EVENTS

FROM THE PULPFEST WEBSITE BY WILLIAM PATRICK MAYNARD:

PulpFest is proud that over 30 popular fiction writers will be attending our 2019 convention. “Back in the day,” the authors who labored for the rough paper industry liked to call themselves scribes, word-slingers, penny-a-worders, and, perhaps the most favored term of all, fictioneers. Join PulpFest as we celebrate today’s fictioneers — the authors writing today’s pulp fiction!

On Friday, August 16, at 11 AM, join five writers from Raw Dog Screaming Press for a Rapid-Fire Read and Sweet Sixteen Celebration. It will be hosted by publisher Jennifer Barnes. Raw Dog Screaming Press has carved a niche for themselves as the specialty house for offbeat, dark, deviant, thought-provoking fiction. They were the recipient of the 2018 Horror Writers Association Specialty Press Award for outstanding horror, dark fantasy, and weird fiction. Their critically acclaimed publications are attracting mainstream attention with Ridley Scott recently optioning one of their titles as a major motion picture for Twentieth Century Fox.

Readings on Friday morning will be given by author/poet Michael A. Arnzen (four-time winner of The Bram Stoker Award); fantasy and science fiction author Carrie Gessner; author and founding editor of Raw Dog Screaming Press John Edward Lawson; novelist and journalist Jason Jack Miller; and Bram Stoker Award-winning poet and novelist Stephanie Wytovich.

On Saturday, August 17, at 11 AM, join six writers from Dog Star Books for a second Rapid-Fire Read for PulpFest. It will be hosted by publisher John Edward Lawson. Dog Star Books is the new Raw Dog Screaming Press imprint for Science Fiction Adventure titles. It is the specialty house for edgy, evocative, thought-provoking sci-fi and adventure fiction from new and established authors who shine among the best in their field today.

Readings on Saturday morning will be given by author and poet Matt Betts; editor and author J. L. Gribble; Dog Star Books founder/managing editor and science fiction and thriller author Heidi Ruby Miller; science fiction and urban fantasy author K. W. Taylor; science fiction author and poet Albert Wendland; and science fiction author, editor, and poet K. Ceres Wright.

We’ll also be showcasing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill prior to the Dog Star Celebration. Join Dog Star Books founder and author Heidi Ruby Miller and three writers from Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction Master’s Program at 10 AM Saturday morning, August 17th at PulpFest in the convention’s programming hall. Horror and fantasy author Jeremiah Dylan Cook; author and screenwriter E. C. Skowronski,; and horror author, poet, and editor Sara Tantlinger will be reading from their work.

Coffee, tea, and sweets — celebrating sixteen years of high quality Raw Dog fiction — will also be available both days, compliments of the publisher.

PulpFest 2019 will begin on Thursday, August 15, and run through Sunday, August 18.  Join PulpFest at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry, just north of Pennsylvania’s “Steel City” of Pittsburgh. We’ll be celebrating “Children of the Pulps and Other Stories” at this year’s gathering. Click our Programming button below our homepage banner to get a preview of all the great presentations at this year’s event.

To join PulpFest 2019, click the Register button below our homepage banner. To book a room at the DoubleTree by Hilton — our host hotel — click the Book a Room button, also found on our homepage.

(Raw Dog Screaming Press and Dog Star Books banners and logos designed by Jennifer Barnes.)

Man of War by Heidi Ruby Miller as E-book

Since all the special edition hardcovers of Man of War are almost sold out, Meteor House has the paperback on sale at $5 off for the next two weeks and they've released the e-book on Kindle and Nook!

EVENT: 32ND ANNUAL PENNWRITERS CONFERENCE REGISTRATION IS OPEN

EVENTS

Registration for the 32nd Annual Pennwriters Conference in Pittsburgh is now open: http://bit.ly/pennwriters2019.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
JESSICA STRAWSER AND JASON JACK MILLER

Thursday Pre-Conference Intensive Faculty
Timons Esaias - The Crafts of Fiction: The Nuts, the Bolts, and Hoisting the Girders into Place
Deborah Riley-Magnus - Author Marketing Master Class
Coroner Lyell P. Cook - Coroners: Their history, What they do, What they see

Friday Networking Luncheon Speaker
JD Dunbar - Listen for the Lyrics

Friday Published Penns Luncheon Speaker
Siobhan Vivian - Your Next Big Idea: Developing and Heightening the Plot of Your WIP

Agents, Editors, Publisher
Kaitlyn Johnson, agent, Corvisiero Literacy Agency
Amy Bishop, Agent – Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC
Bibi Lewis, Agent – Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency
Danielle Dieterich, Editor – G. P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Random House
Rhonda Penders – The Wild Rose Press

32nd Annual Pennwriters Conference
Friday, May 17, 2019 9:00 AM - Sunday, May 19, 2019 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)

Pittsburgh Airport Marriott
777 Aten Road
Coraopolis, Pennsylvania 15108
United States
412-788-8800
EVENT DETAILS

Conference Coordinators: Pauline Drozeski & Hilary Hauck, ConferenceCoordinator@pennwriters.org

Registration Coordinator: Cathy Seckman, ConferenceRegistration@pennwriters.org

EVENT: Jason Jack Miller at PARSEC

I'll be giving a talk at PARSEC on St. Paddy's Day, so if you're in the Burgh from 1:30-4:30, stop by the Squirrel Hill Library and say hi.

EVENT: Jason Jack Miller and Heidi Ruby Miller at Brazosport College

EVENTS

If you're in the Lake Jackson area of Texas on April 1, come and visit us at the Brazosport College Library. We'll be discussing what it's like to collaborate as authors and also reading from our work.
Note: This is not an April Fool's Day joke! :D

Christopher Paul Carey is the New Director of Publishing at ERB, Inc.

Congratulations to good friend and SHU WPF alum Christopher Paul Carey for becoming the new Director of Publishing at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.

Tarzana, CA (February 5, 2019) — Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the company that manages and licenses the creative works of novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs, including TARZAN OF THE APES® and JOHN CARTER OF MARS®, is pleased to announce the addition of Christopher Paul Carey to its executive staff in the role of Director of Publishing, effective February 4, 2019.

Christopher Paul Carey, as the new Director of Publishing, will work closely with Jim Sullos, President, and Cathy Wilbanks, Vice President of Operations, on all aspects of the company’s publishing division, including exciting new initiatives to be announced in the future.

Read more here.

THE BIG THRILL!

Many thanks to Derek Gunn for some great questions and to THE BIG THRILL for the opportunity!

Read the interview here: http://www.thebigthrill.org/2018/02/all-saints-by-jason-jack-miller/

Monessen Public Library, Saturday, March 3!

Deets: 326 Donner Ave
Monessen, PA 15062

ALL SAINTS Release

With everything that's happened over the last few weeks I'd pretty much forgotten that I have a book coming out this week. I'm not really sure what I want to say about it at this point, except that this was supposed to be a big moment for me. I'd been working on this idea for about 18 years and am really proud of what I've written. And then...

I'd missed a few interview opportunities, had a plan to countdown here on my blog and on Instagram, had a few videos I wanted to make. But that's not how it happened.

So here's what I would've said about the book in the weeks leading up to the release:

• It's bigger and more ambitious than anything else I'd ever attempted. 
• The Maya cosmology is based on years of study I did while considering a run at grad school the year before I married Heidi. 
• An early draft of this was the first thing I'd ever written. In the original version, Henry Collin runs away to Mexico after a horrible rafting accident that leaves two girls dead. Once I decided to put this book away I immediately began HELLBENDER.   
• I think a book should be re-readable, and this feels like one of the most re-readable things I've ever written. It's got layers.
• The yellow dog was in that old first draft, and there were two boys instead of three--Paco and Trejo.
• At the moment, Danicka is my favorite character. So much so that I have started writing a historical urban fantasy series to show what she's been up to for the last 100 years. 

The book is available for order and should ship soon.

Here's the trailer in case you missed it the first time around:


 

WORKSHOP: UPL Writers Workshop with Heidi Ruby Miller and Jason Jack Miller

This week (Wednesday, February 15) at the UPL Writers Workshop, we'll continue our discussion of formatting and submitting and will do a critique of another writer's work. Hope you can join us!

The Uniontown Public Library offers a Writers Workshop led by authors Heidi Ruby Miller and Jason Jack Miller each Wednesday afternoon. The weekly meetings will include a short writing lesson, writing tips and advice, and a discussion about members’ work. We'll be using lessons from Many Genres One Craft. Each lecture and activity will be self-contained in case you can't attend every week. 

This is a great opportunity to meet fellow writers, talk about your ideas, and explore your creativity. The UPL Writers Workshop is a free program and writers of all genres and experience levels are welcome!

The Writers Workshop will meet every Wednesday from 4:30 – 6:00 PM in Meeting Room A.

If you have any questions, please contact UPL at (724) 437-1165.

Heidi Ruby Miller and Jason Jack Miller started as travel writers more than a decade ago and continue to explore the globe, but now as research trips for their fiction. In their spare time, they teach in Seton Hill's MFA in Writing Popular Fiction program. Between them, they have published six novels (with two more forthcoming this year), a hundred short stories, poems, articles, and essays, and a travel guide. They chronicle their adventures on Instagram and YouTube under their own names, as well as their shared project Small Space Big Life.

SMALL SPACE BIG LIFE: Florence, Arno River, August 2016

Just wanted to post the video I made for our little Arno River cruise from last August. Heidi and I have been sharing some of our travel videos over at Small Space Big Life. It's been a fun way to share our travels in a slightly different way, and it allows to get a little creative without worrying about word count or dangling participles.

SMALL SPACE BIG LIFE YEAR IN REVIEW 2016

Earlier this year, Heidi and I started a YouTube channel as a place to share our travel videos. It's been rewarding and a lot of fun, and we hope to vlog more frequently next year.

This is a highlight clips from some of the amazing things we got to see and do this year. If you want to see more, check out our YouTube channel SMALL SPACE BIG LIFE.

You're Invited to a night of Whiskey and Words!

We hope you can attend our upcoming event Whiskey and Words on Wednesday, October 12th from 5pm- 9pm at Wigle Whiskey's Barrelhouse and Whiskey Garden in Pittsburgh's Northside. In addition to our fabulous line-up of authors, we will also have delicious Whiskey cocktails, Burgh Bites Food Truck and the Mangini Trio. If  you can't attend, but want to help support our local authors please share the flyer that has been attached. 

This event is free to attend. 21+. 

Link:  http://mandeline28.wixsite.com/whiskeyandwords 
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1802307836654674/

Hope to see you all there! 

Next up--BOOKtober!

September 29--DogCon V

DogCon is a big shindig RDSP holds every year to celebrate books, authors and all our supporters. It’s a chance for the RDSP family to get together, meet each other, show off the latest works and begin new creative ventures.

Details can be found here: http://rawdogscreaming.com/dogcon-5-broadkill-writers-resort/

Oct. 12, 5-9 p.m.--Whiskey and Words

Book and author vendors signing autograph and selling their books, Whiskey and Words will have lectures taking place inside the barrelhouse throughout the evening. Wigle Whiskey will also be dishing out a bevy of delectable drinks, a traveling food truck (TBD) will be slinging eclectic eats and there will be live outdoor musical entertainment during the evening’s soiree.

Details can be found here: http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/whiskey-and-words/Event?oid=1950438

October 15--10th Annual Western Maryland Indepent Lit Festial

The Frostburg State University Center for Creative Writing, in partnership with the Allegany County Library System, is excited to announce that the ninth annual Western Maryland Indie Lit Festival is scheduled for Oct. 14 & 15 at Main Street, Frostburg. The event brings together editors and publishers with writers and educators of the local community. Panel discussions and roundtable sessions include topics on various creative genres, DIY publishing, self-publishing, promotion and marketing, writing local, and reading and writing online.

Details can be found here: http://www.frostburg.edu/cla/indie-lit-festival/

EVERYTHING You Wanted to Know About DogCon V (but were afraid to ask)

It's all right here, folks. Every sordid detail. Every wild plan. If you're an East Coast writer, this should be on your radar. Tickets are still available.



More details can be found here http://www.broadkillresort.com/ or here http://rawdogscreaming.com/dogcon-5-broadkill-writers-resort/

TEN at 25!

August 27, 1991.

Starting my senior year of high school as the world around me smoldered in the wake of what had been a rough year-and-a-half. My parents divorced and I tumbled down a rabbit hole of depression that led to a month in rehab and the subsequent deletion of everything I loved and knew from my life.

My friends in high school had been replaced by the people at AA meetings. Older men and women who'd lost jobs and homes. People who'd done hard time in federal penitentiaries.

I left my childhood home to move into an apartment my dad shared with a recovering addict, a terrible decision based on guilt and shame. That was the last time I ever saw a lot of my old stuff. Magazines and posters and hundreds of cassette tapes. A large collection of fantasy and Stephen King novels and DUNGEONS & DRAGONS accoutrement. STAR WARS and G.I. JOE actions figures.

When I left the Adolescent Chemical Dependency unit at old St. Francis in Lawrenceville, they told me to get new clothes. My Metallica and Queensrÿche t-shirts were a sign of the life I was leaving behind. And even though nobody ever came out and said it, I got the impression I was supposed to emerge from all that turmoil like a butterfly out of a cocoon.

Except it didn't really happen that way. I'm not sure it ever does.

Pearl Jam's TEN came when I realized maybe I wasn't an addict, but just really, really depressed. The pink album cover represented a change from so many blacks and grays. The lyrics were intellectual in a way Guns and Roses weren't. When I first saw the video for "Even Flow" I realized the band didn't wear a uniform or costumes. They weren't putting on airs. They dressed like I did. And they shared my anger and frustrations and expressed them with more subtlety and nuance than a lot of the bands I listened to before. And they were mine.

The next year-and-a-half was as monumental as the previous eighteen months had been. I graduated high school and began college at Penn State, Fayette Campus. I started working for Laurel Highlands River Tours in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania as a whitewater raft guide. When I walked through the parking lot that first morning of Cheat training down in Albright, West Virginia, I heard TEN blasting out of Bo Harshyne's old van. I'd found my new tribe.  

TEN was the bedrock upon which I'd build the life I'd always wanted for myself. It gave me a directive to seek the freedom I'm always wanted to be the person I needed to be. To dress the way I wanted. To read what I wanted. To explore new ideas and philosophies.

And twenty years later, when my writing career didn't seem to be following the trajectory I'd once hoped it would, Pearl Jam began reflecting on what it meant to be a part of something special for so long. The band and Cameron Crowe released PEARL JAM TWENTY, or PJ20, in 2011, and the retrospective reminded me of their battles with Ticketmaster and their struggles to maintain artistic integrity in spite of so much noise. In that way, the band and their ethos played a massive role in my eventual decision to self-publish a novel, a singular act that virtually every publishing opportunity I have today sprang from.

So when I saw today was the anniversary of the release, I stopped what I'd been doing to let it soak in. Twenty-five years is a long time ago, and a galaxy far, far away. Lately I've been joking with Heidi that my real birthday was some twenty years after the actual day I was born. I figured summer of 1994, give or take. My reasoning was that the events of the last twenty years have had as large an impact on my life as the events of the first twenty. And if that's the case, then it makes me happy to think that a little bit of August 27, 1991 is in my new DNA.

SMALL SPACE BIG LIFE: Cinque Terre by Sea, August 2016

Published on Aug 16, 2016

The first clip from our Italy trip! This is from our evening cruise along the five villages of the Cinque Terre, courtesy of Angelo's Boat Tours. I'd highly recommend them for anyone visiting the Cinque Terre.

We patronized the following businesses while in the Cinque Terre:
http://www.angelosboattours.com/
http://www.hotelsouvenirmonterosso.it...
http://www.ristorantebelforte.it/it/r...
https://www.facebook.com/nessundormac...
https://www.facebook.com/Mg5terre/

SMALL SPACE BIG LIFE

So, Heidi and I have recently undertaken a new kind of project. After scrolling through some pictures from a trip we'd taken a few years ago, we decided there had to be a better way for us to view them, and took to putting some to music. And to share them with family, we uploaded a few to YouTube.

Ultimately, this is a way for us to relive some great moments. Sharing them is more about making them available for anyone who may be interested in seeing them than becoming an internetfamous vlogger or world-class humblebragger. We aren't shilling hotels or restaurants, and we certainty aren't trying to tell anybody what to do with their time or money. At the end of the day this is a way for us to momentarily revisit some places we truly love.    



The YouTube channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPeKwWd2nVYEJPQh9cxRN6g

Audiovile: The Expanded Digital Edition

I was really happy to have been asked to contribute when Mike Arnzen first put this together. As far as I know, it's the only evidence in existence that proves I've tried to play a banjo. Mike has some great stuff on here, and it's worth a look. 

Audiovile: The Expanded Digital Edition 

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Audiovile was originally released as a CD in 2007 by Raw Dog Screaming Press, breaking new ground in spoken word horror.
This newly "Expanded Digital Edition" includes high quality digital versions of all the tracks, and then DOUBLES the size of the original release, featuring EXCLUSIVE performances which were not included with original 16-track CD, most appearing here for the first time. And if you purchase the full album, you get access to BONUS FEATURES: an ebook companion with stories & related articles; printable CD inserts; a photograph gallery; the "Brain Candy" music video (animated by Jennifer Barnes); and a secret bonus audio track to add to your collection!

LIVE in the 412! Doors to the Universe Book Signing at Copyleft Gallery

As part of their awesome Popup Art Event: Doors to the Universe, Copyleft Gallery is teaming up with PARSEC, Pittsburgh's premier speculative fiction organization, to host a multi-author book signing and party on Friday, May 13, 2016 from 6-10 PM. 

Come see our world!

The event is free and open to the public. No registration or RSVP necessary.

Venue is wheelchair accessible at 127 Brownsville Rd, Pittsburgh PA 15210.

Featured authors include:

Timons Esaias 

Heidi Ruby Miller 

Jason Jack Miller 

Ellen Roth 

Henry T. Lund 

Stephanie Keyes 

J.D. Barker 

Editor Barb Carlson with Parsec Ink books

Thank you to Diane Turnshek for coordinating this event!