Tag Archives: shore leave

All At Once, They Were Gone…

September 29, 2019 philgiunta@ptd.net

As I write this on the final Sunday evening of September, I dread going into work tomorrow even more than usual. A critical software upgrade that should have finished successfully on Friday afternoon went awry and kept me at the office until 7:30PM with no solution. Even the vendor’s tech support claimed that they had never seen the situation we encountered, leaving us with unusable software and no recourse. I suspect we’ll need to rollback to the previous version tomorrow morning. It will be misery.

To make my Friday night even more interesting, the contracting company that we hired to replace our first floor shower stall ordered the wrong doors. Had the installer arrived with the proper doors on Wednesday, the job would have been completed in one day. Instead, the installer had to arrange for the correct doors to be delivered from upstate PA and installed two nights later. He arrived at 9:15PM on Friday night and was finished in about 20 minutes.

As a funny aside, part of the shower stall renovation on Wednesday included replacement of the fixtures and plumbing inside the wall. This required me to turn off the main water valve for about 30 minutes. The following morning, when I stepped into our second floor shower and pulled the faucet to send the water up to the shower head, the pressure jettisoned the ballcock in the toilet, knocking the lid askew. I had to rush out of the tub to turn off the valve at the toilet and dry up the water that had sprayed out of the tank.

So, after work on Thursday evening, I purchased a new ballcock from the local ACE hardware and replaced it only to find that the supply line had been damaged in by the sudden burst of water pressure. Fortunately, I had two supply lines in stock and the repair was finished within reasonable time.

These events, as irritating and inconvenient as they were, are insignificant when compared to two far more distressing events that occurred on Thursday. Approximately five hours apart, I lost a friend to heart failure in a New Jersey hospital and an acquaintance to a massive stroke in a Maryland hospital. Both men were prominent in the SF fandom community along the east coast.

Todd Brugmans was a remarkable young artist with a zest for life. He and his wife Annie were active in STARFLEET (the international Star Trek fan club) and ubiquitous at many SF conventions along the east coast such as Farpoint, Shore Leave, and others. Todd created the cover art for well over a dozen convention program books as well as novels written by pals Diane Baron and Lance Woods.

Todd’s final book cover art was for The Fandom Fifty by Diane Baron, a chronicling of the rich history of the Baltimore SF convention scene through interviews with many longtime organizers, guests, and attendees, myself included.

At 10:15PM on Thursday, 9/26/19, Todd succumbed to heart disease after five trying days in the hospital.

Lew Aide was a veteran SF convention attendee and volunteer in the Baltimore region for decades. After suffering a massive stroke last weekend—and spending days on life support—Lew passed at 5:01PM on 9/26/19. A few of Lew’s closest friends noted that 5:01PM in military time is 1701, the registry number of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek. Lew, they said, was a true fan to the end.

As if those losses were not devastating enough, there was a third. Ken Giroux, owner of Next Generation Toys, is one of the most popular dealers at SF conventions. If you like action figures, Ken is your guy. For many years, his wife Kathy attended the cons with him. We learned on Saturday that Kathy departed this plane of existence on 8/22/19.

It goes without saying that I hope never to see such a horrible week as this ever again.

Blog, Book Signings, Conventions, Events

Shore Leave 41 After Action Report

July 17, 2019 philgiunta@ptd.net

Last weekend, the Shore Leave SF convention celebrated its 41st anniversary with yet another stellar line-up of celebrity guests, writers, scientists, and artists.

Shore Leave 41 Celebrity Guests

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.

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.

Building an Anthology discussion panel — 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.

Mike Riehl's Ornaments — Photo credit: The Ornament Guy

Mike Riehl's Models — Photo 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.

Mandalorian Bounty Hunter — (Photo credit: Shore Leave)

Mary Marvel and Shazam — (Photo credit: Shore Leave)

Wonder Woman and Agent Carter — Photo credit: Elisheva Atara Marks

Blog, Book Launch, Conventions, New Releases

After Action Report: Philcon 81 & Book Launch

November 20, 2018 philgiunta@ptd.net

Despite a grueling drive from the Lehigh Valley, I arrived at the Crowne Plaza in Cherry Hill, NJ only 30 minutes later than I’d planned on Friday evening. While in line to check in, I was greeted by the ever-cheerful Sharon VanBlarcom, Farpoint chairwoman. Minutes later, we were joined by the Wilson crew— Steve, Renee, Ethan, and Jessica Headlee.

After a late dinner at Houlihan’s (thank you again, Sharon, for driving!) Steve presented me with a contributor copy of our double horror novel—a thing of beauty if I say so myself. Immense gratitude to Ethan Wilson on his incredible design and formatting. We called it a night after that and regrouped for breakfast the following at the Westmont Diner. With a few hours to spare, we visited a few local shops, including HO Sattler’s Trains and Hobbies, Fat Jack’s Comicrypt, and House of Fun—a vintage toy shop in Oaklyn, NJ.

Finally in my hands!

By the time I returned to the hotel for my noon panel, I was struggling with mild nausea and a severe headache. I skipped the panel, took a moment to breathe, and strolled the dealer room where I managed to score a near mint condition autographed copy of Harlan Ellison’s 1987 graphic anthology, Night and the Enemy for $35. I also added several more vintage paperbacks to my collection from Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and A.E. Van Vogt. I stopped by the Shore Leave table to catch up with good friend and astronomer, Dr. Inge Heyer, who also happens to be Shore Leave’s co-chair and writer liaison.

Although my nausea abated, I relented to the headache and took a nap in my room before celebrating the release of my latest novella, Like Mother, Like Daughters, part of a double horror offering along with Steven H. Wilson’s vampire tale, Freedom’s Blood. Our book launch was held in the convention suite with pizzas (thank you for making the run, Renee!), kiffles (fruit-filled pastries), and Hershey’s Kisses that I had brought with me. Con Suite coordinator Gene Olmstead served some of his home made birch beer. We sold a few books, gave copies to two of our Kickstarter donors, Sharon VanBlarcom and Ann Stolinsky, and enjoyed a fun but hectic hour. I stole away to chat with veteran author and graphic designer Aaron Rosenberg, who had kindly snagged for me a vintage ACE edition of A.E. Van Vogt’s The Weapon Makers from the free book table. Thanks again, Aaron!

After cleaning up and heading out to dinner, Steve and I took time to sign all of the paperbacks necessary to fulfill Kickstarter rewards and “thank you” copies for our advance readers. A few hours later, I finally attended my first panel of the convention— a retrospective on the life and career of legendary writer, Harlan Ellison. I was honored to have been chosen as moderator and to be joined by writers Jay Smith, Darrell Schweitzer, and Mark Wolverton. Much of the panel was devoted to anecdotes of Harlan’s infamously intractable personality, but also to his blunt honesty and integrity in standing up for himself and his fellow writers. Some of us shared our personal interactions with Harlan and pondered whether many of his outrageous acts of revenge against publishers and television producers were truth or folklore. All in all, the panel capped off my Saturday night on a high note.

On Sunday, I packed up the car and moderated my final panel of the con, What Your Body Language Says About You, with co-panelist Mary Spila. There was a great deal of audience participation as we discussed the signals we send with our posture and body language— especially on the topics of personal safety and flirtatious behavior— but also during job interviews and social interactions. We also touched on the topics of misreading body language, and the various interpretations of body language across diverse cultures.

After the panel, I sat with Sharon VanBlarcom at the Farpoint table for an hour or so to unwind before bringing to an end another marvelous Philcon.

Blog, Conventions

After Action Report: Shore Leave 40

July 9, 2018 philgiunta@ptd.net

Clear skies and milder temperatures ushered in Shore Leave’s 40^th anniversary SF convention in Hunt Valley, MD this past weekend. Celebrity guests included William Shatner, Ming-Na Wen, Allison Scagliotti, Peter Williams, Peter Kelamis, Chase Masterson, and Aron Eisenberg.

After checking into the hotel and collecting my convention materials (badge and program book), I made an initial round of the dealer room and convention areas to get the lay of the land—which hasn’t changed much in the 25 years I’ve been attending Shore Leave.

For me, Friday’s events kicked off at 7PM with an hour-long discussion panel called “Anthologies: Share the Love,” which turned out to be a lively round-table discussion among several writers about what attracts readers to short story collections, themed anthologies versus mixed genre, and what draws writers to submit to anthologies. In addition to myself, participants included Keith R.A. DeCandido, Richard White, Joshua Palmatier, Christopher Bennett, Jenifer Rosenberg, and our moderator, Greg Cox.

It should be noted that while my wife was with me—and had begun attending Shore Leave three years before I—she did not stay at the con beyond Friday evening. Following Shore Leave, we were scheduled to begin a weeklong vacation in Rehoboth Beach, DE. Evon wanted to get there a few days sooner, so we planned for her to leave on Saturday morning with our friends Steve and Renee Wilson, with whom we rent a house for a week each summer. I would then join then on Sunday evening.

At 10PM on Friday, it was time for Meet the Pros, where all 45 writers in attendance gathered to sell and sign books. It was also where I finally had the pleasure of meeting Michael and Denise Okuda, who collectively worked in graphic design, and other capacities, for Star Trek: The Next Generation through Enterprise. I’d brought with me three of their Star Trek reference books to be autographed including the Star Trek Chronology, Star Trek Encyclopedia, and Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual.

Phil with Michael and Denise Okuda

During the remainder of Meet the Pros, I managed to sell a few books and catch up with fellow writers Diane Baron, Kelly Meding, Heather Hutsell, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, Russ Colchamiro, David Mack, Kelli Fitzpatrick, Derek Tyler Attico, Lorraine Anderson, and others.

Saturday began at 9AM with “Science Fact” an edifying discussion panel about incorporating real science into your fiction and what scientific advancements have been most exciting to write about. My fellow panelists included Christopher Bennett, Marie Louise Davie, and moderator Kelli Fitzpatrick. The panel afforded me the perfect opportunity to chat about the SF novel I’m currently writing and the various sciences involved including advances in personal communication and space ship propulsion as well as the soft sciences such as the socioeconomic effects of the events in the story.

After that, it was back to my hotel room to change for my photo ops with Ming-Na Wen and Allison Scagliotti, and William Shatner. First, however, I stopped by Allison’s autograph table and picked up a Warehouse 13 photo. It was an honor to meet her, given how much I enjoyed her character on the show.

Phil with Ming-Na Wen and Allison Scagliotti Phil with William Shatner

A minor delay and some scheduling confusion caused a brief imbroglio with the photo op lines, but everything worked out well in the end. At the start of my photo op with Allison and Ming-Na, I stood between them and said, “fanboys, eat your hearts out,” which got a laugh out of Allison. Ming-Na didn’t hear me until I repeated the comment after the photo was taken and it gave her a chuckle.

After that, it was time for two more discussion panels. The first, Firebringer Press Presents, was supposed to be a one hour update about what books are forthcoming from Firebringer—the small press I work with most and owned by the aforementioned Steve Wilson—but we were scheduled opposite Ming-Na’s stage talk and she was only at Shore Leave for one day. Needless to say, our panel had no audience other than my friend Omar who just happened to cross paths with me in the hallway and wanted to catch up. Thus, Ethan Wilson, Diane Baron, and I sat and talked with Omar for about 25 minutes before abandoning the room.

However, I returned to the room at 4PM for my final panel of the day, “Robert Heinlein’s Five Rules of Writing,” moderated by Laura Ware. My fellow panelists included Jim Johnson, Lorraine Anderson, and Dayton Ward. We managed to actively fill the entire hour expounding on each of Heinlein’s Rules of Writing, which are:

You must write.
You must finish what you write.
You must refrain from rewriting except to editorial order.
You must put your work on the market.
You must keep your work on the market until it sells.

The final task of the day was obtaining a Ming-Na autograph, which I managed to do surprisingly quickly during the official 5PM autograph session.

Then it was out to dinner at Andy Nelson’s BBQ with several writer friends, then back to the hotel to hang out with Farpoint Con Chair Sharon VanBlarcom for a few hours before finally crashing in my room.

Sunday began with an overpriced breakfast buffet in the hotel’s Cinnamon Tree restaurant before my 11AM panel, “The Writing Life” with Heather Hutsell, Roberta Rogow, Richard White, and Diane Baron. The panel covered such topics as writing schedule, obstacles and distractions to writing, and overcoming burnout.

As that was my final panel for the day, I packed up my car, said my final goodbyes to as many friends as I could track down, then hit the road to meet up with my wife and friends in Rehoboth Beach, DE, from which this blog post was written.

All told, it was a triumphant 40^th birthday celebration for Shore Leave! Kudos to the Star Trek Association of Towson, organizers of the convention. Next stop, Farpoint SF convention in February.

Blog, Conventions

Celebrating Milestones…

January 9, 2018 philgiunta@ptd.net

2018 marks two milestones for two of my favorite annual science fiction conventions in Hunt Valley, Maryland and the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, my second favorite Trek series.

Next month, Farpoint celebrates its 25th anniversary with celebrity guests Matt Frewer (Max Headroom, Orphan Black, Eureka, Timeless), Nana Visitor (Deep Space Nine), Nora McLellan (Killjoys), and Hugo award-winning author Timothy Zahn.

Additional writer guests include Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Howard Weinstein, Robert Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, Keith RA DeCandido, Heather Hutsell, Dave Galanter, Steven H. Wilson, Mary Fan, Phil Giunta (hey, that’s me!) and more…

In July, Shore Leave celebrates 40 years with the return of William Shatner as well as Deep Space Nine cast members Chase Masterson and Aron Eisenberg. From Dark Matter, Melissa O’Neil and Alex Mallari, Jr. will also join us.

Writer guests include many of the same from Farpoint including Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Howard Weinstein, Robert Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, Keith RA DeCandido, Heather Hutsell, Steven H. Wilson, Mary Fan, Dave Galanter, Phil Giunta (hey, that’s me again!) as well as Dayton Ward, Lorraine Anderson, Scott Pearson and more.

So far, 2018 is shaping up to be a great year! Keep an eye on my Upcoming Events page for updates on these and other conventions and author events.

Blog, Conventions, Sales

The Power of Presentation

March 26, 2017 philgiunta@ptd.net

The Write Stuff writers conference this weekend proved my point yet again about the power of presenting. After delivering a fun and engaging session first thing Saturday morning on “Writing the Compelling Short Story,” I proceeded to sell 10 books at the afternoon book fair. Compare that to last year where I worked only as a volunteer and sold one book.

Going back further in the time to 2014 when I last presented at the Write Stuff, my sales at the book fair were higher than one year later, when I was the conference chairman.

With one exception, it never fails that delivering a quality solo presentation—or participating in a discussion panel—and connecting with an audience will generate books sales for an up and coming writer. Whereas merely showing up and sitting at a table with your books without first building a rapport with the attendees will almost always fail to generate decent sales unless you’re already a well-established name/best-selling author.

After decades of attending conventions like Shore Leave and Farpoint and becoming a regular participant in discussion panels there, I can always count on selling at least a few books at these conventions. Whereas at Philcon or Balticon, where I am a relatively fresh face, sales are few or nonexistent right now. These things take time.

The aforementioned exception to my rule was last year’s Great Philadelphia Comic Con in April in Oaks, PA. There, I had no presentations or discussion panels. I merely set up a table and proceeded to sell about a dozen books. It was an amazing weekend and I will be returning to the Great Philly Comic Con again in two weeks along with writer pals Steven H. Wilson of Firebringer Press and Bob Greenberger, Peter David, Aaron Rosenberg, and Russ Colchamiro of Crazy 8 Press.

All told, the Write Stuff conference was a fantastic three days filled with brilliant presentations, excellent information, and most of all, camaraderie with generous and supportive writers. Keynote speaker Michael Hauge was outstanding.

Kudos to two-time Conference Chairman Charles Kiernan and the entire Write Stuff committee for their herculean efforts!