Parsec member Henry Tjernlund’s SF teleplay Mechanity was a quarter-finalist in the Screencraft Pilot Launch screenwriting contest.
Congratulations to Parsec Member Karen Malena who has published “Sound of Silence” her first science fiction novel.
WHAT IF SPEAKING BECAME A PUNISHABLE CRIME?
Monroeville, Pennsylvania—Author and writing mentor, Karen Malena will debut her dystopian, futuristic novel “Sound of Silence,” a timely story in our fast-paced world of text messages and electronics.
Malena is the author of four other novels, mostly inspirational fiction, and one fantasy cat tale. She also writes a heartfelt blog, The Finch’s Nest. “Sound of Silence,” a more cautionary tale, has been a creative burst and holds a powerful message. At the center of Malena’s writing is always some sort-of lesson learned, or redemptive qualities in dysfunctional settings.
A dark, all-encompassing law blankets the country. Driven by a terrible secret, a powerful politician brutally suppresses speech for the sake of order and holds the country in the palm of his hand. Ray Warren does the unthinkable. In a bold gesture, he seals his fate in a moment of kindness, a moment that marks Ray, his wife, and beautiful daughter as dangerous fugitives and sets a society toward rebellion. An ominous future is introduced in “Sound of Silence,” leaving us with the question: What if?
Saturday November 14, 2015 1:30 PM
Squirrel Hill Branch of the Carnegie Library
5801 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, Pa 15217
Saturday December 12, 2015 1:30 PM
Squirrel Hill Branch of the Carnegie Library
5801 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, Pa 15217
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 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.
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 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.
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!
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.
Join him for a signing and discussion
Barnes & Noble Books at the Waterfront
September 30, 2015 7:00PM
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.