Category: Cons and other business travel
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Unconference 2023 — How do I prepare for Writer Unboxed?
As I’m sitting here preparing for the Writer UnBoxed Unconference 2023, I’m realizing that we’re (1) likely taking up several writers from Brooklyn and therefore I’m answering the question (2) How do I prepare for Writer Unboxed? Here’s how I’m preparing: Writer Unboxed Unconference 2023 isn’t a formal con. If you’re expecting the nerdgasm dorkfest…
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Baron Edward John Moreton Draw Plunkett Lord Dunsany
There are sometimes where I wonder if my titles are good enoughand then I come across yet again the title The Book of Wonder by Baron Edward John Moreton Draw Plunkett Lord Dunsany. Then I realize no, nothe problem is not my titles, the problem is my byline. I don’t have a name like Winthrop…
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Story Inspiration from Breaking Science
The wonderful folks who run Heliosphere invited me to moderate and participate in several panels for their conference. One of the panels was Story Inspiration from Breaking Science. The panel included Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Dr. James Prego, and Sarena Strauss. We started out hypothesizing from various abstracts we’d come across. We — mostly me — got a bit…
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Heliosphere Convention Schedule 2023
Hey gang, just got my Heliosphere convention schedule this last week, so I wanted to toss it in here in case anyone’s coming. We’re bringing several writers and creative types down to New Jersey from NYC: FRIDAY 5:00 pm – 6:15 pm – Salon CExploring the Uses and Ethics of ChatGPT and Other AI Models…
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Writer Unboxed OnConference — review
Latest and least of these, I attended this year’s Writer UnBoxed OnConference. It seems to be a theme for me, showing up latest and least to WU. Due to a writing contest promoted by the great Porter Anderson, I won a scholarship to the first one. (That was back when I was still riding high…
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Nebula Award Winners
Nebula Award winners are a bit difficult to find gathered all in one post on the SFWA site, no offense to them. If you go to the SFWA site — for whom I remain obviously grateful — it’s several extra clicks to get to the proper year, which makes it rather difficult to search by author. I…
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Frankenstein: The Intersection of Literature and Science — with Kathleen Ann Goonan at the World Fantasy Convention
On Thursday I gave a talk on Frankenstein: The Intersection of Literature and Science here at the World Fantasy Convention with the fabulous and brilliant Kathy Goonan, (unfortunately Ted Chaing’s train delayed him). Kathy offered a deep drink from her vast experience and knowledge and I think you’ll find it instructive as we continue reading…
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Sitting at the Feet of the Hogwarts Headmaster
Sgt. John Granger of the United States Marine Corps (stationed in Japan) was proud to say that he was perfectly normal, thank you very much. He was the last person you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious — especially invocational magic — and the last person you would expect to become a Hogwarts headmaster…
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Social Media Break : Post Mortem on my Year Off Social Media
People have asked me how my yearlong social media break went. Great and terrible. It was terrible because I failed in my goal to write every one who signed up for handwritten letters. On the upside of that failure, I wrote dozens and dozens of folks. I think I’m up to fifty or something, so…
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Uncon 2016: Author in Progress
We were never meant to go it alone and yet somehow the bad myth of the lone wolf artist persists. It shows up in the isolated anxiety attacks of writers preparing for their pitch slams at a massive conference, in the loneliness of presentations, in the alienation of large group lectures, and in the all-business-no-play…
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Writers Retreat and Going Off-Grid
Last week, I took a midweek writers retreat up to Salem, Massachusetts (of witchhunt fame) by way of Boston bus and train. The retreat was organized by those who organized the Writer Unboxed Uncon (the writing conference I won the scholarship to last year). It was informal and available to everyone who went to the conference, so…
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New Free Stories from Conference Readings
For the convenience of my fellow conference attendees, I added the stories that I read during the Bedtime Stories reading series.