Last hurrah at the Writers Place

End of an era
The owners have spoken. The Writers Place organization is moving, and the "stone castle" on Pennsylvania Avenue will be closed.

The KaCSFFS Holiday Party of Saturday, December 15, 2018 is the final scheduled event for the venue that's been our home since 2001.

The KaCSFFS Board is still looking for a new home for us, starting with the January 19, 2019 meeting. Stay tuned. But meanwhile, let's say goodbye to our longtime home with a great party!

Where: The Writers Place--ONE LAST TIME! 3607 Pennsylvania, Kansas City, MO 64111
When: Saturday, December 15, 2018
Time: Setup starts at 6:00 p.m.; Program at 7:00; Frivolities till 9:30.
Theme: Holiday Party and Seasonal Readings
Food: Fun-fueled Holiday finger food

The Readings
Our guest readers all are local writers, who've graciously agreed to share "something seasonally appropriate" with us. Please help us welcome Rob Howell, Karin Rita Gastreich, and Sean Demory.

Rob Howell

Rob Howell

Rob is a reformed medieval academic who draws upon those skills and resources for his stories and settings. He has also been an IT professional, a cook, and a soda jerk. As a child, his parents discovered about the only way to keep him quiet was to give him a book. Without books, either he or his parents probably would not have survived. Possibly both.

He decided to write professionally when he discovered he was too educated for most jobs, and not quite educated enough for a few. Fortunately, he had always written and this was his chance to follow in the footsteps of Forester, Tolkien, Weber, Drake, Parker, Chandler, and Francis. Rob is the author of the Shijuren series and other stories.

Karin Rita Gastreich

Karin Rita Gastreich

In her website bio, Karin writes of herself: "In November of 2007, a curious dream sparked the opening lines of what would become my first full-length fantasy novel, Eolyn. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had opened the door to yet another exciting world: the world of publishing.

"I balance my life as an ecologist and writer. I treasure all living things and weave many fantastic creatures into my stories. The worlds I create are a strange amalgamation of medieval Europe and colonial America, with misty forests, vast savannas, and steamy jungles. They are populated by brave heroines, noble heroes, and twisted villains.  They reflect the magic I’ve known all my life, of dance and music and play, as well as the hardship that I and many of the people I care for have encountered along the way.

"These stories come from the heart. I give them to you in hopes that you will make them your own."Eolyn is the first book in the Silver Web Trilogy. Find Karin's writing on Amazon and elsewhere.

Sean Demory
Sean is a frequent reader at KaCSFFS meetings, as well as repeat appearances at ConQuesT. His last appearance at a KaCSFFS meeting was in October, when he shared a supernatural tale inspired in part by his own childhood experiences.

He also is the power behind Pine Float Press, which has published a variety of books (including the anthology Palookaville, which held a release event last year at a KaCSFFS meeting).

IMAGES: Many thanks to The Writers Place for the photo of our longtime venue; we'll hate to lose you! The authors' photos for Rob Howell and Karin Rita Gastreich are courtesy of those authors, and used with their permission. The photo of Sean Demory is from the Johnson County Library website, though the original source-page has since been removed).

Add extra sparkle at KaCSFFS's Annual Holiday Party and Launch Event

What: Monthly KaCSFFS Meeting
When: Saturday, December 16, 2017

• 6:00 p.m. setup
• 6:30 brief announcements
• 7:00 Palookaville Anthology launch with readings

Where: The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, MO 64111
Food Theme: Winter holiday food

Are you ready to shine?
We'll have the decorations up and the tables ready to fill, but the "sparkle" depends on you! Come prepared to mingle and munch with Kansas City's favorite fun fannish folk. Bring your favorite holiday munchies to share! Some people like to bring small presents or cards to share with other KaXFEN, but that's not required or expected.

As ever, please also bring favorite tabletop games or card games to share--playing times of 2 hours or less work best for meetings.

Special BONUS event! 
Palookaville Launch and Readings
This year's Holiday Party includes a special feature: Our local Pine Float Press provides some extra entertainment with live readings by three authors whose work is featured in their new anthology, Palookaville. What is Palookaville, you may ask?

Palookaville is a blue-collar supervillain antholology set in the shadows of the superheroic world. Second-string criminals, masked mooks and clued-in henchmen leave the stresses of the criminal world behind and live “normal lives” in the sleepy bedroom town of Powell Heights until the outside world muscles its way in. Fortunately, the citizens of Palookaville know all about muscle work.


“Palokaville is a wonderfully weird, occasionally violent, often funny, deeply twisted revisionist look at the super hero genre.”
–Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Punisher: Naked Kills and Black Panther: Power.

Our Author Guests

A. E. Ash

We're pleased to welcome three authors who will present live readings for the Palookaville
Launch.

A.E. Ash is a writer, nerd, gamer, mooncalf but not a baker or candlestick maker (and nobody said anything about butcher). She writes speculative poetry and fiction because why not make good use of an over-active imagination? Ash lives in the Midwest with her super-rad husband and her lazy cats who do nothing at all to help her on the path to world domination. You can find her on Twitter at @dogmycatzindeed or on her blog. You can find more of her writing via her Amazon Author Page.

J. R. Boles

J.R. Boles is a speculative fiction author currently hanging her hat in the Heartland. When not writing, she and her husband spend their free time chasing after their fearless daughters and rescue pup. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City and American University Washington College of Law. She often hangs out on Twitter at @jrbolesauthor. You can see more of her writing via her Amazon Author Page.

Sean Demory is no stranger to KaCSFFS--he was one of our featured readers in October. He's an author of short fiction and the founder of Pine Float Press. His work has been included on the recommended reading list for Locus Magazine and has received honorable mention in the Best Horror of the Year, a fact that he’ll milk as long as possible. He is currently working on a range of projects that he’ll talk about at length given the least opportunity. Sean lives in Kansas City, Missouri and posts intermittently on Tumblr. His work also is available via Amazon.

KAXFEN who enjoyed Sean Demory's reading at the October meeting should be happy about his rapid return.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Jan S. Gephardt for the photo of the decorated holiday tree at the 2014 Holiday Party and the photo of Sean Demory at the October 2017 KaCSFFS meeting; to Lulu, and Pine Float Press, for the Palookaville cover art; to A. E. Ash's Amazon Author Page for her photo; and to J. R. Boles's Amazon Author Page for her photo.