Updated 10/16/2016
Just in time for Halloween Season!
It's not that the Creative Friends of KaCSFFS haven't been busy--they definitely have! Unfortunately, your humble editor has had . . . distractions. I'll try not to let it happen again!
MCC-Longview Literary Festival
This year's Longview Literary Festival is almost upon us! Located on the Longview Community College campus, 500 SW Longview Road, Lees Summit, MO, this is the 8th annual festival, headed by our own Susan Satterfield, plays host to more than 20 area writers, including M.C. Chambers, Dennis Young, Karin Gastreich, Kristin McTiernan, J.R. Boles, and many others. Our Keynote Speakers are Latino Writers Collective. We are also having a special presentation on the history of the poetry slam as well as poetry slam, story in a bag, and art is the word contests. Admission is free! The hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, October 21.
The program lineup includes quite a range of interesting topics: (1) The Importance of Research and How to Do It; (2) Creating Culturally Diverse Characters; (3) Writing Creative Non-Fiction; (4) The Impact of Culturally Diverse Writers on Today’s Fiction, Poetry, Music and Scripts; (5) The Importance of Live Readings and How to do it Well: (6) Promoting Your Work in Today’s Publishing World; (7) Writing Poetry with Layered Meaning; (8) You Finished Your Draft. Now What?; (9) Writing for Fun or Profit: Is it a Hobby or Career or Both?; (10) The Power of the Written/Spoken Word; (11) Building Alien Societies; (12) Writing Believable Dialogue; (13) The Future of Short Fiction; (14) Dealing with Writer’s Block; (15) Similarities in Poems/Stories Written by Authors from Different Cultures; (16) Writing Young Adult Fiction.
Local Artist Randal Spangler is Art Guest of Honor at World Fantasy Con
Kansas City's own Randal Spangler is one of the headliners at World Fantasy Con in Columbus, OH, October 27-30 this year. This will be Randal's second science fiction convention ever as an attendee, to his recollection. The first was MidAmeriCon II, where he spent most of his time in the Dealers' area.
Randal's artwork has traveled to sf conventions in previous years, through the efforts of his longtime agent Pascal Gephardt. He also is familiar to fantasy art fans all over the region because of his many appearances as art fairs and the Kansas City and Minnesota Renaissance Festivals.
Recent Gallery Showings by our Artist Friends
As pre-announced last June, Deb Pellicano, a.k.a. Ladyelf Pendarian, participated in Fourth Friday at Blue Heron Design in Lee's Summit on August 26, 2016. She also was involved in a showing of "Artists in the Alley." She posted a photo of her display on her Facebook Page.
The artwork of Christopher Vaughan Frye was featured at Gallery 504 in the Kansas City Crossroads on First Friday, September 2, 2016.
See more of his work on his Facebook Page. His work also recently was displayed in Johnson County, KS, at the Young Adult section of the Central Resource Center of the Johnson County Library in Overland Park, KS.
Throughout the month of September, artwork by Creative Friends of KaCSFFS Mitchell Bentley, David Lee Pancake, Keith Russell, and Ray VanTilburg was on display in a joint museum show in Decatur, IL.
It was held by the Decatur Arts Council, at the Madden Arts Center in Decatur, IL The show Otherworldly: Sci-Fi and Fantasy, features works from 11 artists in all. It was sponsored by Busey Bank. Many thanks to Mitch Bentley for calling this to our attention!
Xenofera Game Launches Oct. 4
Recent ConQuesT artist and MidAmeriCon II exhibitor Jeff Porter, with partner and co-creator Liz Gattra, launched a Kickstarter campaign for their new card game Xenofera, this month.
As Porter described it in his email, "Xenofera is a strategic card game where players must recruit a crew, build cages and then use their crew and cages to capture alien creatures (Xenofera). The player with the most valuable collection of Xenofera at the end of the game wins.
"But keeping the creatures you've caught is not easy. Other players can sabotage your expedition by stealing your cages and creatures or enticing away your crew members. You may need to battle them to keep what you've worked so hard to obtain.
"Xenofera can support from 2 to 5 players with an average play time of 30 to 75 minutes, roughly 15 minutes per player."
New Book Releases
Hybrid Classes Volume 2
Still on the "game" front, Aaron Hollingsworth has announced his first "non-indie" work. He is a contributor to an upcoming RPG supplement, the creator of the Dimensionist Hybrid Class for Wayward Rogues Publishing. As the website describes this class, "The Dimensionist refolds reality with arcane spells, tamed wild talents, and sinister distortions. With the aid of an aberrant familiar, she invokes strange geometry to warp space and matter in horrific ways."
Little Green Men--Attack!
The Amazon page for Little Green Men--Attack! is now live and open for pre-orders. This humorous anthology is a joint project between Robin Wayne Bailey and Bryan Thomas Schmidt. The Amazon page describes the project this way: "When Little Green Men Attack, It's All-out Laugh Warfare.
"From the far reaches of outer space they come--inscrutable aliens, malicious invaders, wacky tourists from another planet--to conquer, study, and tickle us.
"From the battlefields of the Ozarks to the marble halls of the Boston Library, from Central Park to the skies above Washington, on the moon, and in the seediest bars of Kansas City--they're here. But do they really know who they're up against? Not hardly!"
Read a full list of authors and other information (or feel free to pre-order the book) at its Amazon page. The book officially launches on March 7, 2017.
I Am a Wondrous Thing--The World of Shijuren Book 3
Indie author Rob Howell has announced the release of his new book, I Am a Wondrous Thing--The World of Shijuren Book 3.
This book shifts to a broader stage from the first two books, which mostly followed the career of the honorable but frequently-frustrated Edward Aethelredson.
Now war looms, and although Irina Ivanovna, ruler of Periaslavl, has magic to her body young, she is tired. She steps down and seeks a quieter route to use her magic, in the hope that she can stem the bloodshed. But unexpected foes stalk her. They know her magic is more important than she thinks.
Howell is at Time Eddy in Wichita, KS on October 14-16. He also will be at World Fantasy Con in Columbus, OH, October 27-30.
IMAGES: Many thanks to M. C. Chambers for her author photo; to Randal Spangler's website for his header image; to Deb Pellicano, Christopher Vaughan Frye, and Keith Russell/Synthetic Sky Studios (via their Facebook pages) for the images of their artwork. Many thanks to Mitchell Bentley for the photo of To Catch a Fairy, and to Jeff Porter for sending me the Xenofera images. The cover photo for Hybrid Classes Vol. 2 is courtesy of Aaron Hollingsworth. The cover photo for Little Green Men--Attack! is from a Facebook post by Bryan Thomas Schmidt, via Diana J. Bailey. The cover image for I am a Wondrous Thing is courtesy of Amazon.
Just in time for Halloween Season!
It's not that the Creative Friends of KaCSFFS haven't been busy--they definitely have! Unfortunately, your humble editor has had . . . distractions. I'll try not to let it happen again!
 |
| M. C. Chambers |
This year's Longview Literary Festival is almost upon us! Located on the Longview Community College campus, 500 SW Longview Road, Lees Summit, MO, this is the 8th annual festival, headed by our own Susan Satterfield, plays host to more than 20 area writers, including M.C. Chambers, Dennis Young, Karin Gastreich, Kristin McTiernan, J.R. Boles, and many others. Our Keynote Speakers are Latino Writers Collective. We are also having a special presentation on the history of the poetry slam as well as poetry slam, story in a bag, and art is the word contests. Admission is free! The hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, October 21.
The program lineup includes quite a range of interesting topics: (1) The Importance of Research and How to Do It; (2) Creating Culturally Diverse Characters; (3) Writing Creative Non-Fiction; (4) The Impact of Culturally Diverse Writers on Today’s Fiction, Poetry, Music and Scripts; (5) The Importance of Live Readings and How to do it Well: (6) Promoting Your Work in Today’s Publishing World; (7) Writing Poetry with Layered Meaning; (8) You Finished Your Draft. Now What?; (9) Writing for Fun or Profit: Is it a Hobby or Career or Both?; (10) The Power of the Written/Spoken Word; (11) Building Alien Societies; (12) Writing Believable Dialogue; (13) The Future of Short Fiction; (14) Dealing with Writer’s Block; (15) Similarities in Poems/Stories Written by Authors from Different Cultures; (16) Writing Young Adult Fiction.
Local Artist Randal Spangler is Art Guest of Honor at World Fantasy Con
Kansas City's own Randal Spangler is one of the headliners at World Fantasy Con in Columbus, OH, October 27-30 this year. This will be Randal's second science fiction convention ever as an attendee, to his recollection. The first was MidAmeriCon II, where he spent most of his time in the Dealers' area.
Randal's artwork has traveled to sf conventions in previous years, through the efforts of his longtime agent Pascal Gephardt. He also is familiar to fantasy art fans all over the region because of his many appearances as art fairs and the Kansas City and Minnesota Renaissance Festivals.
 |
| Sea of Longing, by Deb Pellicano |
As pre-announced last June, Deb Pellicano, a.k.a. Ladyelf Pendarian, participated in Fourth Friday at Blue Heron Design in Lee's Summit on August 26, 2016. She also was involved in a showing of "Artists in the Alley." She posted a photo of her display on her Facebook Page.
The artwork of Christopher Vaughan Frye was featured at Gallery 504 in the Kansas City Crossroads on First Friday, September 2, 2016.
See more of his work on his Facebook Page. His work also recently was displayed in Johnson County, KS, at the Young Adult section of the Central Resource Center of the Johnson County Library in Overland Park, KS.
 |
| Several paintings by Christopher Vaughn Frye, at the Central Resource Library, Johnson County, KS. |
Throughout the month of September, artwork by Creative Friends of KaCSFFS Mitchell Bentley, David Lee Pancake, Keith Russell, and Ray VanTilburg was on display in a joint museum show in Decatur, IL.
It was held by the Decatur Arts Council, at the Madden Arts Center in Decatur, IL The show Otherworldly: Sci-Fi and Fantasy, features works from 11 artists in all. It was sponsored by Busey Bank. Many thanks to Mitch Bentley for calling this to our attention!
 |
| Mitchell Bentley's To Catch a Fairy was a featured image in the Decatur show. |
 |
| In addition to exhibiting work in the Decatur show, Kansas City artist Keith Russell announced an offering of these two images as limited edition prints. L-R: Open Mind, and Open Mind, Too. |
Xenofera Game Launches Oct. 4
Recent ConQuesT artist and MidAmeriCon II exhibitor Jeff Porter, with partner and co-creator Liz Gattra, launched a Kickstarter campaign for their new card game Xenofera, this month.
 |
| You could capture a Diamond- Crested Peacock. |
"But keeping the creatures you've caught is not easy. Other players can sabotage your expedition by stealing your cages and creatures or enticing away your crew members. You may need to battle them to keep what you've worked so hard to obtain.
 |
| Aaron Hollingsworth's new project is part of this volume. |
"Xenofera can support from 2 to 5 players with an average play time of 30 to 75 minutes, roughly 15 minutes per player."
New Book Releases
Hybrid Classes Volume 2
Still on the "game" front, Aaron Hollingsworth has announced his first "non-indie" work. He is a contributor to an upcoming RPG supplement, the creator of the Dimensionist Hybrid Class for Wayward Rogues Publishing. As the website describes this class, "The Dimensionist refolds reality with arcane spells, tamed wild talents, and sinister distortions. With the aid of an aberrant familiar, she invokes strange geometry to warp space and matter in horrific ways."
Little Green Men--Attack!
The Amazon page for Little Green Men--Attack! is now live and open for pre-orders. This humorous anthology is a joint project between Robin Wayne Bailey and Bryan Thomas Schmidt. The Amazon page describes the project this way: "When Little Green Men Attack, It's All-out Laugh Warfare.
"From the battlefields of the Ozarks to the marble halls of the Boston Library, from Central Park to the skies above Washington, on the moon, and in the seediest bars of Kansas City--they're here. But do they really know who they're up against? Not hardly!"
Read a full list of authors and other information (or feel free to pre-order the book) at its Amazon page. The book officially launches on March 7, 2017.
Indie author Rob Howell has announced the release of his new book, I Am a Wondrous Thing--The World of Shijuren Book 3.
This book shifts to a broader stage from the first two books, which mostly followed the career of the honorable but frequently-frustrated Edward Aethelredson.
Now war looms, and although Irina Ivanovna, ruler of Periaslavl, has magic to her body young, she is tired. She steps down and seeks a quieter route to use her magic, in the hope that she can stem the bloodshed. But unexpected foes stalk her. They know her magic is more important than she thinks.
Howell is at Time Eddy in Wichita, KS on October 14-16. He also will be at World Fantasy Con in Columbus, OH, October 27-30.
IMAGES: Many thanks to M. C. Chambers for her author photo; to Randal Spangler's website for his header image; to Deb Pellicano, Christopher Vaughan Frye, and Keith Russell/Synthetic Sky Studios (via their Facebook pages) for the images of their artwork. Many thanks to Mitchell Bentley for the photo of To Catch a Fairy, and to Jeff Porter for sending me the Xenofera images. The cover photo for Hybrid Classes Vol. 2 is courtesy of Aaron Hollingsworth. The cover photo for Little Green Men--Attack! is from a Facebook post by Bryan Thomas Schmidt, via Diana J. Bailey. The cover image for I am a Wondrous Thing is courtesy of Amazon.
