Calendar

On June 7, you're invited to share your story, poem, or any writing roadblocks you're facing. Bring a piece with fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene. This helps give everyone sufficient reading and feedback time.

Please note: We will be meeting both in person at Barnes & Noble, Pittsford and on Zoom.

If time permits after the readings, we'll share with the group what we're currently reading.

• Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
• Location: Our June 2022 meeting will be both in person at Barnes & Noble, Pittsford and on Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 6:30PM start time to ensure you're connected.)
• Meeting Time: June 7, 2022 from 6:30-8:45p.m.
  • Open chat 6:30-7:00
  • Reading 7:00-8:30-ish
  • Close meeting 8:46 (or sooner) in order to break down before the Pittsford Barnes & Noble branch closes

Note: Reading meetings are not recorded.

On May 3, we discuss what notto do with planets during our virtual monthly meeting with the R-SPEC Team.

There are certainly many things most authors would probably avoid, such as pushing a planet into a black hole or disintegrating a inhabited world à la“Star Wars” Death Star.

Yet, there are other things authors do that can be equally as horrific, such as burdening a world with a single agricultural crop or a single magical faith.

What is an author to do?

We’ll discuss some remedies and look at examples of how other authors succeeded and failed in their pursuit of world-building to support their stories, novels, and cinematic creations.

Location: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7 p.m. start time to ensure you're connected.)

Meeting Time: Tuesday, May 3, 2022 from 7-9 p.m. ET

Note: The presentation portion of the meeting may be recorded, and a link to the recording posted on our website. The reading portion of the meeting will not be recorded.

On April 5, we have a treat for all who attend.

First, Jonathan Sherwood, a Rochester-area science fiction author, will demo his Submission Tracker– a visual method of what stories you have submitted and where, and what other publications you should target.

Then, you're invited to share your story, poem, or any writing roadblocks you're facing and receive feedback from the group.

Bring a piece with fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene. This helps give everyone sufficient reading and feedback time.

Location: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7 p.m. start time to ensure you're connected.)

Meeting Time: Tuesday, April 5, 2022 from 7-9 p.m. ET

Note: The presentation portion of the meeting may be recorded, and a link to the recording posted on our website. The reading portion of the meeting will not be recorded.

PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE IN DATE TO THURSDAY MARCH 3, 2022.

On Thursday, March 3, we’re talking with Edward Ashton, the Rochester, New York author of the novels Mickey7 (releasing on February 15 and soon to be adapted into a major motion picture from Oscar-winning Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) starring Robert Pattinson), Three Days in April, and The End of Ordinary. His short fiction has appeared in venues ranging from an Italian sausage company newsletter to Escape Pod, Analog, and Fireside Fiction.

He lives in a cabin in the woods (not that cabin in the woods) with his wife, a variable number of daughters, and an adorably mopey dog named Max, where he writes—mostly fiction, occasionally fact—under the watchful eyes of a giant woodpecker and a rotating cast of barred owls. In his free time, he enjoys cancer research, teaching quantum physics to sullen graduate students, and whittling.

Join our Author Roundtable to learn more about how Edward’s scientific and personal lives support the creative passion and human insight he displays in his writing. Mickey7 begins with “THIS IS GONNA be my stupidest death ever.” and away the reader goes.

You can find Edward on Twitter @edashtonwriting and at his website.

Location: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7 p.m. start time to ensure you're connected.)

Meeting Time: THURSDAY, March 3, 2022 from 7-9 p.m. ET

Note: R-SPEC presentations on topics of interest meetings may be recorded, and a link to the recording posted on our website.

R-SPEC holds its Annual Business Meeting during the first half-hour of the February meeting. We look back upon our accomplishments in 2021, and elect Board members for the coming year. The meeting is open to the public, but only paid R-SPEC members are eligible to be on the Board and to vote in the elections.

It is understandable if you fear using speculative fiction tropes and clichés will make your writing feel derivative, unoriginal, or stilted. In our Necessary Evils: Using Tropes and Clichés to Your Benefit discussion, we examine how using speculative fiction plot and story ideas that have been around since the beginning of time can actually benefit your writing. Especially, if you morph them into something new and interesting.

Annual Business Meeting

• Moderator: Ted Wenskus

Necessary Evils: Using Tropes and Clichés to Your Benefit

• Panelists: Lynn Spitz, Eric Scoles, Hugh Sullivan, Ted Wenskus
• Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
• Location: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7:00PM start time to ensure you're connected.)
• Meeting Time: February 1, 2022 from 7-9 p.m.

Note: R-SPEC presentations on topics of interest meetings may be recorded, and a link to the recording posted on our website.

Image credits: iStock and Pixabay

On January 4, you're invited to share your story, poem, or any writing roadblocks you're facing.

Bring a piece with fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene. This helps give everyone sufficient reading and feedback time.

If time permits after the readings, we'll share with the group what we're currently reading.

• Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
• Location: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7:00PM start time to ensure you're connected.)
• Meeting Time: January 4, 2022 from 7-9 p.m.

Note: Reading meetings are not recorded.

Come as you are on December 7, and share what you’ve been reading, watching, and listening to recently. For many, the last 18 months of the pandemic have provided us with opportunities to enjoy fantastic speculative fiction.

Join your fellow R-SPECers, as we toast each other with “2020 hindsight,” and we then turn our thoughts to the future. Who knows who – or what – we might encounter or what may inspire us!

Moderator: No one

Location: Zoom (Please join about 10 minutes before the start time to ensure you're connected.)

Meeting Time: December 7, 2021 from 7-9 p.m. ET

Note: The R-SPEC Social will NOT be recorded!

On November 2, you're invited to share your story, poem, or any writing roadblocks you're facing.

Bring a piece with fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene. This helps give everyone sufficient reading and feedback time.

Writing a novel can be difficult for any writer. What if you had a "coach and guardrails" to help you start, create, and finish your novel? For the November NaNoWriMo challenge, we'll talk about the process and how signing up for free at NaNoWriMo.org helps you to be organized, set milestones, track your writing progress, and commiserate with other writers.

If time permits after the readings, we'll share with the group what we're currently reading.

UPDATE: We're not meeting at B&N. Please join us virtually on Zoom about 10 minutes before the regular 7 p.m. start time to ensure you're connected.

• Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
• Location: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7:00PM start time to ensure you're connected.)
• Meeting Time: August 3, 2021 from 7-9 p.m.

Note: Reading meetings are not recorded.

Creating a government can seem daunting when thinking about where to set your story. In truth, there are as many forms of government as there are people, and, since “all politics is life,” your plot will be driven by your characters’ interactions.

In fantasy, you may choose a kingdom ruled by a monarch. In science fiction, you may create a multi-world republic run by a council or an executive. These defaults have an important advantage. Your readers will recognize them easily. Thus, less to explain.

But is the default form really what you want to convey? Or can you use a different form of government to highlight your characters, their struggles, and to drive the plot?

Join Alan Vincent Michaels and the R-SPEC Team during our October 5 meeting to discuss how researching other human sociopolitical systems can be beneficial to creating believable otherworldly or future environments.

Presenter: Alan Vincent Michaels

Location: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7 p.m. start time to ensure you're connected.)

Meeting Time: October 5, 2021 from 7-9 p.m. ET

Note: R-SPEC presentations on topics of interest meetings may be recorded, and a link to the recording posted on our website.

How you write can influence what you write. How often you write equates with how much content you create. With laptops, tablets, and mobile phones, you’re no longer constrained by where you write. If you’re just using online social media to send direct messages and communicate ideas, why not take it to the next level and get published?

Join Alan Vincent Michaels and the R-SPEC Team during our September 7 meeting to learn about his efforts over the last several years to write successful speculative microfiction and poetry, have it promoted and sold online, and published in ebooks and printed formats.

Attendees are welcome to share their writing experiences using social media, including any fears or concerns, and how using their favorite social media platform has helped them to develop their writing craft and creative output.

Presenter: Alan Vincent Michaels

Location: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7 p.m. start time to ensure you're connected.)

Meeting Time: September 7, 2021 from 7-9 p.m. ET

Note: R-SPEC presentations on topics of interest meetings may be recorded, and a link to the recording posted on our website.