Costumes, treats, and Julia Mandala Headline October Meeting, 10/15/16

Susan Ives and Carol Doms
livened up the food table in 2013.

What: Halloween KaCSFFS Meeting

Where: The Writers Place

3607 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, MO 64111

When: Saturday, October 15, 2016

6:00 Setup Begins!

6:30 Latest time the business meeting will start. 
7:00 The conversation with Julia Mandala begins! 

Food Theme: Halloween-themed Party Food! 

Consider dressing for the occasion 
KaXFEN usually come in costume for the October meeting, and we've had some strange and interesting looks over the years, from exotic wearable constructions to double-take-worthy makeup and special effects. But even if you don't feel like costuming up yourself, please come and enjoy the creations of those who do. 

Everyone in costume lined up for a photo at the 2014 Halloween meeting.

Every Halloween party needs food
If there's one thing we've learned, it's that KaXFEN not only love to eat--many of them also are excellent and creative cooks. Please bring something delicious and seasonally-appropriate to share. 

Tracy Majkol surveys the bounty at the 2014 Halloween meeting

Julia Mandala at this year's Archon.

Get ready to Meet the Author/Editor
Our main programming event this month is a live interview with our Reviewers' Reading Circle author, Julia Mandala. She will join us live and in her own costume via FaceTime, to discuss her new book book Blood Songs, our RRC Selection for October, and to tell us about the new Fantasy Writers Asylum imprint she's now editing for Yard Dog Press. 

IMAGES: Many thanks to Ty Gephardt and Jan Gephardt for photos of costumes and food from past meetings. Many thanks to Jim Hines, via Facebook, for the photo of Julia Mandala reading to an audience at this year's Archon 40 convention.

Get your SCARY on, for the KaCSFFS Halloween Meeting!

Susan Ives and Carol Doms in 2013

What: Halloween KaCSFFS Meeting

Where: The WritersPlace

3607 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, MO 64111

When: Saturday, October 17, 2015

5:30 Board of Directors—open meeting

6:00 Doors open for setup and pre-meeting socializing.
6:30 Start of Meeting: Speaker April Roy from KC Public Libraries
7:00 Party begins!

Special Guest Speaker

April Roy, manager of the Lucille H. Bluford Branch of the Kansas City Public Library, will join us at the beginning of the meeting, to discuss the value of past KaCSFFS work with the Library, and the potential for future cooperation.

Halloween Costume Party

Each year, we celebrate our annual Halloween party meeting with creative decorations, costumes, and makeup. This year, we hope to make this a party to remember. Setup begins as soon as the doors open. 

Part of a lineup of creative costumes at our 2014 party.

Don't Forget the Food!

One of the party's highlights is the tasty and creative food our members bring. This year's contest will have recognitions for Scariest Food, Tastiest Food, and People's Choice.

Food is always an important part of the party! Here with Adele Tyhurst and Tracy Majkol in 2014.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Jan Gephardt and Ty Gephardt for the photos used in this blog post.

Halloween Meeting focuses on Costumes

Monthly KaCSFFS Meeting October 18, 2014 
What: Monthly KaCSFFS Meeting
Where: The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, MO 64111
When: Open Board of Directors meeting: 5:30 p.m.; Set-up starts at 6:00; Meeting starts at 7:00.  

Best Holiday?
For many people, Halloween is the most fun holiday of the year. And it's almost here! What other theme could we have for the October meeting, besides Halloween?? 

Food: Please contribute a food, snack, or drink item to the party tables. Our president suggests that we try for variety this year, not just the traditional sugary Halloween treats (candies, cookies, cakes, etc). Example: He's bringing two one-topping pizzas, one sausage and one pepperoni. But the final decision is yours, of course.
Please post your food or beverage selection on the KAXFEN list to help avoid too much duplication of party items. Thanks very much!

Yvette models progres on her "Thorin."

Program: First up will be a special Halloween program: World-Class costume maker and cosplayer Yvette Rivadeneira, whose costumes and characters appear every year at ConQuesT, will present a half-hour intro (including a Q&A) to her costume craft, that will also include her latest meticulous creation.

If you're on Facebook, we encourage you to "Like" her page and take a more detailed work at the costumes she has, and is, crafting!

Oh, yeah: a Business Meeting! After Yvette has delighted our eyes and we've filled our plates with food, come back over for a meeting to discuss the latest developments and get caught up on all the things that have been done by the Board, Concom, and various other groups!

IMAGE CREDITS: Halloween image from Battery Park City Block Party website.The photo of Yvette in her "Thorin-in-progress" jacket is from her Facebook page, "Yvette's Costume Page."

KaCSFFS Halloween Party-10/19/13

The Monsters' Tea

Aaron Hollingsworth, in freaky-face!

Date: Saturday, October 19th
    Setup: 5:30 (help appreciated!)
    Party: 7-9:00
    Business Meeting: After the party
Place: The Writers Place (It’s haunted, you know!*)-3607 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, MO 64111
Theme: The Monsters’ Tea
Everyone is welcome!

The party-planners in our group have outdone themselves this year.  The Monsters' Tea of 2013 has a wide range of fun things planned--no matter what your Halloween favorite-thing-to-do may be!

Many thanks to Susan Satterfield, Susan Ives, Becky Rickart, Sherri Dean, Diana Bailey, and Jimmy Hollaman, for their efforts!

Pumpkin/Gourd Decorating

Go for cute, scary, or elaborate!

We’ll have a pumpkin/gourd decorating contest with the winners to be determined by vote of the attendees. Categories:
Scariest
Cutest or Funniest
Most Ornate
Please note: if you make a traditional jack-o-lantern, no candle flames can be allowed in the Writers Place – use a flashlight or something similar, instead!

Food (of course!)
We’ll a food contest, too, with the winner determined by vote. Bring your
scariest
funniest
tastiest
dish, and a card or note describing what the dish is supposed to be (just in case we can’t tell!)
The organizers are providing punch. Otherwise, bring your beverages or coolers.

Costumes (the best part?)
Costumes are encouraged. We mean –really-- encouraged.

These are BritishFest kids, but KAXFEN can get it right, too!

If you don’t wear your own costume, a special committee comprised of Susan Satterfield, Susan Ives, Becky Rickart, Sherri Dean and Diana Bailey may, uh, decorate you with costume materials they’re bringing. Awards will be presented to:

the scariest costume,
the funniest/cutest costume,
the best science fiction costume,
the best fantasy costume,
the most ornate costume,
the best kid’s costume.


Dance Events

It won't be complete without you!

Becky Rickart and Susan Satterfield will host a Halloween “limbo” event. Warm up your backs beforehand.
And we’re told there will be dancing – can you do “the Monster Mash? – hosted by Susan Satterfield. More prizes!

Halloween Quiz
Has, unfortunately, been cancelled. (Sorry for the disappoints all.)

(And some KaCSFFS Business)
And finally, the SCARIEST thing of ALL!!! Treasurer Cindy Norton will be collecting late dues from members and/or new dues from the ravenous hordes of new members sure to descend upon this fabulous … I mean … horrible event!

(Badges will be on site and ready-to-make! Come and get yours hot off the press!) 

There will be a short business meeting after the party.  Hang around afterwards, to help clean up.

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to Robin W. Bailey, for the bizarre pic of our own Aaron Hollingsworth, Kristin, of the Homespun with Love blog, for the photo of the decorated gourd, Moose Mendolia for the parenting-advice photo from the BritishFest Facebook page, and Zazzle for the illustration of the dancing monsters.

*For more information on the haunting of the Writer's Place in Kansas City,  please check out Ghost in the Mirror: Real Cases of Spirit Encounters. (Excerpt from Google Books)  

The Haunting of the Writers Place Happens Saturday!

Who: All KAXFEN and friends are invited!
What: Monthly KaCSFFS meeting and Annual Halloween Party
When: Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012--Party setup begins 5:15, Board meeting 5:30, KaCSFFS Boo!-ness meeting begins 6:30 (Diana: "KaCSFFS Halloween party will start after the boo!-ness . . . so let's see how short we can make it!")
Where: Our usual: The Writers Place (see map link at end of post)
Why: Because it's fun!
How: In costume, of course! How else?

Sherri Dean, Ken Keller, and other
KAXFEN enjoy the food at our 2011
Halloween event.  

This from our Zombie Queen:
"Yes, indeedy, Boils and Ghouls! The rumors are true! The KaCSFFS Halloween Party is going to rise again! Bring yummies for your mummies, bats for your brats and brains for ... well... someone who needs 'em! We have the best cooks around, just don't ask what's in the food! [Editor's note: more on food, below!]

"Our special guest, the Mysterious Mystie will be hosting a terrifying game show Trick or Trivia in which one lucky winner gets to live! Yay! For those nice, quiet serial killer-who-lurks types we'll be having a special trivia contest and of course our costume contest.

"There'll also be treat bags for our younger (12 and under) fans- ya gotta plump 'em up before ya eat 'em, right? Did I say that out loud? Quick- to the buffet table!

One of the 2011 food tables.

"And in honour of our food contest I present to you RETURN OF THE MEATHEAD! So plan to meat, eat and greet as we scare up a night full of fun!

"Sin-cerely yrs, Scary Sherri"
Madame Prez notes: "Sherri is our Zombie Queen ... I mean, fearless leader for this year's activities. She has planned "stuff," and you don't want to piss off the Zombie Queen ... I mean fearless leader by not showing up! So be there, or be coffinated! (Does anybody do de-cof?)"

Regarding the Food:
Again from Madam Prez (Diana Bailey): "Bring your best spooky dish! We LOVE 'finger food,' 'eyes cream,' 'brain pudding,' 'Man-wiches,' and such. Be creative! But please, no 'knuckle sandwiches.'

James Holloman and Sherri Dean
both made fashion statements
in orange at the 2011 event.

"The Food Idea is 'People as Food.' Think, To Serve Man, or the 'Human Buffet' from Galaxina. The gory cats ... I mean categories ... will be voted on. Like, you know, well, most 'scary creative', best 'scary taste,' and as always, the winners will be determined by the voters. Voters are the attendees. That's right! You get to vote!

"Gypsy" Susan Ives
in 2011.

"I am planing on bring 'bones' and 'bloody scabs' for the buffet table. What are you bringing? Be sure to bring your own drink and ice, too.

"The Dead Will Dine! . . . But only if you contribute!"

We also can hope certain persons have exhausted their supply of puns, at least till spring!

Regarding the Costumes:
Granted, KAXFEN rarely need much of an excuse to dress in costume or put on bizarre makeup. You say there's a Zombie Walk? We're there! Hall costumes at sf cons? Well, duh. 

So during the Halloween season, the very season itself is sufficient excuse!

Tanya Holthouse and Jeff Orth portrayed the
Skellingtons in 2011.

No, if you're not into the costume thing we won't bar you at the door, and we promise not to point and laugh, either! But if you're even slightly so-inclined, this is a great place to indulge your inner child with a game of dress-up.

To help get you inspired, we've included some photos of costumes worn to last year's event. We apologize to the many KAXFEN who had superlative outfits last year, and were not portrayed here! Choices were dictated by the practical questions of which costumes this editor had managed to capture, and of those which pictures turned out the best!

But wait! 
What happened to Joel Sanderson?
We had announced some time ago that Joel Sanderson would be our special guest at this meeting.

Joel Sanderson as Gunther Dedmond on "The Basement
Sublet of Horror" on the Monster Channel.

As you may know, Joel hosts a Tuesday night horror/comedy program each week, "The Basement Sublet of Horror," on the Monster Channel. If you have not watched the Monster Channel, it might be a great idea to tune in! His show is a quirky mixture of B-movies, horror, comedy, educational videos, gladiator movies, and cooking shows.

If you are a fan who wanted to see him, we are sorry to have some bad news for you.

Unfortunately, Joel has been dealing with a number of health issues, and will be unable to present a program as scheduled. Perhaps he'll be able to join us another time. Meanwhile, we wish him the very best, and especially a swift and complete recovery! A get-well card for Joel will be available at the meeting.

One-Act Pod Plays also are due!
As announced in June and again in September, our 2012 Pod-Play contest ends Oct. 20. Turn in entries at the meeting, or email as .DOC files (there was a mail-in option as well, but the window of opportunity for that will already have closed by the time this is posted).

Once the pod-play entries have been received, they will be posted to the KAXFEN Yahoo Group within a week. We will announce on KAXFEN and in this space when and where the scripts are available to be read and voted upon by KaCSFFS members. The winner will be announced at the November meeting, November 17, 2012.

Where is The Writers Place, again?
Here's the map, in case you need it:


View Larger Map

PHOTO CREDITS: All but one of the photos in this post are by Jan S. Gephardt, taken at the Oct. 29, 2011 KaCSFFS meeting. They are available for repost with no alteration and with credit given. The lone exception is the image of Joel Sanderson in character. It is from the LJ World website, courtesy of the Lawrence Journal World.