Maurice Broaddus's Blog, page 23

IHW Winter Retreat 2014

Off to a writer’s retreat at a haunted house rumored to have once been owned by a former Klan member. I’ll be the only black person there. This really does sound like the premise of a horror movie I deserve to die in. #aintnothingmagicalaboutme

Me, co-editor Jerry, and intern/slush reader Rodney launched our Streets of Shadows Kickstarter then immediately withdrew to the IHW retreat.  It’s a long standing tradition for our group, but we thought we’d switch it up a bit and return to the place where the group first had its retreat.*  A renewal of sorts.

I figure I might as well recap the event by collecting my Tweets through the weekend.

Welcome to Converse, Indiana. Population: 6. And a goat.

Converse, Indiana happens to also be the home of one Bob Freeman.  Writer, mystic, warrior, and also artist (as he’s responsible for a lot of the Mo*Con posters).  He is not the owner of the goat.

Spotty cell phone service & 6 in of snow due. I might as well tell @rodneycarlstrom he’s got The Shining & wander into the cellar by myself

Did I mention that the weather report called for us getting hit with ANOTHER six inches of snow that weekend?  We may have to rethink just how “winter” we wish to have the retreat.  Maybe the IHW Summer cookout may be in order.

[Shrugpolean Dynamite ‏@ASky84 Jan 24 @MauriceBroaddus this sounds like you die before the opening credits shit before the first note of the opening track]

Yeah, cue my friends being less than supportive during my time here.**

Here’s where we’re staying: the Eastern Woodland Carvers Club in Converse, Indiana.

A little bit on the history of the building:  Hardware store on first floor.  Offices and apartments on the second floor.  The third floor added in 1880s.  In its 110 year history it has been a speakeasy, a brothel, served as the offices for doctors, lawyers, and the Ku Klux Klan.  Then it was taken over by the Freemasons and the Oddfellows before the Woodcarvers acquired it in 1996.

Things to do in Converse: #5 whittle

I’ll say this for Converse, Indiana: bacon cheeseburger with two 1/2 pound patties … $3. #pubfoodrules

I think that not only says it all, but gives you a hint of where I ate all weekend.

On the second floor, the Klan’s former offices,  now a lathe room.

 

All of the Klan rooms have eyeholes in the doors.  You know, so they can check out who they should let in.

My favorite room on the second floor: the hammer room. A testament to one man’s obsession.

 

 

Who doesn’t need a six foot hammer? @KyleSJohnson

 

Later tonight, our Wicker Man celebration.  Hosted by @OccultDetective

 

Lords of EVIL @gdwessel @KyleSJohnson @RodneyCarlstrom @byMichaelWest @jerrylgordon @OccultDetective

 

And it’s a dry building. No alcohol allowed on the premises. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. What do you call a gathering of writers? A bar!

 Uh, in case anyone from the Woodcarver’s reads this blog, absolutely no alcohol was harmed during the tweeting of this event.

So the third floor of this building was apparently the inspiration for Session 9. My colleagues are MUCH more curious than I …

 

When in doubt, I only have to be faster than my intern…

 

I need folks to hear me on this: if the room is called “the demon closet”, I’m not going in by day, much less near midnight without lights.

 

There was supposed to be a ghost hunters group joining us this weekend for an investigation.  They bailed on us due to inclement weather.

 

Yeah, the third floor is creepy enough by day…

 

And seriously,  this making an appearance much less moving on its own in a breeze #imout

 

[Madeline Ashby ‏@MadelineAshby Jan 26 @MauriceBroaddus Yup, you're in Silent Hill. Get out.]

 

Done!

 

In short, you take a room full of (horror) writers in repose (read: drinking), mix in stories of a building with an extensive history of being haunting, reports of activity (oh, the strange things that happened to Michael West’s laptop:  every time he opened his password protected computer, some “one” typed in the words “Wake” and then “Why???”), an old building with drafts, wind through plastic sheets, an old heating system with creaky ducts, birds trapped in the attic, A DEMON CLOSET, plus the power of imagination and you get a fun-filled weekend with very little sleep.

 

The rest saved for future stories.

 

 

 

 

 

*Truth be told, I barely attended the first one, staying a couple of hours mid-day on that Saturday, which still proved to be a pivotal moment since that was when I first met Doug Warrick.

**Meanwhile, Chesya took great glee in writing my various death scenarios on Facebook

Streets of Shadows – A Kickstarter

The shadowy underworld of classic crime noir stories meet the shadows of urban fantasy in *Streets of Shadows*, a new fiction anthology edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon and published by Alliteration Ink. Featuring Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Kevin J. Anderson, Tim Lebbon, Chuck Wendig, Seanan McGuire, and Brandon Massey, the anthology’s combination of genres will allow more freedom for the stories.

“Crime and urban fantasy are the two most versatile genres,” says Bram Stoker Award and Black Quill nominated editor Maurice Broaddus. “They provide the kind of playground folks can both build any play set they can imagine and tell stories that speak straight to the human condition.” Publisher Steven Saus agreed, saying “It takes the right writers and editors to create an anthology that is more than just fun to read – and knowing the high quality that Jerry and Maurice brought to *Dark Faith* and *Dark Faith: Invocations*, I know this anthology will hit that same high mark.”

Broaddus agreed. “Jerry and I are excited to have an excuse to work together again. Working on *Dark Faith* and *Dark Faith: Invocations* was such a great experience, and we’re were jazzed to have Alliteration Ink being on board for *Streets of Shadows*. We have a great cast of writers lined up and plenty of surprises in store,” says Maurice Broaddus.

*Streets of Shadows* is currently being crowdfunded on Kickstarter, with anticipated release in the late summer of 2014 in trade paperback and eBook editions.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stevensaus/streets-of-shadows-a-noir-urban-fantasy-fiction-an

Project:  http://bit.ly/kickshadows

Home page:  http://bit.ly/streetsofshadows

YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_42G6W8fuT4

You think you’re safe. What a joke.

You don’t think about the places you pass every day. The side streets. The alleys. Under bridges. The shadows.

All you’d have to do is take a step to the side. Then you’d know.

Life on the streets ain’t easy. It takes someone tough like me to survive. Danger lurks in the shadows. Yeah, there’s muggers and gangs. Sometimes you get zombies, vampires, and ghouls. And if you’re real unlucky, you run into the scary stuff.

Whether it’s the dirty streets of Detroit, the paved-over cobblestones of London, or the patched asphalt of your hometown, people like me are all that stand between death and your door.

Our world isn’t made up of parks and malls. Our world is the streets, covered in shadows.

These are our stories.

For Your Consideration…

AKA Works that came out in 2013

Short Stories

“Ebony Paradox” (Punchnels Magazine) – a “lost” tale from my Knights of Breton Court universe

“Voice of the Martyr” Beyond the Sun (Fairwood Press) – the church and the military are now united, which means our soldiers are the new missionaries.

“The Electric Spanking of the War Babies” Glitter and Mayhem (Apex Books) – The P-Funk universe comes alive.

“Cerulean Memories” The Book of the Dead (Jurassic-London) – one of my favorite stories I’ve written.  A story of grief, an urban legend, and a mummy.

“A Soldier’s Story” Vampires Don’t Sparkle (Seventh Star Press) – Sometimes vampires aren’t the worst monster in the night.

“Read Me Up” What Fates Impose (Alliteration Ink) – Family drama meets an obeah prophecy.

“Awaiting Redemption” Eulogies II (HW Press) and can be heard on Pseudopod – It doesn’t matter what the religion, sometimes folks miss the point of their own worship.

 

Novelette

“Steppin’ Razor” Asimov’s SF Magazine – Steampunk, alternate history Jamaica, Rastafarians, the clone of Haille Selassie.

Novella

I Can Transform You (Apex Books) – “Mac Peterson left the employ of LG Security Forces and now cobbles together a life in the shadows of the great towers, filling policing needs for people too unimportant for the professional corp-national security to care about. His ex-wife, Kiersten, stayed behind on the Security Forces, working undercover. When she turns up dead alongside one of the tower jumpers, Mac pairs up with Ade Walters, a cyborg officer, to uncover who would try to hide Kiersten’s death among the suicides. Searching for the murderer of one of their own, Mac and Ade discover plans to transform the Earth and its inhabitants…plans that only started with the great upheaval and The Trying Times.”

 

 

Writing Goals 2014

A new year, a new set of writing goals.  Well, first off, my computer crashed last month, so it’s causing me to fall behind on many of my projects.  But before I get to my excuses, let me see what my goals were for 2013:

Thinking through my 2013 goals:  I will begin the year with Steppin’ Razor (novella), The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (my Pimp My Airship novelization), and a short story set in my steamfunk universe;  I have four stories I “have” to write, but I’d like to get six completed; I will complete my half of the Wrath book; I have a movie script I need to get going on; I have two novels and two short stories to dust off, revise, and get into the publication pipeline.

The report card was a mixed bag.  I finished Steppin’ Razor, a novelette that is now out in the current issue of Asimov’s SF.  I finished several stories in my steamfunk universe:  Babylon Systems, All God’s Chillun Gots Wings, (120 Degrees of) Know the Ledge.  All told, I have over 50K in short stories in that universe.  I also started my steampunk novel (currently titled Naptown by Airship, but I may go ahead and just call it Pimp My Airship: A Re-Mix).  I also started a hard crime/urban fantasy novel with Jason Sizemore (tentatively called Serpent).

Other short stories completed include “Ebony Paradox” (Punchnels), “Read Me Up” (What Fates Impose), and “Electric Spanking of the War Babies” (Glitter & Mayhem).

I did dust off one of those novels.  You will hopefully be hearing some news about that soon.  Ditto with the short stories.  I never got around to the movie script though.

 

As for 2014, my goals are to finish the two novels, write another six short stories, complete an anthology project, perhaps release a collection or two, and write a novella.  First up, however, getting a new laptop so that my son can get his back.

 

 

Blogs You May Have Missed in 2013

Even though I seem to be blogging less and less these days, I did manage to have a few up over the course of the year.  Here’s a few of my favorites/most popular:

Road to Mo*Con Series – I had no idea what the response to Mo*Con VIII: The Mind and Spirit of the Artist was going to be.  Leading up to that discussion, I invited several friends to share their experiences with dealing with some of their mental struggles.  I was stunned by the honesty of these folks.  In case you missed any, here they are:  Maurice Broaddus – Being Crazy, Christian, and Creative, Lucy Snyder, Doug Warrick, Jim C. Hines, Gary A. Braunbeck, Nate Southard, Delilah Dawson, Michelle Pendergrass, Steven Saus, Janet Harriett.  These folks are my heroes.

Rejecting Papa SMOFs – growing up black and geek has always been an issue of mine.  One I’m sure I’ll be coming back to in 2014.

Django Unchained and Fambul Tok reviews.  Originally they were meant to be one review.  I wanted to compare to approaches to handling the legacy of horrors that people inflict on each other.  Two sides of the same coin, Django Unchained is a revenge fantasy while Fambul Tok is a documentary on an on-goig mission to do the hard work of forgiveness.

Every now and then I like to pull back the curtain and reveal a little bit of what life is like in the Broaddus household.  Apparently the blog that managed to “explain a lot” about me was this one explaining why I seemed to drop off the planet for a while.  And led to my grandmother becoming a folk hero to many of my friends (my grandmother passed away unexpected a few months later.  We returned to Jamaica for the funeral).

Speaking of family, my kids were in rare form this year.  Although I co-wrote a story with my oldest.

I also managed to remind folks that social media was a loaded weapon, then declare that I was done arguing with folks online, just in time to write a non-controversial piece on the use of the N-word.  Yeah, that pretty much sums up my year on the blog.

[Facebook sums up my year this way.]

 

 

Cities of Refuge Ministries: Work in Progress

Row 1 Col 1
Row 1 Col 2
Row 1 Col 3
Row 1 Col 4


Row 2 Col 1
Row 2 Col 2
Row 2 Col 3
Row 2 Col 4


Row 3 Col 1
Row 3 Col 2
Row 3 Col 3
Row 3 Col 4


Row 4 Col 1
Row 4 Col 2
Row 4 Co

l 3
Row 4 Col 4

I probably ought to put this a bit in context.  Officially founded in October of 2012 (unofficially, we’d been at it since January), Cities of Refuge Ministries is a non-profit organization that helps homeless adults through a relational model, extending the compassion of Jesus Christ, as we spend time with each other working through emotional and spiritual struggles together.  We provide a long-term residential environment where program opportunities are tailored to the individual’s situation and goals in a case management framework.

In March 2013, Cities of Refuge Ministries purchased two pieces of property.  With our first transitional home at full occupancy and having support volunteers, we launched CoRe Indy, our micro-business side which provides job opportunities for some of our clients.  Cities of Refuge Ministries partnered with Volunteers of America to form a work crew.

Basically, we believe it takes a collaborative community approach to break the cycle of poverty.  We partner with our neighbors and other organizations. As the men move through our program, we wish to provide them with skill sets that they can use to pursue long term employment opportunities.  We want to create opportunities for men to reunify with their families and pursue their dream of homeownership, maintaining the neighborhood’s assets, and reinvigorate communities, one stabilizing family at a time.

We celebrated the debut of our first rehabilitated property with an Open House (catered by RoE Creations, pictured!).  Real Scene TV came out to do a profile on us.  (Keep in mind, the camera adds ten pounds and there must have been at least three cameras on me at all time.  I blame RoE Creations!)

 

Sometimes Your Kids Just Win

As many folks who enjoy the peek into the Broaddus household via my tweets or Facebook status updates, there are those who are convinced that I am simply making stuff up for the sake of entertainment. Granted, I’m not above such antics, however, sadly, tales of me and my family don’t really need embellishing. Also, no such accusations ever come from those who have actually been around us. To this day, Chesya Burke won’t let me forget the time my kids peed in the vents. She actually uses it to win arguments:

Me: I completely disagree with your point and every argument you make.

Chesya: Yeah, well, at least my kids don’t pee in vents.

[To be fair, the boys were 3 and 4 and were watching their favorite cartoon, Spongebob Squarepants. They didn’t want to miss anything, so rather than wait until a commercial, they peed down the air vents. For those who have wondered how we cleaned that up, simple: we moved.]

The vent peeing was also on my watch, meaning mom wasn’t home. I couldn’t bring myself to punish them because prioritizing television watching over mundane niceties, well, I considered it some pretty solid reasoning. [I think this is the crux of Chesya’s point, now that I think about it.]

I’ll admit, teaching them how to pick locks, that was on me, too. It seemed like a great idea at the time. However, it meant that I would never be able to have peace in the bathroom ever again.

FINALLY, something I can blame on my wife. I’ll just quote her Facebook status:

Are you kidding me???!!!!! My kids make me wanna pull my hair out at times….. on Thanksgiving day the boys asked if they could make a tin can telephone, so I said yes. Which that was a mess in itself since I told them be careful the can is sharp, and my youngest goes and puts his hand in it and cuts his hands up…… But today I see they poked a hole in the wall, put the string through the wall so they can talk to each other while they are in their own room. UGH!!!!!

[You’ll be glad to know they used HER “stud finder to check for studs and look for the plugs (electrical outlets) and made sure it wasn't near the wiring. Then they poked a huge screwdriver (hitting the screwdriver with a hammer) through the wall.”]

Yeah, this is what we call a Tuesday.

You Know If You’re Down

Fritz Pollard Alliance Asks NFL Players To Stop Using The “N”Word In Response To The Recent Incidents With Richie Incognito And Trent Williams

I always find discussions about whether or not we in the black community should be using “the N-word.” The N-bomb is an often sticky point of dialogue within the black community, but the argument that has my interest today is the notion that we shouldn’t use the word because it’s confusing to white folks because if we can use it, they should be able to use it.

Wait, what?

Whenever this discussion comes up (like when folks wanted to take the N-word out of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), quite a few thoughts hit me at the same time. On the surface, I see the possible point of confusion. The word has become so ubiquitous in our language and music that it is woven into the fabric of who we are as a community. We can call one another a nigger with a familial familiarity, term of endearment and brotherhood. Some even argue that such co-opting of the word saps it of its power, and that we have reclaimed the power of it from those who had used it against us. So since “we” use it, we can’t act shocked when we’ve sent a mixed message to the millions of white folks who buy the hip hop CDs and sing along, repeat the routines of their favorite comedians, or who want to hang out with “their boys” in that way.

Don’t get me wrong, I guess I’m old school. I think defending the use of that word only rationalizes the internalization of hatred. The word perpetuates the legacy of hate, in one powerful word encompassing the history of slave ships to Jim Crow. The word is the penultimate form of dehumanizing, the spit-in-your-face kind of assault to one’s sense of dignity and self-worth. This is particularly tricky for me as an artist when I write. I think long and hard (read: agonize) when I choose to use the word in my stories. I want to be true to my characters and how the word gets used informs those characters. On the flip side, it throws me off when I hear people reading my work and repeating those words out loud.

Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing folks read my work. I WANT folks to read my work (by the way, here’s Mark Reads King Maker Prologue Part 2), but sometimes it gives me pause. I’m putting “the word” out there, to be consumed as entertainment. Yes, I want to push the reader and make them think, but I haven’t written a treatise, I’ve written a piece of entertainment.

But then there’s the notion of who “gets” to use the word. With all the news from the Miami Dolphins football team a few weeks ago, I found it curious that Richie Incognito use of the word didn’t divide the locker room the way Riley Cooper using it did. Because there are rules of friends, private, and inclusion.

In short, you know if you’re down.

In private, my wife (who is white) has been around and adopted by family and knows that she probably gets a pass if she dropped the N-bomb … given the proper context and usage. She wisely believes that 1) she doesn’t want to ever get comfortable using the word and 2) because she doesn’t always get the “rules” of proper usage and context, that she’s going to play it safe and just never use the word.

See, white folks? It’s really not that hard. It can seem a little complicated. The word can work in art, be it movie, television, books, or music. I get it: you get all excited to repeat that David Chappelle skit you laughed so hard at or sing the words from your favorite song. And it seems like folks introducing the word into public usage to be consumed and repeated by fans makes it socially acceptable. And perhaps with your boys/girls/folks you’re down with, in a situation that’s considered private usage, you probably can. Though a simple rule of thumb is if you have to ask if it’s okay for you to use it, it’s probably not.

By the way, white folks, sorry if your feelings are hurt on this, but you don’t get a vote on this issue. I understand that some folks have entitlement issues. They get so used to their sense of privilege that they take any infringement of their “freedoms” or “rights” or them not being able to do something that others can and thus will call foul with a quickness. But it’s not a double standard, it’s life. Some groups get to say things others can’t. Be they members of the same fraternity, military branch, sports team or what have you. People not in their groups don’t get the same leeway to say what they want. Membership has its few privileges and some membership has its costs. There is an entire history and legacy to the existence of the N-word.

So, in short , we in the black community “get” to use it because we’ve “earned the right”/paid the price to use it. Yay us. To paraphrase Chris Rock, I guess I’ll wait at my mailbox to receive my N-word prize.

Did Brian Keene Visit This School?

Students to hospital after Axe body spray released at Medgar Evers College Preparatory School

Emergency crews went to a Brooklyn school to investigate a report of a hazardous smell — only to learn that someone released Axe body spray in a classroom.

You may think this is one of my random attacks on Brian Keene (see Brian Keene and Nick Mamatas are Dicks), but you have to know the history.  (Plus, he’s on a blogging hiatus and can’t argue back.)*

During an extended a Mo*Con visit , he “accidentally” left behind a bottle of Axe body wash. Yeah, I’m probably breaking the man code by revealing that Keene must enjoy smelling like a prepubescent boy drenched in perfume.

My sons, however, loved it.

They would slather on that stuff to the point where my wife once uttered the now famous-in-the-Broaddus-household line: “Get away from me, you’re burning my eyes.”

Flash-forward two years into our now mandatory Axe purchasing purgatory: the boys, being boys, had friends over and discovered the joys of puncturing aerosol cans. Yeah, you know where this is going. I come home from work to find my family on the lawn because the boys were playing “grenades” in the garage with a can of punctured Axe. My entire garage, three weeks later, still smells like an excited Justin Bieber fan.

It should be aired out by Mo*Con.

Thanks Keene.

*And I really wish I could find that pic of me and Keene dressed as Crocket and Tubbs because that would be the perfect pic for this blog post. You’ll have to make do with him as Crocket. It could be worse: I could be posting the pics of us in dresses, but no one wants to see that again.

Mo*Con IX: May 2nd – 4th, 2014 (Save the Date – Updated 12/2/13)

Brought to you by IHW, Evoke:  Arts + Media, and Second Story, Mo*Con is a convention focused on conversations revolving around genre literature and social justice. If you enjoy writing, conversations, and food, you’ll find plenty to enjoy at Mo*Con (basically, imagine a room party held in a con suite).  Here’s who will be there:

Guests of Honor: 

Wesley Chu was born in Taiwan and emigrated to Chicago, Illinois when he was just a pup. It was there he became a Kung Fu master and gymnast.  Wesley is an avid gamer and a contributing writer for the magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. A former stunt man and a member of the Screen Actors Guild, he can also be seen in film and television playing roles such as “Banzai Chef” in Fred Claus and putting out Oscar worthy performances as a bank teller in Chicago Blackhawks commercials.  Besides working as an Associate Vice President at a bank, he spends his time writing and hanging out with his wife Paula Kim and their Airedale Terrier, Eva.  You can learn more about her at www.wesleychu.com or connect with him on Twitter (@wes_chu) or FaceBook (www.facebook.com/wesleychuauthor)

Lucy A. Snyder is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novels Spellbent, Shotgun Sorceress, Switchblade Goddess, and thecollections Orchid Carousals, Sparks and Shadows, Chimeric Machines, and Installing Linux on a Dead Badger. She will have two new books out in 2014: Shooting Yourself in the Head For Fun and Profit: A Writer’s Guide will be released by Post Mortem Press, and her story collection Soft Apocalypses will be released by Raw Dog Screaming Press. Her writing has been translated into French, Russian, and Japanese editions and has appeared in publications such as What Fates Impose, Once Upon A Curse, Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, Hellbound Hearts, Dark Faith, Chiaroscuro, GUD, and Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 5. You can learn more about her atwww.lucysnyder.com.

Scott Lynch is an American fantasy author, best known for his Gentleman Bastard series of novels.  His first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, came out in 2006.   His second novel, Red Seas Under Red Skies, came out in the summer of 2007. The Lies of Locke Lamora was a World Fantasy Award finalist in 2007. In both 2007 and 2008 Lynch was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.  Lynch received the Sydney J. Bounds Best Newcomer Award from the British Fantasy Society in 2008.  His third novel, The Republic of Thieves, was just released.  He’s also a volunteer firefighter with the New Richmond, WI fire department.

.

Elizabeth Bear was born on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year. When coupled with a tendency to read the dictionary for fun as a child, this led her inevitably to penury, intransigence, and the writing of speculative fiction. She is the Hugo, Sturgeon, and Campbell Award winning author of 25 novels and almost a hundred short stories. Her dog lives in Massachusetts; her partner, writer Scott Lynch, lives in Wisconsin. She spends a lot of time on planes.

.

Publisher Guest of Honor:

Dave Mattingly founded BlackWyrm Publishing in 2003. The company has produced 100 novels, mostly in the speculative fiction genres. Never wanting to turn away a good book, other genres have crept in since then, including mystery, romance, historical, Christian, business, and others. As an early adopter of technology, BlackWyrm makes sure that all of the printed books are available in the various popular ebook formats.  Besides his credentials at BlackWyrm, Dave is the vice president of the Christian Gamers Guild, and organizes church services at Origins, GenCon, FandomFest, and other conventions. As a former atheist that converted to Christianity late in life, he merges his geek life with his Godly life. He regularly speaks at Toastmasters, and has earned two DTMs, the highest achievement possible in that organization.  Professionally trained as a computer programmer, database administrator, and scrum master, Dave has worked for a vast array of industries such as space travel, video games, graphic design, bio-terrorism, and fraud prevention.

Editor Guest of Honor:

John Joseph Adams (www.johnjosephadams.com)—called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble—is the bestselling editor of many anthologies, such as Oz Reimagined, The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, Epic: Legends of Fantasy, Other Worlds Than These, Armored, Under the Moons of Mars, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, The Living Dead, Federations, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and The Way of the Wizard. He is a six-time finalist for the Hugo Award and a five-time nominee for the World Fantasy Award. He is also the editor and publisher of the magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare, and is the co-host of Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Find him on Twitter @johnjosephadams.

Wait, there’s more …

.

Featured guests

Chesya Burke’s 2011 fiction collection, Let’s Play White, was featured in i09 and received praise from Samuel Delany and Nikki Giovanni. Her work has appeared in Dark Dreams I, II and III: Horror and Suspense by Black Writers published by Kensington Publishing Corp.; the Stoker-nominated, Dark Faith and many more. She also is recognized for her critical analysis of genre and race issues such as her articles, Race and The Walking Dead and Super Duper Sexual Spiritual Black Woman: The New and Improved Magical Negro published by Clarksworld Publication. Likewise, several of her articles appeared in the African American National Biography published by Harvard and Oxford University Press. Chesya is currently getting her MA in African American Studies at Georgia State University and is a juror for the 2013 Shirley Jackson awards.

.

John Hornor Jacobs’ first novel, Southern Gods, was published by Night Shade Books and shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award. His second novel, This Dark Earth, was published in July, 2012, by Gallery/Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. His young adult series, The Incarcerado Trilogy comprised of The Twelve Fingered Boy, The Shibboleth, and The Conformity, will be published by Carolrhoda Labs, an imprint of Lerner Publishing.  His first fantasy series, The Incorruptibles will be published in Spring 2014 by Gollancz in the UK.

.

.

Geoffrey Girard writes thrillers, historicals, dark fantasy, young adult novels, and short speculative fiction for publications including WRITERS OF THE FUTURE and the Stoker-nominated DARK FAITH anthology. Born in Germany and shaped in New Jersey, Geoffrey graduated from Washington College with a literature degree and worked as an advertising copywriter before shifting to high school English teacher. Since, he’s earned an MA in Creative Writing from Miami University and is the Department Chair of English at a private boys’ school in Cincinnati. His TALES OF… series (TALES OF THE JERSEY DEVIL, TALES OF THE ATLANTIC PIRATES and TALES OF THE EASTERN INDIANS) features original stories based on American history and folklore. Simon and Schuster published two Girard novels in 2013: CAIN’S BLOOD, a techno thriller, and PROJECT CAIN, a spinoff novel for Young-Adult readers. For more information, visitwww.GeoffreyGirard.com.

Special Musical Guest:

Musical composer Wes Alexander and writer/editor Reinhardt Suarez are the two-man crew behind The Pork Chop Express, a traveling musical show that fuses story and song into a single experience. Compositions are often concepted and created remotely, as Alexander resides in Chicago, IL, and Suarez in Minneapolis, MN. The Pork Chop Express relishes opportunities to step outside its own bounds, with projects such as the album-novel The Green Ray of the Sun, and the Twitter-based story-event, Giant Avian Doomsday. Find them at www.theporkchopexpress.com

.

.

ARTIST GUEST OF HONOR:

Melissa Gay is a critically-acclaimed artist of the Imaginative Realism style. Starting her career as a scientific illustrator doing ink drawings for botany manuals, she later used those same skills to do black and white line art for roleplaying games, her true passion. Her work has since appeared on the covers and the interiors of many games, books, magazines, academic publications, and even a tarot deck, and her original paintings are in the hands of private collectors around the world. Her roleplaying game credits include work on Freedom Flyer, an Echoes Of War adventure for the Firefly RPG, The Dresden Files RPG, the Crimeworld Fate Core supplement,  HERO 6th edition, Fantasy HERO and its supplement The Book Of Dragons, Part-Time Gods and its upcoming supplements, Mermaid Adventures, Camp Myth, Psi-Punk, and the upcoming Elves of Uteria. Her speculative fiction book covers include Sara M. Harvey’s Penemue trilogy (Apex Press), and  HebrewPunk (Apex Press) and Jesus and the Eightfold Path (Immersion Press edition) for World Fantasy Award winning author Lavie Tidhar.

MORE SURPRISES TO COME.  REGISTRATION OPENS SOON…