Five Authors, Prizes, and Fun April 24

Five Authors. One event.

Sunday, April 24, 2016, 1-3 pm

Join five local authors for fun and food, readings and refreshments, prizes and pretties, cookies and chocolate, and books, all at the beautiful Some Enchanted Evening shop in Spencer, Massachusetts.

Join us for a few hours of exciting readings,  Q & A, and schmoozing with the authors.We've been working hard to put together creative raffle baskets with different themes: Celtic myth, dragon, vampires, and fairies, and everyone attending has a chance at winning.

Who are we?

Becca Boucher was born in Worcester, Massachusetts and remains a lifelong New England resident, which can be seen in the settings of her novels. Her first published work appeared in the Write More Publications anthology Novel Hearts (2013), which was followed by her novel Hunting The Moon in the fall of 2013. Hunting The Moon is the first in a three book paranormal romance series set in central Massachusetts. The second book, Midnight Raven, debuted in May 2015. Both books follow two women as they navigate a chilling Celtic curse, and a vengeful fairy. Besides paranormal romance, Ms. Boucher writes military fiction. Her short stories "Panel 35" and "The Shadow Soldier" are now available in a special print edition. Ms. Boucher is a freelance blogger and writer, and mom to two wonderful sons.

Diane Haynes grew up drawing and painting. Writing was relegated to daily reports written while working with disabled adults. Although she’s written at least a dozen short stories over the years, most were quickly relegated to notebooks in a drawer. Her series The Enchanted Forest, which featured YA Fantasy/Romance, Rift Healer, Sirocco, and Still Hunt, were published by Crescent Moon Press in 2012-2014. Diane lives in Central MA where she and her husband care for their rescued Basset Hounds, Ruby and Boris, whose sad pasts do nothing to diminish their willingness to be naughty. Check out her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/DianeMHaynes/

Jennifer Allis Provost writes books about faeries, orcs and elves. Zombies, too. She grew up in the wilds of Western Massachusetts and had read every book in the local library by age twelve. (It was a small library). An early love of mythology and folklore led to her epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Parthalan, and her day job as a cubicle monkey helped shape her urban fantasy, Copper Girl. She spends her days drinking vast amounts of coffee, arguing with her computer, and avoiding any and all domestic behavior. Connect with Jenn online at www.authorjenniferallisprovost.com.

Morven Westfield is a fiction writer who lives in Central Massachusetts. The author of a two-book series in which a coven of witches investigate evil in the form of vampires, she regularly contributes non-fiction articles on folklore and the supernatural to The Witches Almanac. Like many writers, she keeps a messy office and drinks way too much coffee. See more at www.morvenwestfield.com.

Under her full name, Trisha J. Wooldridge writes grown-up horror short stories and weird poetry for anthologies and magazines that occasionally win awards. In her child-friendly persona of T.J. Wooldridge, she writes scary children’s novels. She’s also a freelance editor, copywriter, and journalist with info at www.anovelfriend.com. As if she weren’t busy enough, Trish is also a partner in the webcomic Aurelio at www.thevampireaurelio.com.


Some Enchanted Evening
234 Main St., Spencer, MA 01562   
1-508-885-2050
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Website

Some Enchanted Evening

Morven Westfield and T.J. Wooldridge are both members of Broad Universe, an international, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, encouraging, honoring, and celebrating women writers and editors in science fiction, fantasy, horror and other speculative genres. For more information, see www.broaduniverse.org.

My List of Panels for 8Pi-Con (that is, Pi-Con 2014)

Billed as "the friendliest little convention in New England," Pi-Con is held at the Holiday Inn, Enfield, CT, just south of Springfield, MA. This year it's June 27-29, 2014 (next weekend) and I'll be on six panels.

Here's the list:

Fri 6:00pm     How to be a Good Panelist (mod)

Sat 1:00pm     Day Jobs for Writers

Sat 7:00pm     Broad Universe RFR

Sat 8:00pm     Vampires Past, Present & Future--Are They Morphing?

Sun 11:00am    So You Want to Write a Series (mod)

Sun 1:00pm     Kickstarter and Other Microfunding Programs (mod)



And here are the descriptions and lists of panelists.


Fri 6:00 p.m.

How to be a Good Panelist — Agawam

Susan Hanniford Crowley, Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert, Morven Westfield (M), Michelle Wexelblat

We’ve all been to panels where things got wildly off-topic or where a panelist or audience member hogged the panel. Sometimes it’s been a lot of fun or extremely interesting. Other times, it’s been aggravating. In this panel, experienced panelists talk about preparing for a panel, participating on a panel, being a good moderator, handling someone who’s obviously aggravating, and how different cons have different styles.




Sat 1:00 p.m.

Day Jobs for Writers — Agawam

M. L. Brennan, Ellen Larson, Kristi Petersen Schoonover (M), Morven Westfield, Trisha J. Wooldridge

What’s the best day job for a writer? Is it a writing job that helps you learn to craft a sentence, work with an editor, and meet deadlines? Or a less-demanding job that gives you time—and brain-width—to think about your current work-in-progress. Writers talk about their day jobs and how they’ve helped or hindered their writing progress.


Sat 7:00 p.m.

Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading — Suffield

Terri Bruce, Ellen Larson, Jennifer Pelland, Jennifer Allis Provost, Roberta Rogow, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Morven Westfield, Trisha Wooldridge

Eight talented writers have six minutes each to blow you away! Broad Universe is an international organization supporting women authors of SF, fantasy and horror. Visit them on Dealer’s Row!


Sat 7:00 p.m.

Vampires Past, Present & Future–Are They Morphing? — Suffield

M. L. Brennan, Susan Hanniford Crowley (M), Morven Westfield

A serious and not so serious discussion of Vampires: Past, Present, and Future. Are they morphing into something else—worse—better? What do the legends teach us? Let’s really get into the teeth of the topic and explore where we would like to see vampires of the future go? Can science create the better vampire?



Sun 11:00 a.m.

So You Want to Write a Series — Somers

M. L. Brennan, Susan Hanniford Crowley, Allen Steele, Morven Westfield (M)

For writers who have written series of two or more books. How do you decide your plot and character arcs for each book? For the whole series? Trilogy or longer? How do you keep track of details? How do you bring new readers up-to-date, or do you put the onus on them to read the earlier books? Are series still being done the same way, or are there new trends in writing and publishing series?


Sun 1:00 p.m.

Kickstarter and Other Microfunding Programs — Suffield

David Larochelle, Jennifer Allis Provost, Morven Westfield (M)

Writers, artists, and musicians are using crowdfunding for their projects. People with experience with this booming trend this tell us how it’s done, what does and doesn’t work, and what they’d do differently.

Dark Carnival of Authors, Saturday, April 13, 2013

This Saturday, April 13, 2013, stop by at Annie's Book Stop of Worcester, Massachusetts, from 11:00 AM until 9:00 PM to listen to readings, get autographs from, and chat with several authors of dark fantasy and horror.

The event will also include memories of and readings from the works of award winning horror author Rick Hautala, who passed away just last month.

Refreshments will be provided all day. The event is free. Located at 65 James Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, Annie's has plenty of free parking.

Here’s the schedule from Annie's:

11:00 – Snacks, socializing

11:30 – Eric Dimbleby has been published in dozens of anthologies in the US, Canada, and Australia. In 2012, he won the “Best Speculative Fiction” award from the Maine Writer’s and Publishers Alliance, for his debut novel Please Don’t Go.  Eric’s most recent novel is entitled The Klinik.

12:00 – Jennifer Pelland has garnered two Nebula nominations, and many of her short stories were collected in Unwelcome Bodies, put out by Apex in 2008. Apex also released her debut novel, Machine, in 2012.

12:30 – Signing, socializing

01:00 – K. A. Laity is the author of the novels Lush Situation, Owl Stretching, Pelzmantel, The Mangrove Legacy, Chastity Flame and the collections Unquiet Dreams and Unikirja, as well as editor of Weird Noir and writer of other stories, plays and essays. Her stories tend to slip across genres and categories, but all display intelligence and humour.

01:30 – Jessie Olson is the author of An Ever Fixéd Mark and one of the founders of Worcester Writers Collaborative. She grew up in a small Central Massachusetts town with lots of trees and a complete lack of restraint on her imagination.

02:00 – Signing, socializing

02:30 – Errick Nunnally‘s successes include: the upcoming publication of his book, Blood For The Sun; a comic strip collection, Lost in Transition; first prize in one hamburger contest; the short story “Who Bears The Lathe?” in eFiction’s inaugural SciFi issue; the sci-fi short, “Legion,” in the anthology Doorways to Extra Time; two lovely children; and one beautiful wife.

03:00 – Rose Mambert is the editor-in-chief of Pink Narcissus Press and has published a number of short stories and poems, and co-edited various anthologies such as Elf Love, Queer Fish, and WTF?!. She is author of a rock and roll vampire novel, The Muses: The Blood Tour (2012, Damnation Books.)

03:30 – Signing, Socializing, Refresh Food

04:30 – Frank Raymond Michaels has short stories published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Haunts, the former earning an Honorable Mention in The Year’s Finest Fantasy and Horror, Sixth Edition and the latter being made into a Sundance short film. He’s currently working on a sword and sorcery novel and more short horror fiction.

05:00 – Morven Westfield is the author of Darksome Thirst and The Old Power Returns, two vampire novels set in New England, often writes for The Witches’ Almanac, and produces the podcast “Vampires, Witches, and Geeks.”

05:30 – Signing, socializing

06:00 – Inanna Arthen began studying vampire literature and folklore in the 1960s, and since then, has become a scholar on the subject. She is also the author of the Vampires of New England series and owner of By Light Unseen Media, a small press dedicated to all that is Vampire.

06:30 – John McIlveen has written numerous stories, poems, and articles.  He is the author of Jerks and Other Tales from a Perfect Man, and his fiction has been published in Twisted Magazine, Deathrealm Magazine, Metromoms Magazine, Horror on The Installment Plan, Borderlands 5 (a.k.a. From the Borderlands), The Monster’s Corner (2011 St. Martin’s), Epitaphs (2011 Shroud), Under the Bed (2012 Sirens Call) , 21st Century Dead (2012 St. Martin’s), Suffer the Little Children (2013 Cruentus Libri), and Eulogies II (2013 Horrorworld)

07:00 – Signing, socializing

07:30 – TJ May wrote the graphic novel Catching Lucifer’s Lunch, and his short stories can be found in Shroud Magazine, Best New Werewolf Tales and his short story, “Vitamins,” was featured on Scary Scribes.

08:00 – Kristi Petersen Schoonover‘s short fiction has been featured in The Adirondack Review, Barbaric Yawp, The Illuminata, Chick Flicks, Afternoon, The Circle, Citizen Culture,  I Like Monkeys, New Witch Magazine, MudRock: Stories & Tales, Waxing & Waning, Wrong World’s multi-media anthology, I’m Going to Tell You One More Time, and many, many others. Her first novel, Bad Apple, came out in 2012, and she has published a collection of Disney-based ghost stories in Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole.

8:30 – Socialize, sign

Ghosts, Spirits, and the Afterlife - Time Announced

 02/22/2013 - EVENT CANCELED due to impending snow storm. It WILL be rescheduled!

Annie's Book Stop of Worcester has announced the time for the "Ghosts, Spirits, and the Afterlife: A literary roundtable featuring New England members of Broad Universe. " This event had been postponed due to a blizzard.

Come join us on Saturday, February 23, 2013, from 4pm-7pm at

Annie's Book Stop Of Worcester
65 James Street, Worcester MA 01603
 
Terri Bruce, Jennifer Pelland, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, and Morven Westfield will share their differing approaches to writing about the subject matter as well as their knowledge of various beliefs, myths, and customs ranging from the lighthearted to the downright scary, from real-life encounters to those that are completely fictitious. The presentation will be followed by a book signing. Titles from each author will be available to purchase. 

This event is free and off-street parking is available.

Please note that parts of this presentation are not for children.

For more information, see the Annie's Book Stop of Worcester Events Calendar.

Be sure to check the web site for coupons and special offers.

Join me at Worcester’s Last Independent Bookstore

Update 6/22/12 I will be unable to attend, but urge you to go anyway. This is a great group of Broads and you'll enjoy their readings and their company - Morven

On Friday, June 22, 2012 from 5-9 pm, members of Broad Universe will be reading selections from their writings, signing books, and discussing writing adventures and publishing. The event will run from 5PM until 9PM, with a rotating schedule – something new every hour! 

Listen to selections of fantasy, science fiction, and horror from writers Elaine Isaak, Rachel Kenley, Jennifer Pelland, Jennifer Allis Provost, Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert, Morven Westfield, and Phoebe Wray.

Broad Universe is an international non-profit dedicated to celebrating, honoring, and promoting women who write speculative fiction.