On Saturday, October 28th, a few hundred longtime attendees of Farpoint and Shore Leave SF conventions descended on the Marriott Delta in Hunt Valley, MD to bid the hotel goodbye. After 40+ years of hosting genre conventions, the hotel will close on October 31. According to the rumor mill, the building will be demolished and replaced by a Tesla dealership or condos or both.
My wife and I spent part of the day wandering the hotel and taking final pictures all while a dog show was in progress. Adorable pooches everywhere, which added an element of fun to an otherwise bittersweet occasion.
It was wonderful to spend time with so many old friends including Sharon VanBlarcom, Steve and Renee Wilson, June Swords, Daniel Patrick Corcoran, Cindy Shockey, Bob Greenberger, Royce Essig, Sashi German, Susanna Reilly, Rhonda Greene, Diane Baron, Blair Learn, Paul Balze, Lance and Cindy Woods, Inge Heyer, Jay and Pam Smith, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Mike McPhail, Ann Hande, Susan Staneslow Olesen, and more. Apologies if I’m forgetting anyone.
While at the farewell party, Farpoint announced their new home at the Hilton Doubletree in Pikesville, MD. Shore Leave will make a similar announcement in the coming weeks.
It’s taken me a week to write this blog post. I could blame that on a few recent disruptions in my life, but the truth is that I needed time to gather my thoughts, which have been muddled in a torrent of emotions as of late.
In the first week of June, I lost two wonderful friends within days of each other.
On June 2, I received word that Sandy Zier-Teitler had died at the age of 67 after a series of health complications.
I met Sandy at the Farpoint SF convention over 20 years ago, but her history in fandom dates back much further. She was a legend in the Maryland convention scene, having worked for ClipperCon, OktoberTrek, and Farpoint. She was also a writer and editor for the Star Trek fanzine Mind Meld.
My friendship with Sandy solidified when I started publishing with Firebringer Press, owned by friend, fellow writer, and Farpoint co-founder, Steven H. Wilson. Sandy was the line editor on my novels and was always enthusiastic to read my next story. Hers was one of the most encouraging and effusive voices in my writing career. I’m grateful to have been her friend.
On June 6, one of the most adorable, intelligent, and vibrant young women I ever met lost her battle with a rare form of cancer at the age of 25.
My wife and I met Jessica Headlee through SF fandom and got to know her when she and our friend Ethan Wilson began dating around 2014 or so. Jess became a ubiquitous presence in the Maryland SF convention scene, volunteering at Balticon, Farpoint, and Shore Leave where she was often seen dressed as the Shore Leave mascot (the giant rabbit from the original Star Trek episode from which the con derives its name).
Jessica also joined us in Rehoboth Beach for our summer vacations with the Wilson family every July. She was a marine biologist with a passion for saving our environment. Jess and Ethan were married on the beach in Rehoboth in October 2019.
In June 2018, I drove down to Maryland to help the Wilsons with landscaping and yard cleanup at Steve’s parents’ house.
There was a point when I took a break and stepped into the kitchen. I was alone and my thoughts drifted to whatever problems were plaguing my life at the time and exacerbating my depression. At that moment, Jess happened to walk in and observe the despondent expression on my face. She said, “Oh my God, Phil! It can’t be that bad!”
She snapped me out of my dark reverie and for the rest of the day, I realized that it can never be that bad when you’re surrounded by friends who care. Of all the memories I have of Jessica, this is the one I will cherish the most.
The paperback version of Firebringer Press’s first double novel is available for $6.65 on Amazon (normally $10.99)! Good thing it isn’t one penny higher! Nyaaah!
👻🧛♂️ Ghosts, Vampires, and American History… 👻🧛♂️
Firebringer Take Two combines Steven H. Wilson’s vampire tale, FREEDOM’S BLOOD with Phil Giunta’s paranormal mystery, LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTERS in the format of the classic double novel (read one story, flip the book over and read the other!).
Click here for more details!Since Amazon plays with pricing at random, we’re not certain how long this sale will last. Thank you for supporting small press authors!
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.
Anniversaries have been on my mind over the past few years. Last September, my wife and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary while November marked my 25th year as an IT support tech—a career that I hope to change as soon as humanly possible before it destroys my health.
Traditionally, each anniversary is symbolized by a specific, unique material. Appropriately, these materials increase in strength, resilience, or value with each passing year. For example, first anniversaries are associated with paper, fifth with wood, 25th with silver, 50th with gold, and so on.
Tenth anniversaries are marked by aluminum or tin. That being the case, you can call me the Tin Man in 2019, although I’d like to think that I have a heart.
As I reach my first decade as a published author, I am immensely grateful to the critique partners, mentors, editors, publishers, and fellow writers who helped me along the way. While writing is a solitary endeavor, publishing is a team effort.
Deepest thanks to Steven H. Wilson, Howard Weinstein, Aaron Rosenberg, Robert Greenberger, Paul Kupperberg, Nancy Sakaduski, Weldon Burge, Joanne M. Reinbold, Susanna Reilly, Stuart S. Roth, and all of my fellow members of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group.
Below is an image of every book I have written or contributed to over the past ten years. I never dreamed my writing would take me this far. With three novels and nearly two dozen short stories out in the wild, I hope to continue crafting powerful fiction that changes lives and inspires readers as well as young writers.
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)
