News

Since the days of Mary Shelly’s Dr. Frankenstein, writers have speculated about replaceable body parts. Now, the ability to swap organs that are injured or afflicted with disease with new functional organs has moved from science fiction to reality. Several key technological leaps have enabled these exciting developments, including advances in stem cell biology and biomaterials. While we all dream of how this can change our individual lives and our future as a community, it is important to be able to separate fact from hype. Join Alicia Henn, Chief Scientific Officer of BioSpherix, for a discussion of the science as it stands at this point in time and a discussion about how this could impact our culture.

Moderator: Alicia Henn, Chief Scientific Officer of BioSpherix
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: April 1, 2014 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Due to circumstances beyond her control, Alicia Henn will be unable to present at our March meeting. Instead we'll take the opportunity to introduce our new officers and discuss activities we're considering for the coming year. After that we hope to spend some time looking forward to the April Camp NaNoWriMo session by discussing what we're working on.

Moderator: Alan Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: March 4, 2014 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Our February meeting focuses on the many different ways you can get your story or novel published. As a group, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of self-publishing on the Web and on-demand printing, creating e-books and working with online bookstores, and going the route of paper-based publishing with traditional magazine and book publishers. The meeting will be preceded by a brief business meeting at which dues-paying R-SPEC members will elect a slate of board members for the coming year. (All are welcome to attend, though only dues-paying members may vote.)

Moderator: Alan Michaels (Publishing); Alicia Henn (R-Spec Annual Meeting)
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: February 4, 2014 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

In our January 7 meeting, attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works. (Older or sold stories and poems are also welcome, especially if you'd like some kind of feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work -- less than 1,000 words if you can, but up to 2,000 words if you can't break the scene -- so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback. After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator: Alan Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: January 7, 2013 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

November is National Novel-Writing Month, so our November 5th meeting is a great time to deal with any writing roadblocks you may be hitting. We'll open the floor for problems and offer suggestions, and for people to read from what they've done in the first five days. Please come early so we can get an idea of how many people will be reading; if we have enough folks, we'll split off into small groups for reading & feedback. 

Presenter: Eric Scoles, You
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: November 5, 2013 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

"Plot is the series of events that moves your characters and story forward." – Holly Lisle, Holly Lisle's Create a Plot Clinic

Without a plot, you don't have a story. But there's a lot of confusion around what exactly a plot is, and how it differs from your story's structure and conflicts. In our October 1st meeting, we'll discuss and illustrate the differences between plot, structure, and conflict. We'll look at some tools for organizing your project, and tools for breaking plotting logjams, and we'll hopefully help you think of plot as a process rather than a product. 

Janice Carello teaches Composition at Buffalo State College, and has taught composition, creative writing or literature courses at area colleges including MCC and SUNY-Brockport. She has previously lead a workshop for R-Spec on breaking writer's block. Eric's story "Interesting Times" appeared in R-Spec's anthology 2034: Writing Rochester's Futures, which they both helped to edit. 

Presenter: Janice Carello & Eric Scoles
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: October 1, 2013 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

So, just what is “speculative fiction” poetry and should it be a separate poetry genre? In our September 3rd meeting, Alan Vincent Michaels, poet, author, and R-SPEC’s Program Officer, will lead a discussion and open reading on what speculative fiction poetry is, what it isn’t, and why you should care. He’ll share selected published and new poems, and, if you are a poet who would like to read your own poem, we’ll choose some of your scifaiku, horrorku, short prose poems, and rhyming poems to share with those gathered.

Presenter: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: September 3, 2013 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Copyright. Intellectual property. Licensing your writing and artwork. Just what is all this “legal stuff” and what does it mean for the speculative fiction writer, poet, and artist? In our August 6th meeting, David Henn, intellectual property attorney and R-SPEC’s publisher, will present information on the importance of copyright and ensuring your literary creations are protected when you send them out into the universe (or at least around the Earth). David is currently special counsel at Hoffman Warnick LLC, with more than two decades of experience as an intellectual property lawyer.

Presenter: David Henn
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: August 6, 2013 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

In our July 2 meeting, attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works -- older or sold stories and poems are also welcome. Short pieces or a portion of a longer work (up to 2,000 words) are preferred, so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees, if they desire, may provide their feedback. After the readings conclude and time permits, attendees may share with the group what they are currently reading.

Moderator: Alan Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: July 2, 2013 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

“Where do you get your ideas?” is probably the question writers get asked more often than any other, and the answers they give are probably as varied as the authors themselves.

So, where do writers get their story ideas? Is it just inspiration and day dreaming? Is it writing about what they know (or what they don’t know)? Is it reading the news or magazines? Maybe, it’s surfing the Internet or talking with friends and fellow writers. Most likely, it’s all of the above and a whole lot of sources we don’t even consider to be “idea generators.”

In our June 4th meeting, R-SPEC’s Alan Vincent Michaels will lead a discussion on generating story ideas to help you get your stories started and finished!

Facilitator: Alan Michaels

Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: May 4, 2013 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
See our poster!