Readers Theatre on the Horizon???

 

I haven’t been active in my Casey persona in recent years (as a writer, 

that is!) for two reasons:

 

I have been focussing on my Brigit writings, as Mael Brigde, and this 

has taken a lot of time and energy. (You can find a link to my book, 

blogs, etc. here.)

 

VCon, our annual SF convention here in Vancouver, Canada, has been 

absent for several years. Over the last year or two, volunteers have been 

hosting events in order to rebuild toward VCon, and I’ve enjoyed these 

very much, but as a regular attendee, not as a panelist. In November, 

they are presenting a one day convention called CONnections, and I 

have decided to pitch a readers theatre, as we have done in previous 

years as the Pallahaxi Players Readers Theatre. 

 

I hope this happens. I haven’t volunteered this time around to be on 

panels, and with the very sad and sudden death of Fran Skene, there is 

not likely to be a Turkey Reading (one of the greatest delights of VCons 

past, for me, at least), but I would love to sit down with fellow writers and 

read out something delightful for the audience.

 

We may have something in the can already, but if you have a short, 

stirring or humorous, play that would suit readers theatre*, we would be 

happy to see if your writing would be a fit for us. Or if you know of 

something in the public domain that would work well for an audience of 

SF and fantasy fans, we'd be interested in knowing about that, too.

If you are interested in participating at CONnections, you can pitch your 

idea here:

 

 

https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/connections-program-guest-inquiry

 

* Unlike actors memorising lines and acting with a set, we sit at a table 

together and read out our parts.

 

Image: “Alien Amor” by Laura Molina (Laura Molina/National Museum of Mexican Art) 

[CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

A Song for the Stars (& Trekkers)

Greetings, Earthlings.

I am recovering from the whirl of VCon 41, at which the Pallahaxi Players read Carlos Lozano Gilabert's play Deep North, and at which I participated in a writers workshop, attended and participated in panels, contributed my usual joie de prose pourpre (or "joy of purple prose": apologies to actual French speakers), ran around after The Kids, AND SO ON.

But for the moment I want to bring to your attention something that had nothing to do with me at all, except that I was lucky enough to be at the Opening Ceremony and perfectly seated to film Karl Johanson, editor of Neo-Opsis Magazine, sing his stirring anthem in honour of Star Trek's Fiftieth Anniversary.

Attend:

VCon Rollin' On In One More TimeyWhimey

Nearly there! The yearly con approaches.

Another Fine Day in the Scriptorium
.>
As for VCon! Time Travel is the theme. I'll have niblings Flora and Jules in tow, as well as their pa, and will be up to the usual at the Writers Workshops (which Flora is attending for the second year), Turkey Readings, and some more serious readings, as well.

See you there!

VCON 40 Guests of Honour 

JOE HALDEMAN
Author GoH
(The Forever War, The Accidental Time Machine)

ED GREENWOOD
Game Design GoH
(The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and Novels)

RICK STERNBACH
Artist GoH
(Illustrator - Star Trek & others)

ERIC CHOI
Editor GoH
(The Dragon and the Stars, Carbide Tipped Pens)

STEVE FORTY
Fan GoH

SPIDER ROBINSON
Master of Ceremonies
(Callahan's / Lady Sally Series, Stardance Trilogy)

---

VCON 40 Theme:

Time Travel

Come join us for three days of fannish fun and multi-track programming including:

Art Show & Auction • Vendors Hall • Author Readings • 24-Hour Games Rooms
Multi-Author Book Launch • Writers Workshops • Demos • Academie Duello
Artists Alley • Frankenstuffies • Fan Groups • Costume Contest • Panels
Hospitality Suite • Dance • Elrons • Turkey Readings • Workshops

~~~~~

Sitting In For SF Canada

Well, this is fun. Kristene Perron of SF Canada sent in this photo of me staffing the SFC table at VCon 39.

Casey at the SFC Table at VCon 39. Photo courtesy Kristene Perron

About SF Canada

SF Canada was founded in 1989 as Canada’s National Association for Speculative Fiction Professionals, and was Incorporated as SF Canada in 1992.

SF Canada exists to foster a sense of community among Canadian writers of speculative fiction, to improve communication, to foster the growth of quality writing, to lobby on behalf of Canadian writers, and to encourage the translation of Canadian speculative fiction. SF Canada supports positive social action.

“Speculative fiction” is understood by members to include science fiction, fantasy, horror and any other other weird fiction that invokes a sense of wonder.

SF Canada aims to provide a structure for socializing and maintaining links among members throughout Canada, from coast to coast to coast, in both official languages, and to promote the publishing and sale of works created, edited, and published by its members.

SF Canada provides free webhosting to members on the association website, and maintains a private internet listserver—an online discussion group that is unmoderated and completely uncensored! SF Canada also organizes critique groups and meetings, and operates an online bookstore to publicize and promote its members and their books. SF Canada members are eligible for non-profit health and dental insurance through the Writers’ Coalition Program in cooperation with the Writers’ Union of Canada, and have access to home and auto insurance at lower than market rates.

To qualify for SF Canada membership, an author must have published for payment at least two short stories or three poems in commercial markets, or received a royalty advance for a novel. An editor must have contracted for payment at least one book manuscript or three issues of a magazine. Other Canadians with a substantial professional interest in SF (specialized publishers, academics, librarians) will be considered for membership on a case by case basis. A one-year membership is worth $30; the fixed renewal date is on Canada Day, but members who join after January 1 are credited with the July 1 renewal. Two members living at the same postal address qualify for a common $30 rate.

For more information, or if you wish to apply to become a member, please contact us.

VCon 39

Survived the con, and a good time was had by all. Somehow I was always in a whirl--I still see tracks when I turn my head.

I especially hanging out with the kids--Frank, Jules, and Flora--and brother-in-law Nick, doing the Writers Workshop on Sunday, and the Turkey Readings shortly thereafter. Also enjoyable was reading with Eileen Kernaghan, she from her new novel Sophie, In Shadow, and me from "Posture of the Infinite", published in Red Tuque Books' Canadian Tales of the Fantastic Vol. IV.

Eileen won her third Prix Aurora Award on the weekend, to my (and I gather her) delight. From Wattle and Daub Books, who published her book of poetry:

Congratulations to Wattle and Daub Books author Eileen Kernaghan who this weekend won the 2014 Prix Aurora Award for Best Poem or Song in English for “Night Journey: West Coast”, published in Tesseracts Seventeen: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast to Coast, EDGE (2013).

For more of her excellent speculative poetry, her collection Tales of the Holograph Woods: Speculative Poetry can be ordered here.

Now, a little photographic evidence, and I'm back to the rest home.

En Route to VCon 39

Rose and Her Companion

Human Battleship

Bug-Eyed Monster

Action Shot

Best In Show! (And Man, Did She Deserve It.)

VCon 39 Fast Upon Us

A headsup, a rather distant headsup, that is, for those Pacific Southwest Canadians (and our cousins across the 49th P) who are planning to come to this year's SF convention. Thrills and spills promised below:

VCON: Vancouver BC's premiere science fiction, fantasy and games convention, since 1971.

VCON 39 will be held October 3-5, 2014
at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford hotel

~~~~~

VCON 39 Theme:

Military Might

From Swords & Sorcery to Phasers & Grasers

~~~~~

VCON 39 is also CANVENTION 34!

~~~~~

Come join us for three days of fannish fun and multi-track programming including:

Art Show & Auction • Vendors Hall • Author Readings • 24-Hour Games Rooms
Multi-Author Book Launch • Writers Workshops • Demos • Academie Duello
Artists Alley • Frankenstuffies • Fan Groups • Costume Contest • Panels
Hospitality Suite • Dance • Elrons • Turkey Readings • Workshops

~~~~~

VCON 39 Guests of Honour:

Author GoH: David Weber
(Honor Harrington Series; Safehold Series, Dahak Series)
http://www.davidweber.net/

Artist GoH: David Mattingly
(Cover Illustrator for David Weber's Honor Harrington Books)
http://www.davidmattingly.com/

Game Design GoH: Bruce Heard
(Early TSR employee, BXMCI version of D&D - Mystara, World of Calidar)
http://bruce-heard.blogspot.ca/

Canvention 34 Guests of Honour:

Canvention Guest Author: Tarol Hunt
http://goblinscomic.com/

Canvention Guest Artist: Melissa Mary Duncan
http://www.melissaduncan.ca/

VCon 38

Dragged the little ones to their first SF con, and was joined by Lila, as well. A good time was had by all.

Barbara M.Gordon & Paula Johanson at the SF Canada table.

My Associates.

Ready for the Masquerade.

Exposing Difficult Truths.

Sercon Stuff at the Writers Workshop.

Fran Skene Kicking Off the Turkey Readings

Make it Good, Casey. Knock 'Em Dead.

Wild Turkeys... As It Were...

VCon Coming...

Getting ready for this year's VCon--VCon 38. (And to think I have been attending since VCon 11.) I am thrilled to report I will have Actual Children in tow this year for the first time in ages, since my sister's first batch grew up. These two are now self-sufficient enough, and I have pared down my commitments enough, that we should do quite nicely ranging around the hotel and all the offerings of a proper SF con.

The Pallahaxi Players are taking the year off and I am concentrating my guestly contribution on Sunday. On that morning I will participate in a three hour, four contributor Writers Workshop with Linda Demeulemeester and Rhea Rose (chaired by R. Graeme Cameron). An hour later I plunge into three more hours of (in this second case) mad activity at the Turkey Readings.

I love the Turkeys. They were Fran Skene's brainchild many years ago, a way of raising funds for the Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) as well as a he** of a lot of fun for panelists and audience alike. One year I got so carried away with the joy of it all I abandoned my post as a reader/panelist and became the Evil Queen in one of the skits.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out this earlier posting. (Coincidentally, I am wearing a dress by Krista Reich in the video. You will see why this is of note if you read below...)

Apropos of nothing, I will mention that my wardrobe has just been elegantly improved by the arrival of two handmade linen dresses--a grey 12th century style gown and a black surcote--made by Krista Reich of Foliate Face Artworks. The gown is similar to the first one I bought from her back at VCon number who-knows-what. I can only hope October deigns to be cool enough for me to wear them because they are really lovely and feel fabulous to put on.

Never did I think I would say such a girlie thing. I guess C L Moore was right. As a teenager I made a very sour face when her otherwise barbaric Jirel of Joiry got all gooey over slipping into a nice dress.

Who'd a thunk I'd slide so far?

I just looked at Krista's portfolio online and she doesn't have up photos of either the gown (a simple and graceful full-skirted dress) or the surcote right now, but I'll add a photo she does have of a Saxon overdress she made for me several years ago. I've stumbled across a photo of me wearing a shawl she made for me, as well, so I'm popping that in for your viewing pleasure.

Krista draws from many periods for her garments, and also creates original designs. She uses good fabric and does excellent sewing, making clothes that can be worn for many years. And yet her prices are not high. I have seen many flimsy and cheap looking period gowns that sell for more than her fine dresses. It has me scratching my head, but I'm glad I can afford to buy her clothes now and then.

Unfortunately, Krista didn't sell much at that VCon where I met her, so she hasn't been back, but if you are interested she is quite good to work with even at a distance. She's recently moved to Victoria, BC, where a small selection of her garments can be seen in person at Triple Spiral Metaphysical, in Fan Tan Alley between Pandora and Fisgard Streets. But definitely have a look through her portfolios online.

See you at VCon!

Casey Update (including stories! and play!) & VCon 37

Not a lot to report. Cancer apparently gone, site slowly healing, and I am back into life full tilt. Perhaps a little too fully tilted. But so much attracts me! There's a three day retreat this week with monks and nuns from Plum Village. It is focussed on healing, which seems not a bad topic for me. I look forward to it. I am also busy critiquing a pile of stories for VCon, preparing for our play, taking classes at Inspire Health, etc...

I started a wonderful class on Roman Britain at SFU Continuing Ed. That lit a candle under me to get out Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars and reread various papers on Celtic studies that I have in my files. I'm starting to lead my sangha every few weeks, am active at yoga again, and then there are all those nieces and nephews... And yet!

In the midst of it all I managed to get two new stories into circulation (and one older one that I had let drift). So out there in the mail system is a Scottish ghost story ("In Days and Nights The World Is Spent"), an allegory concerning cannibalism ("Eating Our Young"), and a story about David Bowie's mum ("Mother of the Star").

I'm also gearing up for the new session at the Kyle writer's group, which starts next week. Last year, when I was able to go, I used that time for polishing a collection of poems I have written, and I will be doing that again this year, so likely I won't be doing much more story writing this year.

Not to be forgotten, the last weekend of this month is VCon 37, which I'll be attending with my nephew Theo Campbell. The Pallahaxi Players Readers Theatre is putting on our second show, "And Then Some" by Matthew Hughes. Matt's work appears regularly in Fantasy & Science Fiction, and he is the author of The Damned Busters, Tales of Henghis Hapthorn, and The Other.

This story will be in an upcoming issue of Asimov Magazine, but we get a sneak preview at VCon. Besides being general dogs-body for the performance, I get to play, er, the sound effects... Be there or be square, my friends.

Casey

Spring Fling

Started just before last week's surgery:

So with all this cancer stuff going on writing and critiquing activities went on the back burner. But the flame simmered still, and now, three weeks after my resurrection, I have been attending a variety of writing groups, writing and brushing up on poems, and doing marathon critiques of other people's writing to catch up on what I've missed.

I've also signed up for a novel revision class (Reverse Outlining by Lois Peterson at Port Moody Library, 23 June), to see if I get inspired to resurrect my shelved tome.

Cool conjunction of worlds: I've started at the Callanish Writes, a writing group for people who have been through the Callanish Society cancer retreats. It is wonderful. We gather for three hours, do a brief meditation and read two or three prompts (also known as poems and quotes) and then write together (each our own thing) for a period of time.

This time we wrote for ten or fifteen minutes, then had the opportunity to read aloud (twice) what we had written. You have the choice of whether to hear responses and the responses are from the heart, not the head. It isn't a critiquing group, but a place to find expression and to connect with others around our experience. Obviously there were tears but there was much laughter as well and I loved it. Also the lunch. Callanish does good lunch. There will be, I think, a book at the end of this--at least in previous years Callanish has published a collection of some of the pieces written by the group. So let me know if you are interested.

Looking forward, VCon 37 (28-30 September – Sheraton Vancouver Guildford) will have a Pallahaxi Players Readers Theatre despite my own difficulty in writing a play this year. In my stead the lovely and talented Matthew Hughes is writing a play based on one of his current works of speculative fiction. (To Be Revealed.)

And after the surgery...

Not a whole lot more to add to that, naturally. My stomach is settling after the third and (please!) final surgery and here's hoping the site heals well and quickly so I can get back to that wildly active and deeply rewarding life. Oh, wait. It's still deeply rewarding. And hey, I kind of like it not being wildly active. Hmmmm...

Hugs!

Casey

Listen To This! @ VCon 36

Finally figured out how to upload a podcast to this blog -- turn it into a video. So, fresh from the FintanSparky YouTube channel, my VCon 36 podcast, Listen To This!

Check out the last posting for more info on Listen To This!

VCon 36: Play, Workshops, Readings...FUN!

Art by Artist VCon 36 Guest of Honour
Jean-Pierre Normand

I had a great time this weekend at VCon 36.

I used to come as a fan and very much enjoyed the panels and schmoozing, going to readings, attending the masquerade and dance.

Then I started coming as a guest. This was both cool and nerve-wracking. I am, believe it or not, shy. I'm nervous speaking to an audience without a chance for rethinks and edits. And I don't manage well trying to get a word in edgewise on a panel where great talkers have hold of the mike.

On the other hand, I love doing readings. Serious or silly. (Obviously, if you have looked at my YouTube channel.) I love doing critiquing. I love encouraging other people to be really silly.

So I have slowly figured it out. Stay off pontificate-y panels. Get reading panels put on the program. Write a silly play. Get people to act it out. Critique people's stories. Goof around. Get to know people. Have fun. Be fun. And forget about My Work.

That is what I did this weekend. I worked my butt off, but I worked at things that give me energy and great pleasure. The workshop participants got pages of carefully thought out notes. The Pallahaxi Players performed the stage version of "This is for Mrs Zaberewsky" brilliantly to an appreciative, and appropriately guffawing, "crowd". Steph St Laurent was over the top as Wikta, the frustrated actress who is taken to an alien planet to be a star. Virginia O'Dine made a wonderful Narrator, as I knew she would from her performances at Turkey Readings of earlier years. Theo Campbell was hilarious as Droodla, the alien director, and Mrs Zaberewsky herself. And Rhea Rose truly rose to the occasion (and lowered to it) as Mrs Jabłoński, Unglubump the aspiring actroid, and well, a ramp. (I had not dreamed anyone could bring such subtlety to the role of spaceship ramp.)

On Sunday Ian Alexander Martin and I presented Listen To This ! Listen To This! He opined and I read favourite passages from works by Avram Davidson, Eileen Kernaghan, Don Marquis, and Mike Coney.

At noon I worked with Fran Skene (whose baby it is), Eileen Kernaghan, Virginia O'Dine, and a crowd of willing victims to produce the Turkey Readings. A quarter at a time, we raised $150.55 for the Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF). (Nothing next to the $650ish raised for Aunt Leah's Place at the Closing Ceremonies by auctioning off Normand's drawings and a personalized copy of Author GoH Larry Niven's new book. But not bad for goofing around for an hour.)

And finally I joined Ian Alexander Martin, Sandra Wickham, and Jaymie Matthews in reading pages 189 from a variety of different books. The books were concealed from the audience members, who had to decide whether they would be interested in reading the whole thing before being told what books they were listening to. (I read from House on the Strand by Daphne DuMaurier, Five Children and It by E. Nesbit, Path into the Unknown: The Best of Soviet Science Fiction, edited by Judith Merril, and The Ghost Pirates by William Hope Hodgson.) Of course, we readers didn't know what the others were reading from, either, so we got to enjoy the gosh wow of the surprise, ourselves.

By the end of it all I was most happily read out.

I got to attend only a little of the programming (what I habitually refer to as paneling, which I think is actually something you put on the walls of your rec room). I heard Dave Duncan read, I got to the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, saw a stitch of the Costume Masquerade, and so on. My main priority beyond meeting my commitments to the concom was to hang out with my nephew Theo and have conversations with other folk, whether in the Dealers Room or over tea or flying down the hall.

A fun, fun time. I look forward to next years VCon.

Play premieres at VCon 36

Theatre! Aliens! Clumsy dancing!

See it all in

"This is For Mrs Zaberewsky"

Saturday October 1st

@ 1pm

Minoru A

Sheraton Vancouver Airport

starring

Pallahaxi Players Readers Theatre

Theo Campbell, Virginia O’Dine, Rhea Rose,

Steph St Laurent, Casey Wolf

VCON 36

– September 30 to October 2, 2011 –

http://www.vcon.ca/

You are invited to the premiere performance of the Pallahaxi Players Readers Theatre. We wish to acknowledge the late Mike Coney, author of Pallahaxi Tide, Fang the Gnome, The Celestial Steam Locomotive and others, for presenting earlier VCon audiences with the Lonely Cry Readers Theatre, of which we are a blatant rip-off – er, homage.

http://www.lonelycry.ca/mconey.html

http://www.lonelycry.ca/index.html

Interrogation and Flesh-Eating Heretics

Another view of VCon 35. Geoff Cole staged a reading of his short story "Abbatoir Blues". I volunteered to be the 2nd person in the reading--as it turned out, an evil, mean, yukky interrogator of Our Hero. Cold readings are always exciting--I knew nothing about the story when we picked up the books and the video recorder clicked On. For the full poop on Geoff, The Blackness Within Anthology, and Geoff's writing, go to Geoffrey W. Cole Science Fiction Writer.

Meanwhile...

A Had Time Was Good By All!

OMG, as the saying goes, what a perfectly MAD time we had this past weekend at VCon 35.

VCon is my local SF convention and I have been going (more on than off) since VCon 11. When I was 3. This year's theme was steampunk--a genre about which I know little but which has the coolest costumes and props, all brass and cogwheels and flash Victorian clothing.

My main occupations were:

• hanging out with my nephew, Theo Campbell, and sundry other bright lights.
• participating in one of 3 Writers Workshops, which entailed reading and carefully critiquing three novel beginnings. A very interesting endeavour. Lots of work, on everyone's part, and educational for all. (Fun, as well. Who'd a thunk it possible?)
• doing readings, including:
• -- my short story "Dreamcatcher", from Room Magazine's Speculative Fiction issue, in a group reading with Donna McMahon and Marcie Tentchoff.
• -- the part of the Interrogator for Geoff Cole's short story “Abattoir Blues” from The Blackness Within. (watch for the video!)
• -- performing as one of a panel of literature-mauling Turkey Readers, in which we read TheWorst of the Worst and force unwitting audience members to act out the evil scripts. (We also force witting audience members to pay to make us stop, and start, and stop, and... All in the name of raising pennies for the Canadian Unity Fan Fund.)

Rim World Legacy... A modest example herein follows, showing the depths to which we sink at SF cons... (To see it without the obstruction of my LibraryThing widget, click on the title and go to YouTube. You'll find lots more of a Turkey nature there.)

• at last I was able to contain my enthusiasm no longer. When Virginia O'Dine rose to read the final Turkey, I offered myself as the Evil Queen, and, bounding from the podium, joined Steph Thevideoguy and an 8 foot tall monster in a diabolical battle of wit and wonder.

Scene from the diabolical battle of wit and wonder:

And so you can see why VCon keeps us coming back for more.

Till next year!

Video credit, Jax184. Photo credit, Virginia O'Dine*, which is strange, since she is the one doing the reading in this picture...

* Of Bundoran Press fame.

Casey's dress was made by Krista Reich of Foliate Face Artworks.

Three Events

Just a reminder that I'll be at the opening day (tomorrow!) of "A Book Arts Mosaic", hosted by the Burnaby Arts Council, features 26 works by 33 Canadian book artists from across Canada. The exhibition runs from September 18 to October 3 at the Deer Lake Gallery. Hand-crafted books and books by local authors.

(Okay, a little time travel here. The above photo of me was taken by "Wild Talent" and "Tales from the Holograph Woods" author Eileen Kernaghan at the Arts Mosaic. Sure wish I could still get blogger to let me arrange my photos the way I want them.)

I will also be reading in the Authors Tent at Vancouver's Word on the Street on 26 Sept.--next Sunday--at 4:30, along with Ashley Little and Lorrie Miller. "The Corpse Pose", from Room Magazine's upcoming "Women and Spirituality" issue, touches on the many aspects of death and afterlife and saying goodbye.

A week after WOTS I'll be at VCon, our local SF convention, which I look forward to every year. (My first was VCon 11, with I believe Frank Herbert, of Dune fame, as GoH. This year is VCon 35...)

Thanks to R. Graeme Cameron, the Writers Workshops have been revived, and I'll be critiquing submitted stories alongside Eileen Kernaghan and undisclosed (to me) others. That's Friday from 1-4 pm -- though I can't imagine we will need all that time, so you may see me creeping around earlier than 4.

On Saturday I join Marcie Tentchoff and Donna McMahon for a Group Reading from 2-4 pm and on Sunday the highlight of the weekend, the Turkey Readings, in which we drive you mad with histrionic renditions of empurpled scientifictional prose.

Here's an example -- a rather mild example (I think I was half asleep when I made this video. The actual event is quite a bit wilder.)

Turkey Readings Revealed!

Guests of Honour

Author Guest of Honour : Cherie Priest

Artist Guest of Honour : James F. Beveridge

Music Guest of Honour : Heather Dale

Special Media Guest : David Nykl

Hope to see you there!

Turkey Readings Revealed!

...In which I attempt to explain what the VCon Turkey Readings are, and to give a small demonstration of their evil power.

Internet Interview

I was interviewed at VCon by Irma Arkus of Hi-Sci-Fi (Friday is Alright for Nerding): The Ultimate Geek Radio Show. We were in the swanky penthouse boudoir of Con Chair Danielle Stephens at Surrey's Compass Point Inn. The show airs on the internet Fridays 5-6 PM PST at 90.1 FM (CJSF) and my interview will be archived on the website when it is done being edited.

I am as curious as anyone else to know what I said. I'd been told it was for a student radio program, so I thought, great! No one will ever hear it! Consequently I was fairly playful and unguarded in my thoughts...

Oh, oh.

Well, time will tell.