or photo ops with any of the celebrities. It certainly made for a more relaxing convention experience and permitted me more time to chat with friends in between discussion panels and take a quick tour of the dealer room.
One of the dealers is perennial fan favorite, Mike Riehl (aka “The Ornament Guy”) who once again had a dazzling display of hand-painted ornaments and several beautifully finished sci-fi model ships.
Photo credit: The Ornament GuyPhoto credit: The Ornament Guy
One item that definitely captured much attention in the dealer hallway was the Star Trek Operations Simulator arcade game from 1982. No, I did not play!
It should be noted that Shore Leave 41 was one of the final stops for Nichelle Nichols during her farewell tour. At 86, Ms. Nichols is retiring from the convention circuit this year. I have fond memories of meeting her several times in my 30 years of con attendance. She is an elegant lady and unfailingly gracious to the fans.
Nichelle Nichols (Photo credit: Larry Berman)
Of course, it would not be a genre convention without a healthy coterie of cosplayers and Shore Leave never disappoints in that area! Pictured below are merely a few amazing examples.
Good times at the Lehigh Valley Comic Con, held at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, PA. I sold six books, four of them to one new fan who attended the con just to see me. I was honored!
It was great to chat with writer pal Jack Hillman, and my buddy Kevin Miles showed up to keep me company for the day. I was interviewed by a representative of the convention, and of course, there were cosplayers galore.
The next show is August 17th. I can’t make it to that one, but I look forward to returning for the October 12th and December 7th shows.
Although I woke up to a gray, soggy morning, the skies cleared an hour before I began my trek to Farpoint’s 26th annual SF convention in Hunt Valley, MD.
After collecting my registration materials and checking into my room at the Hunt Valley Marriott Delta, I opened the program book directly to my second place winning story from last year’s Farpoint Writer’s Contest! Click here to read “All That Matters is What You Believe.”
In between reuniting with several friends, I scored a set of Stranger Things trading cards from friend and artist Laura Inglis, dealer room coordinator for Farpoint, Laura also created the cover art for all three of my paranormal mystery novels.
After my wife arrived later in the evening, we enjoyed dinner at the Nally Fresh in Timonium and returned to the hotel in time for the 10PM book fair. I shared a table with fellow writer pals Steven H. Wilson and Michael Critzer. Sitting in one place for two hours allows for plenty of quality time for catching up with friends in addition to selling books and happily, I did both!
Afterward, I spent some quality time at the bar with two glasses of Pepsi and fellow writers Kelli Fitzpatrick, Erik Bakutis, Heather Hutsell, Aaron Rosenberg, Russ Colchamiro, Keith DeCandido, Derek Tyler Attico, and David Mack. It was a fun end to a long day.
Saturday began with the Firebringer Press Presents panel at 11AM in Salon C hosted by Steve Wilson, Michael Critzer, and yours truly. Although our audience was small, we chatted about our current releases and upcoming projects.
At 1PM, Steve and I hosted the second stop on our book tour for Firebringer Take Two, the double horror novel consisting of Steve’s vampire tale, Freedom’s Blood and my paranormal mystery, Like Mother, Like Daughters. The launch was held in the con suite complete with lunch and dessert. Steve and I both read excerpts from our respective stories and sold several copies of the new book as well as a few backlist titles.
June Swords and I after setting up for the Firebringer Take Two book launch. Ethan and Christian Wilson in the background.
My next panel was supposed to be Fandom in Miniature, a discussion of SF toy collecting, at 3PM with Ethan Wilson, Thomas Atkinson, and Cindy Woods. Unfortunately, I found myself stuck in the endurance test known as Wallace Shawn’s autograph line. He was friendly and loquacious, engaging everyone in conversation. It was a true pleasure to meet him.
Meeting Wallace ShawnGrand Nagus Zek – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
After sharing a wonderful dinner with Steve Wilson, June Swords, and Renfield, Evon and I decided to call it a night.
After packing up my car on Sunday morning, I dared one more pass through the Wallace Shawn autograph line. Thankfully, it was a bit shorter this time and I made it out in time to chat with writer pals Aaron Rosenberg, Russ Colchamiro, Heather Hutsell, and Michael Jan Friedman before my next event.
Vizzini – Princess Bride
At 1PM, I joined Peter David in the ballroom to co-host the screening of Dreams with Sharp Teeth, the 90-minute documentary about legendary writer Harlan Ellison, who passed away in June 2018. It was a wonderful tribute and, judging by their reactions, the audience seemed to enjoy it.
The final event of the con was Wallace Shawn’s 3PM stage talk during which he answered questions about his career as an actor and playwright. In addition to Deep Space Nine and Princess Bride, he spoke about working with Woody Allen on Radio Days and spending a year in India as a young man. Some of his responses were intentionally cryptic. For example, when it came to playing Grand Nagus Zek on DS9, Shawn said that he had channeled someone he knew personally, but would not reveal any further details. Similarly, when asked about his favorite books, he preferred to keep that a secret.
On my way out, I finally had the chance to take a brief tour of the dealer room and found a few vintage Star Trek items at incredibly low prices from a dealer who was selling off his personal collection.
Star Trek candy boxes from 1976 and Star Trek: The Motion Picture plastic cup (1979)
Of course, no SF convention would be complete without a vast array of talented cosplayers and those pictured below are only a small sampling from the weekend.
Wonder Woman (photo credit: Blair Learn)
Xena and Gabrielle (photo credit: Shore Leave)
Romulan (photo credit: Shore Leave)
Iron Man (photo credit: Shore Leave)Catwoman (photo credit: Shore Leave)Bender from Futurama (photo credit: Frank J. Hernandez)
At Farpoint 26 SF Con next month, it will be my honor to co-host, with Peter David, a screening of Dreams with Sharp Teeth, the 2008 documentary about one of the most awarded writers in history, Harlan Ellison (1934-2018).
The film stars Harlan, Neil Gaiman, Robin Williams, Ron Moore, Peter David, and others. Harlan was one of my inspirations to become a writer, and he was best friends with Peter. I was grateful when producer and director, Erik Nelson, granted permission.
