The good news: I’ve got an audio treat from last year’s Pi-Con for all of you (scroll down) and the schedule for 9Pi-Con, which is being held at the Sheraton Hotel at Bradley Airport in Windsor Locks, CT July 31-August 2, has been announced!

I’m really excited about the variety of programming in which I’ll be participating, and this year includes a writer’s workshop all day Friday. Here’s what I’ll be up to:

Writer’s Workshop

Friday 1 p.m.: World Building (Panel)

Jennifer Bresnick (M), Dee Carter, Jennifer Allis Provost, Kristi Petersen Schoonover
The panelists will explore the many aspects of building believable worlds for your stories and novels. How does the writer do this?

Friday 4 p.m.: Building Strong Characters (Panel)

Grant Carrington, William Freedman, Tanya Huff, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Morven Westfield (M)
The panelists will discuss how hero, heroines, and villains must be of equal strength, while secondary characters must move the story forward. You’ll learn how to make your character strong, believable, memorable and beloved by readers.

For Friday’s Writer’s Workshop complete schedule, visit here: http://pi-con.org/programming/writers-workshop/

9Pi-Con

Saturday 10 a.m. This Thing Called Found Footage (Ellsworth)

Ever since three “student filmmakers” Blair Witched it in 1999, found footage has become (to the delight of some and the chagrin of others) a staple in the horror film industry. Why are more coming out every year? What does this say about our changed “selfie”-oriented culture, and how has it changed the way we expect stories to be told? On the flipside, how is this phenomenon reviving the old-school unreliable-narrator tale and true magic realism? We invite you to come and discuss these questions, share your faves and flops, and why you love found footage films…or hate ‘em. (60 mins)
Keith Fiermonte, William Freedman, Kristi Petersen Schoonover (M)

Saturday 12 p.m.: Big Conventions vs Small Ones (Bradley)

(Roundtable) There are people who prefer small, intimate cons and people who live for big, all-inclusive conventions like DragonCon. What’s best about both sizes of con, and what are the disadvantages to getting too big or staying small? (60 mins)
Micah Schneider, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Trisha J. Wooldridge (M)

Saturday 8 p.m.: Readings (Ellsworth)

(60 mins)
Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Gordon Linzner

Sunday 12 p.m.: Stuff Your Stories (McLean)

Your fiction should be as decadent and multi-layered as that elegant tiramisu. How to do that? Blend a better recipe: in this briefing, you’ll take a taste of character development through dialogue, savor metaphor and simile, season with setting, add a dash of symbolism and get your plot/pacing to a rolling boil. In short, you’ll get a run-down on taking advantage of everything life has to offer to jam-pack your stories, turning them into richer experiences for your reader. And let’s not forget as writers, we’re readers, too û take these techniques and use them to delight in other’s prose! (60 mins)
Ken Altabef, Jennifer Bresnick, Llalania Ghose, Shuvom Ghose, Kristi Petersen Schoonover (M)

Sunday 1 p.m.: SF/F/H TV in the 70s and 80s (Bradley)

(Roundtable) The 70s and 80s offered a tremendous amount of SF/F/H television programming, some of it spun off from films or comics but much of it original. Wonder Woman, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Night Gallery, the original Battlestar Galactica, The Incredible Hulk, Beauty and the Beast, The Greatest American Hero, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Spielberg’s Amazing Stories and the long-awaited return of Star Trek with Next Generation–just to name a few. Some of these shows have been remade in recent years. How do these programs hold up? (60 mins)
Ari Alpert, Dr. James Prego, Kristi Petersen Schoonover (M)

For the complete schedule, visit here: http://pi-con.org/programming/program-schedule/

If that weren’t exciting enough, each panelist has been treated to his own ConCardia card! What’s ConCardia? You can learn about it here. Anyway, here’s my card, and I can’t wait to collect all of my friends’!

Here’s my ConCardia card! Nathan helped me with the idea. All of these cards and the game itself: designed by the very talented Michael Whitehouse. Be sure to visit the ConCardia link to check out what he does; he does these customs for events and occasions.

The bad news: This is the LAST Pi-Con, so if you want to enjoy all this con has to offer, it’s this year—or never. Come on up and enjoy; day AND weekend passes are extremely reasonable ($50 for the whole weekend, days run from $15, $20, and $25), and there’s something for everyone (they even have a PANEL IN THE POOL! Yes, hear a panel while you swim!). To purchase tickets online, go here: http://pi-con.org/registration/ Get information here: http://pi-con.org/

Panel in the Pool participants clamber to escape an alligator (I’ll explain later).

Below, a complete recording of the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading at last year’s 8Pi-Con. Broad Universe is an organization representing women writers in speculative fiction, and a rapid fire reading is basically a rush round in which each writer reads from her work for just a few minutes. If you’re looking for variety, this is it! Thanks to Justine Graykin for providing us with this file; she worked hard to record it and pull it all together.

To download or listen, click here: Aug2014 BroadPod

August 2014 BroadPod: A Table of Contents

Note: The notations in brackets after each listing denote at what point in the recording each person starts, so you can skip around if you prefer. The links in the book titles take you to the Amazon purchase links.

Morven Westfield, a section of the first book in her series, Darksome Thirst; from Amazon listing: “When Alicia Anderson, a no-nonsense computer operator encounters a vampire among the machinery, she must resolve the difference between what her logical mind tells her and what she is actually experiencing. Unbeknown to her, fledgling witch Matricaria has begun to receive psychic messages – vivid dreams and tarot card readings – that point to a terrible fate for someone nearby. She and her coven attempt to decipher the symbols, hoping to prevent a tragedy. Soon the lives of these very different women join forces against the unknown.” [follows theme introduction]

Jennifer Pelland, part of a short story from the Apex Anthology Glitter & Mayhem, entitled “Star Dancer”; from the Amazon listing: “Welcome to Glitter & Mayhem, the most glamorous party in the multiverse. Step behind the velvet rope of these fabulous Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror tales of roller rinks, nightclubs, glam aliens, party monsters, drugs, sex, glitter, and debauchery. Dance through nightclubs, roller derby with cryptids and aliens, be seduced by otherworldly creatures, and ingest cocktails that will alter your existence forever. Your hosts are the Hugo Award-winning editors John Klima (Electric Velocipede) and Lynne M. Thomas (Apex Magazine), and the Hugo-nominated editor Michael Damian Thomas (Apex Magazine). Join glittery authors Christopher Barzak (One for Sorrow) and Daryl Gregory (Pandemonium) on the dance floor, drink cocktails with Maria Dahvana Headley (Queen of Kings: A Novel of Cleopatra, the Vampire) and Tim Pratt (Marla Mason series), and skate with Seanan McGuire (InCryptid series), Diana Rowland (Kara Gillian series), and Maurice Broaddus (The Knights of Breton Court series). The fantastic Amber Benson gets the party started with her floor-rattling introduction (Calliope Reaper-Jones series).”   [about 05:20]

Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert, “There are the Words and There are the Spaces,” poetry from her book Interview with the Faerie Part 1 and Other Poems of Darkness & Light; from the Amazon listing: “In Interview with the Faerie (Part One) a reporter is thrilled but anxious to interview the King of the Fae. It has been one hundred years since the last time a human had this honor, and a lot of misinformation has accumulated since then… or has it? This poetry collection introduces creatures fantastical and human… telling stories of terror and betrayal; hope and inspiration; and the joys to be found simply by looking at the world from a different perspective.”  [about 09:52]

Roberta Rogow, a section from her Manatas series, Mayhem in Manatas, the series’ second book; from the Amazon listing: “If people would only stop attacking him, Halvar the Dane might finally manage to do what he was sent to the island of Manatas to do—get the fugitive Leon di Vicenza on a boat back to Al-Andalus. And he hadn’t intended to kill two people before breakfast in the process. However, once again murder and intrigue immerse the calif’s Hireling in more trouble than he ever wanted; and before he learns who murdered the pawnbroker, the mystery will take enough twists and turns to make a good man dizzy.”  [about 14:19]

Terri Bruce, a section from Thereafter, the second book in her paranormal series; from the Amazon listing: “Nothing in life is free. Turns out, nothing in the afterlife is, either. When recently-deceased Irene Dunphy decided to “follow the light,” she thought she’d end up in Heaven or Hell and her journey would be over. Boy, was she wrong. She soon finds that “the other side” isn’t a final destination but a kind of purgatory where billions of spirits are stuck, with no way to move forward or back. Even worse, deranged phantoms known as “Hungry Ghosts” stalk the dead, intent on destroying them. The only way out is for Irene to forget her life on Earth—including the boy who risked everything to help her cross over—which she’s not about to do. As Irene desperately searches for an alternative, help unexpectedly comes in the unlikeliest of forms: a twelfth-century Spanish knight and a nineteenth-century American cowboy. Even more surprising, one offers a chance for redemption; the other, love. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to have either if she can’t find a way to escape the hellish limbo where they’re all trapped.” [about 19:22]

Kristi Petersen Schoonover, a section of “The Thing Inside” from Unnatural Tales from the Jackalope; from the Amazon listing: “Eighteen peculiar stories, a letter, and a poem about the American Southwest’s most enigmatic creature, the jackalope.”  [about 25:30]

Trisha J. Wooldridge, a section from her Young Adult novel Silent Starsong; from the Amazon listing: “Eleven-year-old Kyra is meant to continue the Starbard’s proud family legacy of interpreting the future from the stars’ songs. Her deafness, incurable by the best medics, breaks her mother’s heart and pushes her father to explore anything to help his little girl–including the expensive purchase of a telepathic alien servant to help Kyra communicate on a planet inhospitable to unfixable genetic defects. Marne’s telepathy is too weak for his Naratsset culture, so he is sold into slavery and expects to die at the hands of human owners–until he meets a human child who begs her father to “save” him. Her kindness introduces Marne to a new world–one where he would risk his life to save a human from her own people’s abuse and the stars’ songs can touch even a deaf girl and a defective telepath. When an intergalactic terrorist organization kills Kyra’s father, driving her mother to madness, Kyra and Marne only have each others’ friendship–until even that is threatened by the danger surrounding the Starbard heritage. But can the two friends, not good enough for either of their cultures or families, manage to keep each other safe when several different worlds threaten their lives?”  [about 30:00]

Ellen Larson, a section from her science fiction novel The Measure of the Universe; from the Amazon listing: “A wide-eyed archeologist from Aldebaran lands in Greece to study with a sharp-tongued professor of paleography. They discover love among the runes, and a plot spelling disaster for both their worlds. Fire up your universal translators, it’s Prometheus, Bloodied but Unbound!”  [about 35:35]

Jennifer Allis Provost, a section from her novel Copper Ravens; from the Amazon listing: “Sara should be happy.   She has what every girl wants: a man who loves her, a beautiful home, and wealth beyond imagining. She rescued her brother from the Peacekeepers, destroyed the Iron Queen, and doesn’t have to go to her boring job any more.   And yet Sara still doesn’t know if her father is alive or dead. Her mother hides in the garden, brooding about her missing husband. Her sister, the Inheritor of Metal, is scared of her own shadow, and her brother spends his days fighting and gambling. To add to Sara’s misery, the new queen (gold, of course) is more than a bit crazy, she misses her life in the Mundane world, and, worst of all, Micah wants to have children. A lot of them.   As Sara wavers between happiness and homesickness, a conspiracy emerges against the Raven clan, implicating them in a plot to dethrone the Gold Queen. How can Sara prove her family’s innocence, and become the consort Micah needs her to be, without losing herself in the process?” [about 41:10]