Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work – fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene – so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

Please try to arrive before 7 p.m. to put your name on the reading list.

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator:Ted Wenskus
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: March 6, 2018 from 7-9 p.m.

R-SPEC holds its Annual Meeting during the first half-hour of the February meeting. We'll review our accomplishments in 2017 and elect board members for the coming year. This 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.

Then you’ll put on your metaphorical overalls, grab your literary toolboxes, and tackle the foundations that support your fantasy story or novel. Our panelists will help you explore how to create believable imaginary worlds in which your characters and plot can come to life and thrive.

You are invited to share your world building ideas and discuss topics ranging from using known settings in urban or historical fantasies to creating key elements from scratch to bolster heroic or magical fantasies. Creating what is needed to tell your story helps you start writing, and thinking about how to weave settings and backgrounds around your characters and plot helps you finish writing.

Panel: Alan Vincent Michaels, Eric Scoles, Ted Wenskus, Hugh Sullivan
Moderator: Lynn Spitz
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: February 6, 2018 from 7-9 p.m.

Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work – fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene – so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

Please try to arrive before 7 p.m. to put your name on the reading list.

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: January 2, 2018 from 7-9 p.m.

Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work – fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene – so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

Please try to arrive before 7 p.m. to put your name on the reading list.

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: November 7, 2017 from 7-9 p.m.

In our October meeting, we examine the differences and parallels between writing for traditionally non-interactive media (prose and scripts) and interactive media (board games, role playing games, choose-your-own-adventure stories, and video games). We’ll look at some of the fundamental types of writing needed for a few interactive mediums, then workshop a few examples, such as diagramming a dialogue tree, adding flavor text to a collectable card game, and coming up with branching descriptions and story consequences for a rogue-like*, randomly generated game.

Presenter: Hugh Sullivan
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: October 3, 2017 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

In our September meeting, you are invited to participate in a discussion about and writing workshop on creating speculative fiction poetry. From sonnets and couplets to free verse and song lyrics and even science fiction haiku (scifaiku), we will examine these different styles of poetry, but with a science fiction, fantasy, or horror twist. Prompts will be provided and, if desired, you may read your poems and receive feedback from those in attendance.

Presenter:Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: September 5, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Presented by Alicia Henn and Hugh Sullivan

In the middle 1400s, Johannes Gutenberg couldn’t envision how his moveable type printing press would evolve into one of the most transformative inventions in human history. The same can be said of the additive manufacturing process commonly called 3D printing. Over the last thirty years, this technology has transformed numerous processes and applications, enabling the computer-controlled creation of three-dimensional objects as diverse as peoples’ imaginations. Today, we have merely scratched the surface of this technology.

We’re now able to produce low-cost prototypes of almost any type of item, and final, usable versions of clothing and shoes, automobile and aircraft parts, electronic components, firearms, food, medical implants, human tissues, and even the demon horns used in a recent Face Off episode on the SYFY channel – just to name a few. What will 3D printing evolve into? We can only speculate and that’s what we’ll do during our August meeting.

Alicia Henn and Hugh Sullivan will lead a discussion about what 3D printing is, how printing human tissues is being advanced, and some examples of what can be created using a 3D printer. We’ll then see how 3D printing can be included in your speculative fiction stories. For a moment, consider sending artificial intelligence-controlled, 3D printer-factories to new worlds to print the probes and rovers needed to explore those worlds. Would this be a more efficient process than launching fully designed probes from Earth into space? What could possibly go wrong with a 3D printer let loose on an alien world?

Alicia Henn is the Chief Scientific Officer at BioSpherix, Ltd. and the R-SPEC Treasurer. Hugh Sullivan is an author, musician, podcaster, and the R-SPEC Vice President.

Presenters:Alicia Henn and Hugh Sullivan
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: August 1, 2017 from 7-9 p.m.

Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work -- fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene -- so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

Please try to arrive before 7 p.m. to put your name on the reading list.

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator:Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: July 11, 2017 from 7-9 p.m.

Presented by Lois H. Gresh

Writing is a business as well as an art form. At our June meeting, New York Times bestselling author Lois H. Gresh will lead an informal discussion about the realities and myths of full-time writing, including insights into the general rules of the writing game, pitching and writing commercial fiction, hitting deadlines, writing query letters and synopses, dealing with agents and editors, appearing on panels, and everything in between.

Lois H. Gresh is the New York Times bestselling author (six times) and USA Today Bestselling Author (thrillers) of 28 books and more than 65 short stories, as well as the editor of the anthologies Innsmouth Nightmares and Dark Fusions. Her work has been published in 22 languages. Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure Of The Deadly Dimensions (Titan Books, July 11, 2017) is the first in her new trilogy of Holmes thrillers from Titan, with Random House distribution in the USA. For five years, Lois was a staff book reviewer at scifi.com(now SYFY.com, the Science Fiction Cable Channel), and her work has been on national / international award ballots eight times. She is a frequent Guest of Honor Author at large genre conventions and has appeared on television series, such as The History Channel's Ancient Aliens and Batman Tech. You can find her at www.facebook.com/lois.gresh and www.loisgresh.com.

Presenter and author:Lois H. Gresh
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: June 6, 2017 from 7-9 p.m.

Presented by Lois H. Gresh

If you want to write commercial fiction, consider creating detailed outlines, also known as beat sheets, before you start writing Chapter 1.

At our May meeting, New York Times bestselling author Lois H. Gresh will cover all this and more in an informal discussion including overarching themes and plots, weaving in sub-plots, hitting the high points, and tying it all together at the end.

Lois H. Gresh is the New York Times bestselling author (six times) and USA Today Bestselling Author (thrillers) of 28 books and more than 65 short stories, as well as the editor of the anthologies Innsmouth Nightmares and Dark Fusions. Her work has been published in 22 languages. Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Deadly Dimensions (Titan Books, July 11, 2017) is the first in her new trilogy of Holmes thrillers from Titan, with Random House distribution in the USA. For five years, Lois was a staff book reviewer at scifi.com(now SYFY.com, the Science Fiction Cable Channel), and her work has been on national/international award ballots eight times. She is a frequent Guest of Honor Author at large genre conventions and has appeared on television series, such as The History Channel's Ancient Aliens and Batman Tech. You can find her at www.facebook.com/lois.greshand www.loisgresh.com.

Presenter and author:Lois H. Gresh
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: May 2, 2017 from 7-9 p.m.