In September, I submitted two stories to the Screencraft Cinematic Short Story Competition for 2024. One was a Finnish fantasy tale called “The Forest for the Trees” and the other a Jewish-Christian story called “All That Matters is What You Believe.”
I’m pleased to see that “The Forest for the Trees” advanced to the Quarterfinals. While “All That Matters…” did not place in the competition, it achieved single-digit rankings in the Faith category as shown in the screen shot below. Not a shabby way to start the year! Semi-final results will be announced next month.
Farpoint 25 Program Book Cover by Todd Brugmans featuring caricatures of the entire Farpoint Convention Committee
Just returned home from the 25th annual Farpoint SF convention in Hunt Valley, MD and I am proud to say that I’ve been attending since day one waaaaay back in 1993 when I first met the convention’s co-founder and fellow writer, Steven H. Wilson.
We struck up a friendship that has only become stronger over the years since both of my novels and our Middle of Eternity anthology series were all published under Steve’s imprint, Firebringer Press. In fact, we have more books coming soon as we discussed during our Saturday morning panel along with fellow Firebringer writers Susanna Reilly, Michael Critzer, Diane Baron, Daniel Patrick (Renfield) Corcoran, and our layout specialist, Ethan Wilson.
In its early days, Farpoint sponsored a short story contest. My first submission was in 1995 when I entered a Star Trek story and took second place after a tie-breaker. The contest faded away through the decades until this year, when author track manager Steve Lesnik resurrected it. This time around, entries had to be 2,500 words or less and be based on a common photograph taken by Steve during his trip to Europe. No details about the origin of the photo were divulged, but I happened to recognize it.
I am ecstatic to report that, once again after a tie-breaker, I took second place for my post-WWII short story, “All That Matters is What You Believe.”
Now that the contest is over, I can dish the details. Click here to read the stories from the contest! Not sure how long the link will remain up. There were 13 entries total. Mine is #12: “All That Matters Is What You Believe.” First place winner was #4: “Splitting Arrows” by Eric Bakutis and Third Place was #6: “Hillfolk” by Aaron Rosenberg. All three of our stories will be printed in next year’s Farpoint program book.
As for the rest of the convention, I had a great time reuniting with many friends, some of whom I only get to see twice a year at the Maryland conventions (Farpoint and Shore Leave). Many of these friends are my fellow author guests such as the aforementioned Firebringer Press writers, but also Aaron Rosenberg, Russ Colchamiro, David Mack, Heather Hutsell, Diane Baron, Howard Weinstein, Keith DeCandido, Allyn Gibson, and many more!
The celebrity guests included Matt Frewer (Max Headroom, Timeless, Orphan Black, Watchmen, Eureka, the list goes on), Nana Visitor (most known to SF fans as Kira from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Nora McLellan (Killjoys), and popular SF and Star Wars author, Timothy Zahn.
While I’ve met Ms. Visitor at many cons in the past, this was my first time meeting Matt Frewer and it was a delight. He was funny, gracious, and kind to the fans. A truly positive experience.
On Friday night, Farpoint hosted the traditional book fair for all of the published author guests. It was a great opportunity for me to catch up with many of my fellow word slingers. Below are just some of my colleague at Firebringer Press (from left to right: Steven H Wilson is chatting with a friend while Michael Critzer and Susanna Reilly smile for the camera).
Writer pal Heather Hutsell (below) was one of a few authors who had book premieres at Farpoint 25.
I actually set up at two different tables over the weekend. During the book fair (above) and on Saturday (below) where I spent about two hours at the assigned Firebringer Press table with my wife and long time convention pals Kathy and Kevin.
Evon, Phil, Kathy, Kevin at Farpoint 25 (Photo by Blair Learn)
Of course, what SF convention would be complete without props and costumes! I’m sorry to say that while there were many fans in wonderful costumes during the convention (as always), I didn’t have an opportunity this time to take pictures. Worse, I did not feel well enough to attend the masquerade contest on Saturday night, but with credit to the photographers, here are a few of this year’s props and cosplayers…
Willy Wonka vs. Darth Vader (Photo by Blair Learn)
Overall, my compliments to the Farpoint committee on a marvelous 25th anniversary celebration. Here’s to another 25 years!
About a month ago, I mentioned that my paranormal short story, “So Hungry…” made it into the final round of judging in the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable annual contest.
I was alerted today that my story won an Honorable Mention and will be published in the Fall edition of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable online magazine. Not too shabby!
Since I am permitted to republish the story 90 days after it is released by BWR, expect to see the story in print and illustrated in the next volume of the Middle of Eternity series next year or so. Stay tuned for more info!
Now I wait until August to hear how well I fared in the Rehoboth Beach short story contest. Here’s hoping that, at the very least, my story makes it into the anthology. I took second place last year, but I don’t dare think lightning will strike twice.
For me, this summer has begun with a challenging and exhausting home renovation. We’re repainting an area of the house that has not been touched in 14 years—specifically, our library.
With five packed bookcases, two recliners, two tables, and more “stuff”, and the fact that the library shares ceiling space with the adjoining stairwell and hallway, it’s no wonder that we left it alone for as long as we did. However, the carpet is in dire need of replacement and I thought that since we’ll need to move furniture to make that happen, I might as well repaint these areas.
As of this writing, I have patched and sanded where needed, primed, and applied the first coat of paint. The second coat of paint will be applied tomorrow evening and then I can clean up. After that, it’s touching up the window trim and inside the hall closet. The carpet installer will be out next Monday to measure for the estimate and provide samples. It’s a family-owned business and we had them out last June to replace the carpet in our bedroom–which I also repainted a few days in advance. They did a fantastic job and as such, we called them first.
On top of this, two high-profile projects at my FT job are keeping me busy and will consume part of my upcoming weekend and well as my summer. As you might have guessed, I have not written at all this week and probably won’t next week either, but over the past two to three months, I did manage to write three more chapters in the first draft of my SF novel-in-progress while also editing submissions for Meanwhile in the Middle of Eternity, the third volume in our series of speculative fiction anthologies.
On the short story front, I have two submissions out into two separate contests. The first is the Rehoboth Beach Reads Short Story Contest in Delaware, sponsored by Cat & Mouse Press and Browseabout Books. I won second place last year and my story was published in the resulting anthology, Beach Nights.
I already had a new story ready to go by the end of 2016 for this year’s contest, which is themed Beach Life. Winners will be announced around August 7-8. Watch this space for updates!
The second story is a paranormal tale set in New Mexico and was submitted to the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable annual contest. I was informed last month that the story made into the final round of judging and is now in the hands of NYT bestseller Carrie Vaughn to select the top three winners. Winners will be announced by July 1, which would make a marvelous birthday present for me! Stay tuned.
Lastly, when Podiobooks merged with Scribl.com, I was disappointed to see that the reviews for my audio books did not migrate over… then I stumbled upon my audio books at LibriVoxand not only do they have the older Podiobooks reviews, but new reviews that I had not seen before. My exciting discovery for the week!
I received an email yesterday morning from the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable informing me that my paranormal short story, “So Hungry . . .,” is a finalist for the 2017 Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award.
Final judging will be by NYT Bestseller Carrie Vaughn. Winners be will announced by July 1.
Even if my story doesn’t place in one of the three top slots, I’m honored that it made the final round!
The official list of winners in the 2016 Rehoboth Beach Reads Short Story contest has been posted to the Cat and Mouse Press website. Click here to see the full list and learn more about the upcoming anthology!
Of course, what SF convention would be complete without props and costumes! I’m sorry to say that while there were many fans in wonderful costumes during the convention (as always), I didn’t have an opportunity this time to take pictures. Worse, I did not feel well enough to attend the masquerade contest on Saturday night, but with credit to the photographers, here are a few of this year’s props and cosplayers…
