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Maggie Stiefvater at YA Lecture Series Oct 17

Maggie Stiefvater will visit CMU for a free lecture on
Oct 17 from 2-3 pm. She writes young adult fiction, notably the 2010
New York Times Bestseller Linger and the 2011 Michael L. Printz Award
Honor Book The Scorpio Races. She worked for some time as a portrait
artist and is a race car and race car driving enthusiast. She was a
competitive bagpipe player in college while studying at Mary
Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She lives in
Shenandoah Valley in Virginia with her husband, two children, three
dogs, and one cat.

rachel grintiWant to learn writing from one of the best? Rachel Grinti was an Alpha
student then staff with books published with her husband Mike (who she
met her first year at Alpha). Register and come, 11 – 1 on Oct. 17 at
the University Center at CMU to learn about voice in genre
fiction. Register to participate here.

 

Fall 2015

Lecture Speaker: Maggie Stiefvater

Maggie Stiefvater writes Young Adult fiction novels and short fiction, notably the 2010 New York Times Bestseller Linger and the 2011 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book The Scorpio Races. She worked for some time as a portrait artist and is a race car and race car driving enthusiast. She was a competitive bagpipe player in college while studying at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She lives in Shenandoah Valley in Virginia with her husband, two children, three dogs, and one cat.

 

Writing Workshop: Rachel Grinti

rachel grinti

Rachel Grinti writes books for children and teens and is a part-time youth services librarian. She thinks every story is better with dragons and every house is better with a Boston Terrier. Her most recent novel is Jala’s Mask (Pyr, 2014), co-written with Mike Grinti.

Zombie Opera Five Year Anniversary

Pittsburgh-created ‘music and multimedia hybrid’, Evenings in Quarantine: The Zombie Opera, which premiered in 2010, is proud to send an open invitation to join us in celebrating their Five-Year Anniversary at Mr. Smalls Theater in Millvale on October 3rd, 2015.

Scheduled festivities:

  • Doors will open at 6, with DJ music by DJ Circuitry aka zombie makeup designer Arvin Clay.
  • At 7 pm, cast members of the Zombie Opera will reiterate some of their feature pieces from the performance, as well as some pieces from recent and upcoming projects.
  • At 8 pm, The grand feature of the evening will be the first public screening of the Fall 2010 premiere performance of Evenings In Quarantine: The Zombie Opera. (also available on dvd with Audio Commentary*) If you’ve never seen the opera, seats will be available in the front of the theater for uninterrupted viewing.
  • In addition to the scheduled festivities, never before seen behind-the-scenes footage from the filming and production of the 2010 performance will be running continuously throughout the event.

This is an all-ages event, with a cash bar area in the back of the theater. Food will be available for purchase at the Mr. Smalls Restaurant.
All Zombie Opera participants (folks who were involved with the show from 2010-2011, our extras, cast, crew, volunteers etc) get in FREE. There is a $5 cover charge for non-Zoperans, aka general admission.

*Dvd, audio recordings, and more can be purchased online. They will also have physical copies of the dvd for sale on site at the event!

For more information see the Zombie Opera website and Facebook Event Page!

Oct 17 Lecture by Maggie Stiefvater

Maggie Stiefvater will visit CMU for a free lecture on Oct 17 from 2-3 pm. She writes young adult fiction, notably the 2010 New York Times Bestseller, Linger , and the 2011 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book The Scorpio Races. She worked for some time as a portrait artist and is a race car and race car driving enthusiast. She was a competitive bagpipe player in college while studying at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She lives in Shenandoah Valley in Virginia with her husband, two children, three dogs, and one cat.

Want to learn writing from one of the best? Rachel Grinti was an Alpha student and then became staff. She published books with her husband Mike (who she met her first year at Alpha). Register and come, 11 – 1 on Oct. 17 at the University Center at CMU to learn about voice in genre fiction.

Announcing a new podcast from Josh Raulerson, one of our guest speakers at the Oct 3, 2015 Meeting

#burgh+copy

Nanograms (nanograms.org) is a podcast about technoculture, created by Josh Raulerson and produced at 90.5 WESA in Pittsburgh. The pilot season, ‘Borg in the USA, will launch on September 24, 2015.

Technology is changing fast, and reshaping the human experience along with it – transforming the economy, the environment and the way society is organized. But explosive technological growth isn’t just changing our world. It’s changing us. How we think of ourselves. How we relate to one other. How we imagine our future.

Nanograms is a limited-series dispatch from the front lines of technoculture, where weird and surprising things are happening at the intersection of human and machine, of science and the arts, of technology and… everything else. It’s a dumpster-dive into big ideas and complex problems, a serialized feast served in bite-size chunks for those of us who are already living with one foot in the future, but still figuring out what that means.

Reference works from the September 12, 2015 Presentation

Some members asked me to list the books I used for reference at this month’s Parsec meeting presentation. The History of Science Fiction Part 1 – The Long View.

Marjorie Hope Nicholson
Voyages to the Moon
Science and Imagination
The Breaking of the Circle
Newton Demands the Muse
Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory

Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield
The Fabric of the Heavens
The Architecture of Matter
The Discovery of Time

Thomas S Kuhn
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

J.O. Bailey
Pilgrims Through Time and Space

Sam Moskowitz
Explorers of the Infinite

Scott L Montgomery
The Moon and Western Imagination

David Seed ed.
Anticipations

Robert Crossley
Imagining Mars

Brett M Rogers & Benjamn Eldon Stevens ed.
Classical Traditions in Science Fiction

Arthur B Evans ed.
Vintage Visions

James Gunn ed.
The Road to Science Fiction Vol 1

Faith K Vizor & T Allen Comp ed
The Man in the Moone and Other Lunar Fantasies

Ron Miller
Classics of Science Fiction
Bundle 1 through Bundle 8
Available at http://www.baenebooks.com
Many of these works have not been available for years
I believe this series is only available digitally

Hope you enjoy them as much as I do
Thanks,  Joe Coluccio

Upcoming Parsec Events – FYI

Saturday August 29, 2015 1:00PM to Dusk – Parsec Picnic
Dormont Park, Dormont PA
Hotdogs hamburgers filking and fun
Conversation readings and games
Please join us!

Saturday September 12, 2015 1:30 PM – 4:30PM
Monthly Parsec Meeting
History of Science Fiction Part 1 – The Long View
Presented by Joe Coluccio

https://parsec-sff.org/this-month/

Saturday October 3, 2015 2:00 PM – 4:30PM
Monthly Parsec Meeting
Change at the Speed of Thought
A Forum with Josh Raulerson, Thomas Sweterlitsch and Lawrence C Connolly