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2025 Oct Parsec Monthly Event 

In Oct our guest speaker will be Teresa Milbrodt.

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

Register for Zoom Meeting

Learn more about Teresa

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

2025 Sept Parsec Monthly Event 

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.

Register for Zoom Meeting

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.

Visit Story Unlikely to learn more: https://www.storyunlikely.com/

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

2025 Short Story Contest Winners!

The 2025 Contest theme was “ROOTS.”

First Place: Joyce Bevc, for her story Achromotrichia.

Originally from Johnstown, PA, Joyce Bevc headed to the big city to attend the University of Pittsburgh and has lived here ever since. Joyce’s short stories have been published in Strangest Fiction and Altered Reality anthologies, as well as in the Mensa Bulletin.

Second Place: J.L. Theoret. Blood and Stone.

Third Place: Alicia Maskley. The Flesh We Keep.

Youth Story: Amelia Streeter. A Forest’s Vicissitude.

Thank you to everyone that participated, our Judges; SJ Powell, Eric Leif Davin, and Barbara A. Barnett, and to our wonderful coordinator this year, M.C. Benner Dixon!

2025 July Parsec Monthly Event 

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.

Register for Zoom Meeting

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

2025 June Parsec Monthly Event 

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.”

Date: Saturday, June 21, 2025
Time: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm. Room opens at 12:30pm.
Location: Squirrel Hill Library Meeting Room B with a Zoom option.

Register for Zoom Meeting

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

2025 May Parsec Monthly Event 

In May, we welcome Professor James Wynn of Carnegie Mellon University.
How our cosmic ambitions mirror Earth’s colonial history. 

Note: Dr. Wynn will be joining us in person at Squirrel Hill Library!

Date: Saturday, May 17th, 2025
Time: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm.
Location: Squirrel Hill Library + Zoom

Register for Zoom Meeting

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.”

Read more about Professor Wynn here: https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2023/december/a-place-in-space-for-the-humanities

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill. 5801 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217

2025 April Parsec Monthly Event 

In April, we welcome David Hankins. David is an award-winning author who writes from the
thriving cornfields of Iowa where he lives with his wife, daughter, and two dragons
disguised as cats.

Date: Saturday, April 19th, 2025
Time: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm.
Location: ZOOM only!

Register for Zoom Meeting

David Hankins writing journey began in the oral tradition of convincing his daughter to Go To Sleep with inventive stories. That usually backfired. After years of Just One More Story, David began transcribing his midnight ramblings in an attempt to keep his storylines straight. Children are ruthless in identifying mistakes in fairy tales.
David writes lighthearted speculative fiction because that’s what he loves to read and-this is the important bit-there’s not nearly enough humor in the world. He aims to change that, one story at a time. David devotes his time to his passions of writing, traveling, and finding new ways to pay his mortgage. You can find him at https://davidhankins.com/

During this event we’re going to talk with David about Branding and Social Media can work to an author’s benefit. From his fedora to the micro-duckies that accompany him everywhere. David knows how to present himself consistently with the brand of “David Hankins,” which includes good humor, a welcoming smile, and a modestly dapper appearance. This ‘presentation’ of self may come across as genuine, but it takes focus and dedication to pull off and consistently promote across multiple media channels.

2025 March Parsec Monthly Event 

The Parsec Monthly Meeting is now the Parsec Monthly Event!

Please note the venue change for March!

Date: Sat March 15, 2025.
Location: ZOOM and IN PERSON at the Mt. Lebanon Library
16 Castle Shannon Blvd Pittsburgh, PA 15228. Event is in Room A, lower level.
Time: 12:30 to 3:30pm
Open to the Public!

Our program this month is to brainstorm about this year’s Confluence Conference, to be held at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel on July 25, 26 & 27 2025.
The focus of this months event is to propose and discuss panel topics for the Confluence conference. We welcome input and ideas from all Parsec members and guests of Parsec.

Come and help us plan an outstanding year for Confluence!

Below are some panel ideas just to get you thinking:

  • Pittsburgh as a Speculative Setting
  • How can Pittsburgh’s industrial history and modern reinvention inspire unique SFF
  • narratives?
  • AI as Co-Creator of Genre Fiction
  • Discuss the role of artificial intelligence in writing
  • Cross-Genre Mashups: When Sci-Fi Meets Fantasy Meets Noir
  • Inspired by Rambo’s eclectic work, discuss the appeal and challenges of blending genres.
  • Finding Beauty in Broken Worlds
  • Explore the balance of hope and darkness in SFF narratives.
  • How Today’s Tech Shapes Tomorrow’s Fiction
  • Examine how AI, robotics, modern space efforts, and biotechnology influence
  • speculative storytelling, with a nod to Pittsburgh’s tech hub status.

2025 February Parsec Meeting

February is poetry month at Parsec!

Please Note: Our venue for the February meeting will be ZOOM Only.
See below to register for the meeting.

PARSEC, Pittsburgh’s premier Science Fiction & Fantasy Organization meets on Saturday, February 15th, 2025.
Meeting starts at 1:00pm (est). Zoom room opens at 12:30 for social time.

In this photo, Vincent Baverso, Alex Jennings and Mary Soon Lee

Our guests this month are Mary Soon Lee, Alex Jennings, and Vincent Baverso.

It’s a time for hearing from old friends and hearing new voices. Each guest will present some of their favorite works.

As always, we’ll have time for attending members to read some of their own poems as well.

Register for Zoom meeting

Mary Soon Lee was born and raised in London, but has lived in Pittsburgh for thirty years. She is a Grand Master of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, and a three-time winner of both the AnLab Readers’ Award and the Rhysling Award. Her latest books are from opposite shores of the poetry ocean: How to Navigate Our Universe, containing how-to astronomy poems, and The Sign of the Dragon, novel-length epic fantasy, winner of the Elgin Award. https://marysoonlee.com/

Alex Jennings is a writer/editor/teacher/poet living in Baton Rouge. He was born in Wiesbaden (Germany) and raised in Gaborone (Botswana), Tunis (Tunisia), Paramaribo (Surinam) and the United States.  e is the Program Director of DreamFoundry’s Con or Bust and pens a regular speculative poetry review column in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction called “Chapter and Verse.” In 2022, he was the inaugural recipient of the Imagination Unbound Fellowship at Under the Volcano, a guided writing retreat held annually in Tepoztlan, Mexico. https://www.alexjennings.net 

Vincent Baverso earned a degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh in 2004. He’s seen publication in several journals and anthologies for both poetry and fiction, including Triangulation: Lost Voices, Scifaikuest, Devolution Z, Slink Chunk, and most recently in Polis from Air and Nothingness Press. His most recent publication is “The 49 Stalks” a book of Haiku inspired by the ancient wisdom of the I Ching featuring 132 carefully crafted haiku along with 15 striking haiga paintings. https://vbaverso.com/

2024 Dec Parsec Meeting

There will be NO Zoom option this month. Come on out and enjoy great conversations, food, fun, frivolity and maybe even some gaming with other like-minded people!

No RSVP necessary. This is an open house event!