Here's what KaCSFFS' Creative Friends have been doing lately!
After the Christmas/holiday season our creative friends contributed less news than usual. But you can't keep 'em down for long! Here are the latest updates, from the depths of the mid-winter "not-so-blahs."
Artists' News:
Randal Spangler
Fantasy artist Randal Spangler is just back from a three-show January art fair tour in Florida that took him to Ft. Lauderdale, Cape Coral, and the Tampa Bay area.
His only February show was the Ward Parkway Mid-Winter Art Fair in Kansas City, MO, Feb. 10-12, 2017.
Jan S. Gephardt
Fantasy paper sculptor Jan S. Gephardt has recently updated her Etsy Shop, Artdog Paper Sculpture, and created a Gallery Page of her current artworks on her website and her blog.
She also has announced the creation of several new multiple-original editions of fantasy paper sculpture.
Mitchell Bentley
Science fiction and fantasy illustrator Mitchell Bentley is one of the artists participating in the ARTECH show, "a multi-faceted demonstration
of the symbiotic relationship between technology and art." Exhibit dates: February 6-December, 2017.
"The Susquehanna Art Museum has selected original, museum-quality works of art, including interactive animation, interactive video projection, 3D printing, and digital painting." Mitch's work in the show includes four paintings and a fly-through video, Safe Haven. In case you'd like to see it, here it is:
The VanGo! Museum on Wheels, which houses the exhibition, was created in 1992 "as a response to the needs of a rural student population with limited exposure to museum-quality arts and crafts, the VanGo! Museum on Wheels has since grown into a valuable resource for the Central Pennsylvania region. . . . The current VanGo! Museum on Wheels is a 31-foot Winnebago Sightseer retrofitted with a gallery space. Visits include tours aboard the bus, group assemblies, and a group interactive. Exhibitions rotate on an annual basis."
Mitch also recently delivered four book covers. The cover for Judas Gene, by Gary Moreau, is his tenth for Yard Dog Press. Tyree Campbell at Alban Lake Publishing acquired the rights to two compositions Mitch had created previously. Fertility Temple Offerings (from Mitch's 2017 Calendar, also published by Alban Lake) is the cover art for Outposts of Beyond, January 2017. String Nebula II (from the 2014 Calendar) will become the cover for Christina Sng’s Astropoetry, due for release in late February. Lastly, Mitch just delivered the artwork for Earth Gamers, for indie author D.B. Schrock. This book is still in production, possibly due for release this spring.
Artists turned Actors:
David Lee Anderson
Longtime fantasy and science fiction artist-turned-actor David Lee Anderson will portray Homeless Man, in a film being shot in Oklahoma called Southern Christmas. The film is directed by Harvey Lowry, and stars Bo Derek (10), Shelley Long (Cheers), JoeDon Rooney (of Rascal Flatts), and Brighton Sharbino (The Walking Dead), among others. This role, David Lee tells us, is "another one I get listed in the credits. My lovely wife Carolyn said I was born for this role."
Mitchell Bentley (Yes, again.)
As readers of Creative Corner are aware, Mitchell Bentley is a multi-talented guy. One of the non-artwork projects he's been involved with recently is stage work with Penn State's PenOwl Productions, working on fictionalized history for Black History Month.
Another new project has arisen for Mitch and his wife Cathie McCormick from previous work. Ten years ago Mitch acted in an indie sci-fi film, Dark Operations: A Dark Odyssey Begins. In that one, he played a leading role as Gorin the space pirate.
Rising Phoenix Productions has returned to this story. The company is currently filming and editing the first of three in a new mini-series titled Dark Operations: Terminus, Part I, Inferno. Some of the original footage will be incorporated in this new effort.
"It will tell the end of the long story arc, beginning with the trial of the surviving Captain from the original film," Mitch explains. "I am reviving my role as Gorin, who is now Ambassador Gorin of a previously-exiled pirate nation."
He adds: "The Rising Phoenix crew has learned a lot in the intervening 10 years, so this new series promises much higher production quality, with high quality acting and vastly improved editing. Both Cathie and I are also recording sound on set, and Cathie will be doing the film’s sound design, even as she finishes out her PhD. at Penn State on this very subject within the school of American Studies."
Writers' News:
Book Signing March 25, 2017
Robin Wayne Bailey, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, and James Gunn
The Barnes & Noble Booksellers location on the Kansas City Country Club Plaza (420 W. 47th St., Kansas City, MO 64112) will host a book-signing for the humorous science fiction anthology Little Green Men--Attack! on March 25, from 1-3 p.m.
Available to sign autographs will be co-editors Bryan Thomas Schmidt and Robin W. Bailey, both of whom also have stories in the collection, as well as James E. Gunn, who wrote another of the collection's stories.
The anthology is set for release on March 7, when it will be available in bookstores and online.
William Mark Simmons
The third book in William Mark Simmons's Dreamland Chronicles series, The Woman of his Dreams, is now available in Kindle format--the first time ever as a separate volume. It also marks the full release of all three books in individual Kindle editions.
The "virtual boxed set" offers all three Kindle volumes for the price of two, meaning the third book is basically free. However, Mark adds, "please feel free to buy all three separately: more royalties for the author!"
James K. Burk
Production is in progress for James K. Burk's post-apocalyptic action/adventure novel The Long Way Home. Publisher WolfSinger Publications has not yet announced a release date.
IMAGES: The photo of Randal Spangler's booth in Florida is courtesy of Randy himself. The photos of artwork by Jan S. Gephardt and Mitchell Bentley were provided by the artists. The video Safe Haven was shared from Bentley's YouTube Channel. The still from Dark Operations is from the Rising Phoenix Productions' Dark Operations Facebook Page. The Capricon 37 poster is courtesy of the convention's website. Many thanks to Amazon, for the cover images for the Little Green Men--Attack! anthology, and for William Mark Simmons's The Woman of his Dreams.
 |
| Randal Spangler's booth at a show in Florida. |
Artists' News:
Randal Spangler
Fantasy artist Randal Spangler is just back from a three-show January art fair tour in Florida that took him to Ft. Lauderdale, Cape Coral, and the Tampa Bay area.
His only February show was the Ward Parkway Mid-Winter Art Fair in Kansas City, MO, Feb. 10-12, 2017.
 |
| Three of Jan S. Gephardt's new multiple originals. |
Fantasy paper sculptor Jan S. Gephardt has recently updated her Etsy Shop, Artdog Paper Sculpture, and created a Gallery Page of her current artworks on her website and her blog.
She also has announced the creation of several new multiple-original editions of fantasy paper sculpture.
Mitchell Bentley
Science fiction and fantasy illustrator Mitchell Bentley is one of the artists participating in the ARTECH show, "a multi-faceted demonstration
of the symbiotic relationship between technology and art." Exhibit dates: February 6-December, 2017.
"The Susquehanna Art Museum has selected original, museum-quality works of art, including interactive animation, interactive video projection, 3D printing, and digital painting." Mitch's work in the show includes four paintings and a fly-through video, Safe Haven. In case you'd like to see it, here it is:
The VanGo! Museum on Wheels, which houses the exhibition, was created in 1992 "as a response to the needs of a rural student population with limited exposure to museum-quality arts and crafts, the VanGo! Museum on Wheels has since grown into a valuable resource for the Central Pennsylvania region. . . . The current VanGo! Museum on Wheels is a 31-foot Winnebago Sightseer retrofitted with a gallery space. Visits include tours aboard the bus, group assemblies, and a group interactive. Exhibitions rotate on an annual basis."
 |
| These four artworks by Mitchell Bentley also are featured in the ARTECH Show. |
 |
| Watch in coming weeks for a post in which Mitch shares wrap-around images, plus more of the background and "behind the scenes" stories of these covers! |
Artists turned Actors:
David Lee Anderson
Longtime fantasy and science fiction artist-turned-actor David Lee Anderson will portray Homeless Man, in a film being shot in Oklahoma called Southern Christmas. The film is directed by Harvey Lowry, and stars Bo Derek (10), Shelley Long (Cheers), JoeDon Rooney (of Rascal Flatts), and Brighton Sharbino (The Walking Dead), among others. This role, David Lee tells us, is "another one I get listed in the credits. My lovely wife Carolyn said I was born for this role."
Mitchell Bentley (Yes, again.)
As readers of Creative Corner are aware, Mitchell Bentley is a multi-talented guy. One of the non-artwork projects he's been involved with recently is stage work with Penn State's PenOwl Productions, working on fictionalized history for Black History Month.
 |
| A still from the new mini-series: Jaclyn Justice-Weyandt as Dr. Lauren Fillipeli, Royce Essig as Capt. Royce W. McGregor, and Mitchell Bentley as Cmdr. Gorin in Dark Operations. |
Rising Phoenix Productions has returned to this story. The company is currently filming and editing the first of three in a new mini-series titled Dark Operations: Terminus, Part I, Inferno. Some of the original footage will be incorporated in this new effort.
"It will tell the end of the long story arc, beginning with the trial of the surviving Captain from the original film," Mitch explains. "I am reviving my role as Gorin, who is now Ambassador Gorin of a previously-exiled pirate nation."
Book Signing March 25, 2017
Robin Wayne Bailey, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, and James Gunn
The Barnes & Noble Booksellers location on the Kansas City Country Club Plaza (420 W. 47th St., Kansas City, MO 64112) will host a book-signing for the humorous science fiction anthology Little Green Men--Attack! on March 25, from 1-3 p.m.
Available to sign autographs will be co-editors Bryan Thomas Schmidt and Robin W. Bailey, both of whom also have stories in the collection, as well as James E. Gunn, who wrote another of the collection's stories.
The anthology is set for release on March 7, when it will be available in bookstores and online.
The third book in William Mark Simmons's Dreamland Chronicles series, The Woman of his Dreams, is now available in Kindle format--the first time ever as a separate volume. It also marks the full release of all three books in individual Kindle editions.
The "virtual boxed set" offers all three Kindle volumes for the price of two, meaning the third book is basically free. However, Mark adds, "please feel free to buy all three separately: more royalties for the author!"
James K. Burk
Production is in progress for James K. Burk's post-apocalyptic action/adventure novel The Long Way Home. Publisher WolfSinger Publications has not yet announced a release date.
IMAGES: The photo of Randal Spangler's booth in Florida is courtesy of Randy himself. The photos of artwork by Jan S. Gephardt and Mitchell Bentley were provided by the artists. The video Safe Haven was shared from Bentley's YouTube Channel. The still from Dark Operations is from the Rising Phoenix Productions' Dark Operations Facebook Page. The Capricon 37 poster is courtesy of the convention's website. Many thanks to Amazon, for the cover images for the Little Green Men--Attack! anthology, and for William Mark Simmons's The Woman of his Dreams.
