Coppertoppe Writers Weekend Guest Instructors
**For those who wish to have a formal critique of a chapter or story by top editor Moshe Feder, please email us at Realreaderfest@gmail.com and send your story or chapter by April 1, 2019. The critiques will be Milford-style and that group is limited to 6 writers - all will read and critique all 6 stories or chapters. We will have other programming and conversations, as well as time for writing, scheduled all three days -- 9 am to 9 pm. Seating for the weekend workshop is limited to 24 writers total.
Elizabeth Hand
Elizabeth Hand is the bestselling author of thirteen genre-spanning novels and four collections of short fiction. Her work has received the World Fantasy Award (four times), Nebula Award (twice), Shirley Jackson Award (twice), International Horror Guild Award (three times), the Mythopoeic Award, and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, among others, and several of her books have been New York Times and Washington Post Notable Books. Her recent, critically acclaimed novels featuring Cass Neary, “one of literature’s great noir anti-heroes” [Katherine Dunn] — GENERATION LOSS, AVAILABLE DARK, and the forthcoming HARD LIGHT — have been compared to those of Patricia Highsmith. With Paul Witcover, Hand created DC Comic’s early 1990s cult series ANIMA, whose riot grrl superheroine dealt with homeless teenagers, drug abuse, the AIDS epidemic and racial violence, and featured DC Comics’ first openly gay teenager (the series also once guest-starred Conan O’Brien). Her 1999 play “The Have-Nots” was a finalist in London’s Fringe Theater Festival and went on to play at the Battersea Arts Center. She has written numerous novelizations of films, including Terry Gilliam’s TWELVE MONKEYS, and a popular series of STAR WARS books for middle grade children. She is a longtime critic and book reviewer whose work appears regularly in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Salon, the Boston Review, among many others, and writes a regular column for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Her books and short fiction have been translated into numerous languages and have been optioned for film and television. Hand teaches at the Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing, and recently joined the faculty of the Maine College of Art. She divides her time between the coast of Maine and North London, and is working on the fourth Cass Neary.
Ms. Hand will be leading an informal chat about publishing and her work -- on Saturday evening at dinner.
Moshe Feder
| Moshe Feder has been an SF/Fantasy reader since he was a kid in the late 50s, an active fan since 1970 when he saw John W. Campbell, Jr. in the flesh at a Lunacon, and a pro since 1972 when he started working part time as Assistant Editor for Amazing and Fantastic. Later he was a reviewer for Publishers Weekly and SF Chronicle, Assistant Editor of the SF Book Club, Editor of the Military Book Club, and a regular reviewer for Asimov’s. He has been a judge for the World Fantasy Awards and a member of the Sidewise Awards jury. His first, and so far only, short story appeared in Orbit 16 in 1975. He’s currently a Consulting Editor for Tor Books, where he’s proud to edit the work of Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Gary K. Wolfe & Archbishop John J. Myers, Juliet McKenna, David Gerrold, and Robert Silverberg.
Note: Mr. Feder has agreed to read and critique a chapter or short story for participants. We'll do this Milford-style, so all of the people in the group will submit their pages in advance, we'll all read them, and then the group will join in a critique session led by Mr. Feder, who will also add his comments. Milford style means that each person is silent while the others give their critique. Mr. Feder will decide if questions or comments are welcome by each writer after their story is 'up'. If you would like to be in this small group of no more than 6 total writers, please let us know at Realreaderfest@gmail.com. |
Gregory Norris
Gregory L. Norris is a full-time professional writer, with work appearing in numerous fiction anthologies, national magazines, novels, and the occasional TV episode (and, so far, one produced feature film -- Brutal Colors, which appeared on Amazon Prime in 2016). He once worked as a screenwriter on two episodes of Paramount's Star Trek: Voyager series and is a former writer for Sci Fi, the official magazine of the Sci Fi Channel (before all those ridiculous Ys invaded). Three times now, he’s garnered mentions in Ellen Datlow's Best Of The Year books, and two of his paranormal romance novels were published by Home Shopping Network for their "Escape With Love" line, the first time HSN has offered original novels to their global customers. He won Honorable Mention in 2016's The Roswell Award in short SF fiction, and last year saw the publication of INTO INFINITY: THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, which he was hired by Anderson Entertainment in the UK to pen based upon the classic Gerry Anderson TV movie (and which he watched when he was eleven). Next month, his original sequel, INTO INFINITY: PLANETFALL, releases. with a third novel planned for the franchise in 2019. Follow his literary adventures at: www.gregorylnorris.blogspot.com.
If you want to know what it takes to be a full-time professional writer, Mr. Norris will be leading conversations and talks over the weekend about how to make it in the industry.
Ashley Lauren Rogers
Ashley Lauren Rogers is an award winning writer and trans rights activist. Her work has been performed at Dixon Place, MITF, the Brick, and Joe’s Pub and others. Her short play “Becky’s Christmas Wish,” was a finalist for the City Theatre National Short Play Award, in Miami, and her work has been produced in Wisconsin, Cincinnati, New Jersey, Detroit, and Minneapolis. Ashley was featured on Fusion TV’s Peabody Award Nominated Sex.Right.Now, panels for Revry.TV. Written for Cosmopolitan, The Mary Sue, is the creator of the Is It Transphobic Podcast. Photo Credit to Alexandra Photography.
Robyn Bennis
Robyn Bennis has done research and development involving human gene expression, neural connectomics, cancer diagnostics, rapid flu testing, gene synthesis, genome sequencing, being so preoccupied with whether she could that she never stopped to think if she should, and systems integration. She wrote most of The Guns Above within sight of Hangar One at Moffett Airfield, which was once the West Coast home to one of America's largest airships, the USS Macon.She currently resides in Madison, WI, where she has one cat, two careers, and an apartment full of dreams.
Zig Zag Claybourne
Zig Zag Claybourne's essays on sci fi, fandom, and life in general have appeared in Apex, Strange Horizons, and other genre venues. His fiction has been described as “effortlessly cool”. His most recent novel is The Brothers Jetstream: Leviathan, with the sequel, Afro Puffs Are the Antennae of the Universe, due in 2019. His short story collection Historical Inaccuracies once topped a collection from Neil Himself on Amazon for about 3 seconds. He grew up watching The Twilight Zone and considers himself a better person for it. You can find his work scattered throughout the web, but if you really want to get to know him the door’s always open at www.writeonrighton.com.
Dan Szczesny
Dan Szczesny is a long-time journalist, author and speaker living in New Hampshire.He’s written several books of travel memoir (The Adventures of Buffalo and Tough Cookie, Mosquito Rain), fiction (Sing and Other Stories) and poetry (Invincible One, Poems). His book, The Nepal Chronicles, about a month long trek to Everest Base Camp and marriage in Kathmandu, won the 2016 New Hampshire state library award for Outstanding Work of Non-Fiction.
Dan is also the Editor of Murder Ink, a series of New England-based Pulp Fiction anthologies set in or around the newsroom. Volume Three is set for release in Feb.2018.
His short story, “White Like Marble” was a finalist in the 2017 Ernest Hemingway Foundation Short Shorts Contest, out of the Hemingway Birthplace in Oak Park, Ill.
Dan’s latest project is The White Mountain. From the vaulted heights of New England’s highest peak, Dan spent a year exploring the very heart of the White Mountains. But Mt. Washington—home of the world’s worst weather—is more than just a Rock Pile, it’s the cultural and natural soul of climbers and tourists from around the world. From car races to bird watching, from bikes to motorcycles, from the railroad to the stars to a centuries old observatory, Mt. Washington speaks to the adventurer in all of us, and Dan turns his veteran journalist’s eye toward capturing it all in his new book, The White Mountain. www.danszczesny.com