Creative Corner

KaCSFFS Authors and Artists are busy in June!

As previously announced, Creative Corner will be a monthly column in which we report on creative developments amongst our brethren. We begin with the report for June 2014. Artistic types!  Be sure to send your news and updates to bryan at bryanthomasschmidt dot net.

Happening this Month:

Robin W. Bailey

Robin Wayne Bailey sold a story to Esther M. Freisner’s latest Chicks In Chainmail anthology for Baen. He will also be editing a 50^th Anniversary anthology for SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America), to release next Summer. He just returned from A-Kon.

Rob Chilson

Rob Chilson has told “The Tarn,” a novelette set in his “Prime Mondeign” universe to ANALOG Science Fiction and Fact magazine.

Jan S. Gephardt will be attending SoonerCon 23, June 27-29 where she’ll participate in several panels and have her art in the Art Show.

Jan S. Gephardt

As an editor, Bryan Thomas Schmidt sold three anthologies. Choices, a YA reprint anthology with 3 new tales, sold to Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy.  

Mission: Tomorrow, a near-future look at spaceflight in an age no longer dominated by NASA, and Galactic Games, a science fiction sports anthology to release during the Rio Olympics in 2016, both were sold to Toni Weisskopf at Baen. Robin Wayne Bailey will be amongst the contributors.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Bryan’s first Baen anthology, Shattered Shields, military high fantasy, releases November 4, 2014. Robin is also amongst the contributors to that.

Bryan and Robin were among participants in the Campbell Conference this past weekend at the Center For The Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. Bryan will be a panelist at DetCon1, the National Science Fiction Convention in July in Detroit, Michigan.

Artistic types!  Be sure to send your news and updates to bryan at bryanthomasschmidt dot net. 

IMAGE CREDITS: The photo of Robin Bailey is from his website; that of Rob Chilson is from SFF.  The photo of Jan S. Gephardt is from the Soonercon website; the photo of Bryan Thomas Schmidt is from Amazon.

SF Thriller is June SF&F Literati Selection

The Book: The Eidolon

The Author: Libby McGugan
Available from: Barnes & Noble Booksellers and other fine booksellers
The Location: Oak Park Barnes & Noble #2352, 11323 W 95th Street Overland Park, KS, 66214 (913-492-8187) - 2nd floor, by the windows
The Date: June 23, 2014
The Time: 7:00 p.m.

This meeting will be on the fourth Monday, June 23, 2014, 7:00 p.m. at the Oak Park Barnes & Noble.

NOTE: Come to this meeting with ideas about what books the group should read in July, August, September, and October! This is the meeting when those selections will be planned.  If you can't attend the meeting, watch the Facebook Page for updates!

Overview of The Eidolon, from Barnes & Noble:
A contemporary SF thriller. The divide between science and the human spirit is the setting for a battle for the future.

When physicist Robert Strong loses his job at the Dark Matter research lab and his relationship falls apart, he returns home to Scotland. Then the dead start appearing to him, and Robert begins to question his own sanity. Victor Amos, an enigmatic businessman, arrives and recruits Robert to sabotage CERN’S Large Hadron Collider, convincing him the next step in the collider’s research will bring about disaster. Everything Robert once understood about reality, and the boundaries between life and death, is about to change forever. And the biggest change will be to Robert himself... Mixing science, philosophy and espionage, Libby McGugan’s stunning debut is a thriller like no other.

See a trailer for The Eidolon: 

IMAGE CREDITS: The cover photo for The Eidolon is from author Libby McGugan's website.  Buy The Eidolon from Barnes & Noble Booksellers, or from other fine booksellers.  The trailer for The Eidolon is from Libby McGugan's website, via YouTube.

Annual KaCSFFS (Indoor) Picnic June 21!

Summertime, and the Picnic is Indoors . . . 
Who: All KaCSFFS Members and Friends are invited!
What: Annual KaCSFFS Picnic meeting
When: Saturday, June 21, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. (Setup starts 6:00)
Where: Indoors at The Writers Place
Why: Because we like to party together!
How: With good food, drink, and friends.

The 2013 picnic's theme was "Camp KaCSFFS," held at The Writers Place.

The KaCSFFS Picnic tradition goes back decades. When the club and all its members were young fen just starting out (and when air conditioning was not as ubiquitous as it is today), we often went to local parks for food, fun, and our June meeting.

Now that we are a multi-generational group, however, we've moved the party indoors so everyone can freely attend without adverse health consequences. 

The food is pot-luck: everyone brings some kind of "picnic-appropriate" food.  KaCSFFS club funds go for the meat (usually hot dogs and hamburgers) and buns, plus paper plates, cups, tableware, and napkins. If you have special needs, let us know or feel free to bring your own.  We can set up grills outside, either on the front porch or on the lawn.

Don Mull and Kristina Hiner talk near one of the 2013 food tables.

Members bring everything else: side dishes, desserts, condiments, drinks, chips--we need it all!  Coordinating the picnic this year is President Ken Keller. Please let him know what food you want/plan to bring, before we have everyone show up and discover we all brought nothing but pie or potato salad.

Going Google!
Learn about our new Google Group in June!  We have been promised an orientation presentation, so all members present will know about the features and possibilities of our new members-only organizational group. This blog recently posted an overview with an informational video.

IMAGE CREDITS: The "Picnic" lettering is from RH Events "Company Picnic Themes" page.  The photos from the 2013 Picnic meeting are by Jan S. Gephardt.

KC Horror Book Club June 2014 Meeting

House of Leaves

By Mark Z. Danielewski

Details:
Date and Time: June 14, 2013 (Saturday) from noon to 1:30.
Location: The Green Room Burgers and Beer
Address: 4010 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite D, Kansas City, MO.
Event Notes: 

Come and discuss House of Leaves and grab some food too.

"Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth -- musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies -- the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children.

"Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices.

"The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

"Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story -- of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams."

-Pantheon & Earline Beebe

Check the Facebook Event Page for more information.

Please contact Earline Beebe for more information on the Facebook event page.
Image from: SITE. Published by Pantheon.

Are You Planning for the Campbell Conference?

This is a busy weekend for KAXFEN! There are both a Laser Rangers Meeting and a Horror Book Club meeting on Saturday, June 14--please see other posts to this blog about the details of those events.

But there's also the Campbell Conference!
The annual Campbell Conference is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas and runs from next Friday (the 13th!) through Sunday, June 15th.  To register online, click here!
Register now - especially if you want to attend the Friday night banquet!
 
A quick overview of events:

Friday, June 13
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Panel discussion with guest authors: "Secrets of Successful Speculative-Fiction Writing."

Where? In Rieger Scholarship Hall

6:00 - 7:30pm
Awards Ceremony and Banquet honoring the winners of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (for best SF novel) and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award (for best short SF).

Where? Location TBA (on KU campus)

Rieger Scholarship Hall

NOTE: $25, reservations due by June 9.

Register now - especially if you want to attend the Friday night banquet!
 

7:30 - 9:00pm
Wine and beer reception.

Saturday, June 149:00am - Noon

The KU Kansas Union Building

Campbell Conference round-table discussion: "SF and the Real World." 

Where? Kansas Union, exact room TBA.

12:45pm - 1:30pm
Book-signing with all attending authors and editors.
Where? Jayhawk Ink Bookstore in the Kansas Union. NOTE: This event is free and open to public (no need to register for the Conference to attend the signing).

1:45pm - 4:00pm
Campbell Conference presentations honoring Frederik Pohl.

Featured Movie screening!

Where? Kansas Union, exact room TBA.

7:30pm - ?
Screening of "CSA: Confederate States of America," followed by discussion with the director and cinematographer.

Where? Oldfather Studios (see registration packet).

Sunday, June 1510:00am - 12:00pm
Informal "meet the authors and editors" session.
Where? Kansas Union, exact room TBA.

Noon - ?
"Science Fiction Sunday" salon-discussion and brunch
Hosted by Jean Martin and Amanda Martin-Harmon
Where? Kansas Union, exact room TBA.

To learn more about the events and guests, see the Conference page:  
Register now - especially if you want to attend the Friday night banquet!

IMAGE CREDITS: The Campbell Conference poster and the movie poster for CSA: Confederate States of America are both from the Campbell Conference web page. The image of Rieger Scholarship Hall is from a KU gallery of photos. The photo of the KU Kansas Union building is from the Flyover People blog.  
 

Laser Rangers 2014 June Meeting

Breakable

Date: June 14, 2014
Time: 4:50pm
Location: David Sooby’s home theater with 51-inch Samsung HDTV, a 5.1 Surround Sound Dolby Digital sound system, a full set of audiophile-grade speakers, and upgraded seating for about 15 people without crowding.
Captain Laser: Jaymes L. & Ken K.
Food: Superfoods
Costume: Super Costumes

To learn more, please visit our Facebook Event Page.

Short features will be shown before each feature. Don't miss them!

Kick Ass

(2010, 117 minuets) Directed by: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Mark Strong, and Nicolas Cage

Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a super-hero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so. -IMDB

Watch the trailer here!







~~~~~
After the first feature, please join us for a potluck dinner. Bring something to share. It can follow the theme, or be something you prefer.
~~~~~

Feature Presentation!
Unbreakable

(2000, 106 minuets) Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan

Starring: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright Penn, and Spencer Treat Clark

A suspense thriller with supernatural overtones that revolves around a man who learns something extraordinary about himself after a devastating accident. -IMDB

Watch the trailer here!












The home of the Laser Rangers is located about four miles north of the Kansas Speedway, NW of the intersection of I-70 and I-435 on the Kansas side of the Greater Kansas City area.

IMAGE CREDITS: The information for all of these shows come from the invaluable IMDB. The movie posters come from Wikipedia or the movie's respected distributors. 

The movie screen frame image used for the Laser Rangers contact information is courtesy of Psychology Today Online. Many thanks to these websites!