News

Our March meeting will focus on creating believable and memorable alien characters. Yes, you're creating beings that don't exist in the real universe, but your alien characters need to seem real enough that a connection is made. We'll work through character-building exercises to help you flesh out your characters, and better tell and sell your story.

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels

Meeting Time: March 7, 2017 from 7-9 p.m.

In our November 1 meeting, 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 1, 2016 from 7-9 p.m.

 In our October 4 meeting, attendees are invited to participate in an open discussion about what makes speculative fiction attractive to so many people. There are many things we enjoy about this genre, but what specific benefits do we really receive from reading and watching spec fic stories, plays, and movies? And there certainly must be things we don't like about spec fic and that it gets wrong, or are those just stories we're telling ourselves?

Then, we'll shift gears and discuss how the R-SPEC group can help to get the word out about spec fic and what we can do to help the Rochester spec fic community in the years ahead.

Bring your spec fic ideas and mindset to the October meeting. We're eager to see where they take us.

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels

Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford 

Meeting Time: October 4, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

In our September 6 meeting, attendees are invited to participate in a writing workshop that focuses on creating concise, condensed, but complete speculative fiction or fantasy stories with a beginning, middle, and end, and a length of 500 or fewer words. Twists and unexpected uses of dialogue, prose, poetry, and maybe even a tweet or two are encouraged. Prompts will be provided and, if desired, participants may read their drafts and receive feedback from those in attendance.

Moderator:Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: September 6, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

In our August 2 meeting, join us for a discussion about the state of stem cells and regenerative medicine in 2016. These topics used to be the stuff of legend and science fiction. Prometheus, the Greek Titan, was punished for giving fire to humankind. His liver was regenerated each day after it was eaten by an eagle. The Doctor, in the Doctor Who sci-fi series from BCC TV, can regenerate his entire body instead of dying. Even some real-world animals can regenerate those parts of their bodies that were lost in the struggle for survival.

Now, regenerative medicine is part of our reality. But what do these scientific achievements and therapies to restore lost, aging, or damaged human cells and tissues mean for us and what does the future hold? Find out at the Pittsford Barnes & Noble in the upstairs Community Room on August 2 at 7:00 p.m.

Presenter:Alicia Henn, Chief Scientific Officer, BioSpherix, Inc.
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: August 2, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

In our July 5 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 -- fewer 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.

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

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: July 5, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Gaiman and Pratchett. King and Straub. Niven and Pournelle. Just a few examples of creative pairings that have produced exceptional works of fantasy and science fiction.

But just how do fiction collaborations work? What does it take to successfully co-write in the first place? What are the benefits and challenges? How do you find a co-writer? And more importantly, should you?

Join us for a lively discussion featuring Meredith Powell Carroll and Karen Craft (The Kingdom Next to Fid) and Marcos Donnelly and Ted Wenskus (The Mostly Weird Chronicles of Steffan McFessel) as they share their co-writing experiences, tips, tricks, exercises, and coping devices in creating fantastic stories born of two minds.

It all happens at the Pittsford Barnes & Noble in the upstairs community room on June 7 at 7:00 p.m. See you there!

Presenters: Meredith Powell Carroll, Karen Craft, Marcos Donnelly, and Ted Wenskus
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: June 7, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

One reason many readers choose speculative fiction stories, instead of mainstream stories, is to escape their everyday realities and be transported other worlds. And because these worlds exist only in the writer's imagination, without true connections to the world we live in, the task of creating seemingly realistic and cohesive speculative fiction settings can often be a challenge.

During our May 3 meeting, our panelists will guide you through a discussion and exercises on creating speculative fiction settings that leave lasting impressions with your readers in much the same ways as the characters in your stories.

Panel: Kurt Schweitzer, Eric Scoles, Lynn Spitz, and Ted Wenskus
Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: May 3, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

In our April meeting, we'll explore including current events in your speculative fiction stories. We'll look at selected classic and modern stories that used current events to help answer the "what if?" questions we didn't think about when the events unfolded on the evening news.

Socialism and totaliarian rule or the fear of atomic annihilation were often the focus of SF's "Golden Age" stories. Today, advancements in technology, such as artificial intelligence, biological experimentation, and genetic manipulation of the human genome, are front and center in many writers' minds. When the elements of politics, economics, warfare, terrorism, and social struggles – just to name a few – are mixed in, you have the mirrors that writers hold up for us to gaze into and contemplate the consequences of our actions.

How do you explore a current event topic without becoming preachy or writing an essay of your opinions? How do you come up with a new perspective that wasn't discussed on the evening news and prevent a regurgitation of the facts that you can find by doing an Internet search? We'll answer these questions and more through group exercises and discussion.

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

For our March meeting, R-SPEC will be holing its annual meeting for the first 30 minutes or so where we will review our accomplishments in 2015 and elect board members for the coming year. As always, this is open to the public, but only paid R-SPEC members are eligible to be on the board and to vote in the elections.

Afterward, 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 -- fewer 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. Please try to arrive before 7 to put your name on the list for reading. 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 1, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.