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Tag: Confluence conference

2025 March Parsec Monthly Event 

The Parsec Monthly Meeting is now the Parsec Monthly Event!

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.

January 2022

Happy New Year!

The new year has rolled in and with it a lot of updates!

Join the Parsec Program committee for the monthly meeting on 1/15/22 at 1:00pm EST. We bring in the New Year with a guest panel on Costuming and Cosplay!

Welcome Lisa Ashton, Karen Schnaubelt, and Pam Smith, all highly active in the costume community and willing to share their decades of experience with us, providing insights and perspectives into a rich, beautiful, and creative world.

We look forward to gaining a glimpse inside the worlds of Costuming and Cosplay and how they enrich the lives of these very talented women.

Register for the ZOOM meeting!
Meetings are free to attend and open to the public.


The 2022 Parsec Inc Short Story Contest is open to submissions!

The Parsec Short Story contest is sponsored by Parsec Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization.

The theme this year is “Hearth, Song, and Table.”

This year we’ve added a new category and prize for authors ages 19 and under!

Contest opens on January 1st and closes on May 1st 2022 at 11:59:59pm EST.

Cash prizes and never any fee to enter!

Visit the Short Story Contest page for more information.

The conference will be held in person on July 29, 30 and 31, 2022!

The Guest of Honor is Neil Clarke and the Featured music guest is Tim Griffin.

Visit the Confluence website for more information.