A 501(c)(3) organization: It is the mission of Parsec “to promote awareness of the richness of speculative fiction as literature, art and music; further general education in the sciences and arts, support contributions–both scientific and artistic–to society and to espouse the enjoyment of speculative fiction as literature, art and music with others.”
A 501(c)(3) organization: It is the mission of Parsec “to promote awareness of the richness of speculative fiction as literature, art and music; further general education in the sciences and arts, support contributions–both scientific and artistic–to society and to espouse the enjoyment of speculative fiction as literature, art and music with others.”
Date: Saturday, Oct 18, 2025 Time: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm. Room opens at 12:30pm. Location: Carnegie Library Squirrel Hill, Meeting Room B with a Zoom option. You will need to register for the zoom meeting before 12:30pm
Teresa Milbrodt is the author of three short story collections: Instances of Head-Switching, Bearded Women: Stories, and Work Opportunities. She has also published a novel, The Patron Saint of Unattractive People, and a flash fiction collection, Larissa Takes Flight: Stories. Her fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in numerous literary magazines. Teresa’s scholarly interests include disability humor, disability and sexuality, and creative practice in disability communities. Her insights in this area can be of great value to writers hoping to be inclusive in creating characters whose disabilities are part of their normal lives. She loves cats, long walks with her MP3 player, independently owned coffee shops, peanut butter frozen yogurt, and texting hearts in rainbow colors.
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill. 5801 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217
In September, Danny Hankner of Story Unlikely visits to tell us about his 2026 writing contest and its $5,000 prize package and new REPRINT category.
Date: Saturday, Sept 20, 2025 Time: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm. Room opens at 12:30pm. Location: Carnegie Library Squirrel Hill, Meeting Room B with a Zoom option.
Story Unlikely is a monthly literary magazine publishing short stories all over the literary landscape. The magazine is not concerned with genre; you can stay within the lines, combine a few, or invent a new one. Danny’s goal is to publish top-tier fiction (and creative non-fiction), and he believes allowing creatives to be creative is the best way to make that happen.
Danny Hankner began penning stories about himself and his idiot friends as a teenager. Now, masquerading as an adult, he lives in Davenport, Iowa with his wife and kids, working as a master electrician for his own company. In his spare time, Dan rides and builds mountain bike trails, scrapes infinitely spawning cat hurl off the basement floor, and runs Story Unlikely, an award-winning literary magazine where he floats around self-important titles like Benevolent Dictator and Literary Spirit Guide. His written material has been consumed by hundreds of thousands of people from all four corners of the globe.
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill. 5801 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Burgers, hot dogs, buns, ice, some beverages and other assorted picnic necessities will be provided by Parsec.
Plenty of room for gaming, readings and more!
The pavilion is wheelchair accessible.
Friends of Parsec are welcome! All Parsec meetings are free to attend & open to the public.
This is a potluck event. It is suggested that everyone bring a dish to share: salad, side dish, dessert or snacks/chips & dip. You can indicate what you will be bringing in the Parsec Picnic RSVP form.
Parsec will supply charcoal, meats (burgers & hot dogs) buns, condiments, ice, some non-alcohol beverages (a mix of diet, sugared and teas). tortilla chips & salsa, candy & nuts, and paper products (plates, napkins, flatware).
This event is free to attend and open to friends of Parsec and those wishing to learn more about Parsec. Donations will be gratefully accepted during the event.
The driving route to the large pavilion is to take Mcfarland road to Annapolis Ave. Right before the elementary school there is a small road, make the left on to Memorial Ave. On the right you might see a very small access road, make the right on to that road and follow it up to the pavillion. Parking at the pavilion site is limited. Please use the parking lot and walk the short distance to the pavilion if possible. To park in the lot and walk to the pavillion. From Annapolis Ave, go past the elementary school. On the left there is a small parking lot and a small, one way roadway that comes out of the park from the pavilion. You can walk that path to reach the pavillion.
*Media notice: PARSEC staff may choose to record, live-stream, or otherwise capture or record images and comments during in-person meetings or the Zoom event. By attending or registering for any event, you agree that Parsec may use your likeness and recordings to publicize, reproduce, exhibit, distribute, broadcast, or digitize the resulting content for use in marketing, promotion, and advancement efforts. This may include publications, marketing videos, advertising, websites and/or other public marketing for any purpose consistent with the Parsec status as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. If you prefer that your likeness not be used, please turn off your camera during Zoom recordings. Announcements will be made prior to the start of recordings and/or image captures and/or photography.
In June, we welcome Theresa Mather, A professional artist since 1989. She is the Featured Artist at the Confluence Conference, Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel, July 25, 26, and 27, 2025.
Date: Saturday, July 19, 2025 Time: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm. Room opens at 12:30pm. Location: Carnegie Library Squirrel Hill, Meeting Room B with a Zoom option.
Theresa Mather creates fantasy works featuring a variety of unusual creatures. She is best known for her pieces painted on feathers and stone; she integrates her paintings with the colors and textures of the natural medium. Visit Theresa’s Website to see all the gorgeous artwork she has created! https://rockfeatherscissors.com/
Theresa draws much of her inspiration from the world around her. She chooses to work outside of gaming and publication, exhibiting and selling her work at science fiction convention art shows across the country. She enjoys the freedom this gives her to paint whatever she desires, allowing her paintings to be truly her creations.
SAVE THE DATE!
The Parsec Picnic will be held Saturday August 23rd! The 4th Saturday in Aug. The Picnic will be held at the Dormont Park large pavilion, just like the last few years. 1801 Dormont Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15216
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill. 5801 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217
In June, we welcome Chris Pasetto, a lead game designer at both Interplay Entertainment and Rockstar Games, as well as a Senior Designer at High Moon Studios.
Chris’s presentation will be “Narrative Interaction: Common DNA Across Different Media.”
Chris Pasetto started his career at DreamForge Intertainment and has worked as a lead game designer at both Interplay Entertainment and Rockstar Games, as well as Senior Designer at High Moon Studios. Video game fans may know designer Chris Pasetto for his story work on major action games like “Call of Duty” and “Transformers.” Chris is also known for the films “How I Survived the Zombie Apocalypse” (2009) and “Air,” starring Norman Reedus (2015), and the graphic novel “Kill the Minotaur.” His tale “Waiting for a Crash” was featured in Scribner’s Best of the Fiction Workshops 1998.
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill. 5801 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217
James Wynn, an associate professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, believes it is important to consider space exploration and settlement from the perspective of colonialism. The potential for conflicts over land and resources between nations are parallel to those in past colonial moments. What does the future hold?
Dr. Wynn’s request: “Given that you are all avid sci-fi readers, I would really love to hear about your experiences with colonial themes in the stories you’ve read and the ways in which you think historical colonial ideas have recirculated or evolved in sci-fi literature.”
PARSEC, Pittsburgh’s premier SF/F/H Organization meets on Saturday, January 18th , 2025 via ZOOM (see registration link below) and IN PERSON at the Mt. Lebanon Library, 16 Castle Shannon Blvd. Pittsburgh, PA 15228 Meeting time: 1:00 – 3:30 pm. (room opens at 12:30 for social time)
In January, our guest is Maren Cooke of Pittsburgh’s Sustainability Salon. A planetary scientist by training, today she works in environmental education and activism around climate, air quality, plastics, food, labor, and justice.
Maren Cooke is a planetary scientist by training, but now works mainly on environmental education and activism around climate, air quality, plastics, food, labor, and justice.
She serves in leadership roles at the Group Against Smog & Pollution, 350 Pittsburgh, ReImagine Food Systems, Pittsburghers Against Single-Use Plastic, Pittsburgh Green New Deal, and the Climate Action Plan Justice Coalition, and works closely with many other local organizations and government officials; she co-founded Putting Down Roots, Ohio Valley Environmental Resistance, the Pittsburgh Labor Choir, a school garden at a local K-8, and a nature education program in Frick Park. https://marenslist.blogspot.com/
Maren volunteers as an Urban Ecosteward, a Tree Tender, a Master Gardener, a Master Composter, and a Master Naturalist. Maren often creates banners and signage for local movements, and organizes and hosts Sustainability Salons, a monthly environmental education forum now 13 years running.
This month our Confluence Topics meeting will be held at theMt.Lebanon Public Library (16 Castle Shannon Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15228) in Meeting Room A (lower level). The room opens at 12:30. The meeting starts at 1:00pm. A Zoom option will be available for those that cannot make it in-person
REFRESHMENTS will be served! We haven’t been able to have refreshments during a Parsec meeting for many years. The library allows food and beverages so we’re bringing some light sweet refreshments to share. Possibly even a Pittsburgh iconic burnt almond torte! Attendees are welcome to bring something to share. We will not be providing beverages. BYOBeverage of choice — just NO alcoholic beverages, please!
Joining us in person will be Confluence 2024 Guest of Honor, Richard Kadrey. Richard is a novelist, freelance writer, and photographer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
At the March meeting, Parsec traditionally holds a brainstorming session for the Confluence Conference held July 26-28, 2024. We’ll be discussing various panel topics for consideration. Richard will introduce us to his works, career, and writing, and do a reading from one of his books, perhaps the Sandman Slim series or The Dead Take the A Train. He will also participate in our Confluence panel topics discussion.
Richard Kadrey is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim supernatural noir series. Sandman Slim was included in Amazon’s “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime,” and is in development as a feature film.
“The Dead Take the A Train” is his latest release! Bestselling authors Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey have teamed up to deliver a dark new story with magic, monsters, and mayhem, perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Joe Hill.
Some of Kadrey’s other books include King Bullet, The Grand Dark, Butcher Bird, and The Dead Take the A Train (with Cassandra Khaw). He’s written for film and comics, including Heavy Metal, Lucifer, and Hellblazer. Kadrey also makes music with his band, A Demon in Fun City.
This meeting will be entirely on Zoom! No in-person meeting! Saturday Feb 17, 2024 Zoom meeting will open at 12:30 for social time. Meeting starts at 1:00pm (ET)
Herb is an associate professor of English at Hilbert College near Buffalo, NY. He holds a PhD in Popular Literature from the University at Buffalo (2018), an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College (2007), and five other college degrees. He is the author of four books and fifteen chapbooks of poetry.
Herb will introduce us to his writing, his involvement with the Society for Creative Anachronism, and share some of his genre poetry with us. (Following Herb’s presentation and Q&A, we will set aside time for members who have brought their own poems to share them with us. Parsec’s own resident poet Mary Soon Lee has also been invited to read one or two of her works.)
As the featured poet in SCIFAIKUEST #55 for February 2017 Herb had 28 poems and an interview in the issue. That is longer than many chapbooks. He was featured again in SCIFAIKUEST #87 for February 2021 and contributed 29 poems, an interview, and an essay. Herb’s book THE SNOWSTORM OF ’14: POEMS FROM THE FRONT LINES (2016) recounts the experience of living at the epicenter of two of the worst snowstorms in the lower 48 states.
Following Herb’s presentation, we will have time for attendees to share some of their own poetry with the group.
Watch for a post coming soon about the March meeting! We have Confluence Guest of Honor, Richard Kadrey attending in-person for the Confluence Panel Topics, Monthly Meeting at the Mt. Lebanon Library. The library is located at 16 Castle Shannon Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15228. Come meet Richard in-person. Put your thinking caps on and help plan the panel topics for Confluence 2024!
