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Tag: Confluence-sff.org

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.

2024 March Monthly Meeting

This month our Confluence Topics meeting will be held at the Mt.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.

To Register for the Zoom meeting, visit: https://bit.ly/Parsec-Meeting

Coming in April . . .

 Our guest will be John Ventre of the Mutual UFO Network.