Tag Archives: rehoboth beach

After-Action Report: Beach Pulp Book Signing

Another wonderful book signing has come to an end. I had a blast with my fellow Beach Pulp authors at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach earlier today. Special thanks to Cat & Mouse Press owner and editor, Nancy Day Sakaduski, for publishing another fun anthology and for bringing us together at the beach!

From giant creatures to ghostly specters and from heroic superheroes to hard-boiled detectives, our beach towns are in for a shock. Beach Pulp is a collection of nineteen stories in the style of the old Amazing Stories pulp magazines set in Rehoboth, Bethany, Cape May, Lewes, Ocean City, and other beach towns that covers a range of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, and noir.

My Copies of Beach Pulp!
My Copies of Beach Pulp!

 

 

 

 

 

My tablemates (l to r) Chris Jacobsen, Maria Masington, and Carl Frey.
Maria Masington at the Beach Pulp Signing
Author Maria Masington at the Beach Pulp signing.
Beach Pulp contributors David Cooper (left) and D.M. Domosea (right) chatting with readers.
David Cooper and James Gallahan signing copies of Beach Pulp for customers.
D.M. Domosea chats with Maria Masington while Steve Myers signs a copy of Beach Pulp.
D.M. Domosea and Linda Chambers (foreground). Steve Myers, Patrick Conlon (Beach Pulp associate editor), and Jacob Jones-Goldstein share the center table.
Jim Gallahan and I autograph each other’s copies of Beach Pulp while my tablemates, Chris Jacobsen and Maria Masington talk shop.
Background to foreground: Beach Pulp contributors David Cooper, Jim Gallahan, Linda Chambers, Nancy Powichroski Sherman, D.M. Domosea, Steve Myers.

Prior to the book signing, my wife and I enjoyed walking the boardwalk and eating lunch at the Green Turtle.  Overcast skies in the morning cleared by the afternoon and the welcome sunshine quickly raised the temperature to 73F.  We look forward to returning for vacation this summer!

The view from our table at the Green Turtle.
The view from our table at the Green Turtle.
The view from our table at the Green Turtle.

After Action Report: Shore Leave 40

Shore Leave 40Clear skies and milder temperatures ushered in Shore Leave’s 40th anniversary SF convention in Hunt Valley, MD this past weekend. Celebrity guests included William Shatner, Ming-Na Wen, Allison Scagliotti, Peter Williams, Peter Kelamis, Chase Masterson, and Aron Eisenberg.

After checking into the hotel and collecting my convention materials (badge and program book), I made an initial round of the dealer room and convention areas to get the lay of the land—which hasn’t changed much in the 25 years I’ve been attending Shore Leave.

For me, Friday’s events kicked off at 7PM with an hour-long discussion panel called “Anthologies: Share the Love,” which turned out to be a lively round-table discussion among several writers about what attracts readers to short story collections, themed anthologies versus mixed genre, and what draws writers to submit to anthologies. In addition to myself, participants included Keith R.A. DeCandido, Richard White, Joshua Palmatier, Christopher Bennett, Jenifer Rosenberg, and our moderator, Greg Cox.

It should be noted that while my wife was with me—and had begun attending Shore Leave three years before I—she did not stay at the con beyond Friday evening. Following Shore Leave, we were scheduled to begin a weeklong vacation in Rehoboth Beach, DE. Evon wanted to get there a few days sooner, so we planned for her to leave on Saturday morning with our friends Steve and Renee Wilson, with whom we rent a house for a week each summer. I would then join then on Sunday evening.

At 10PM on Friday, it was time for Meet the Pros, where all 45 writers in attendance gathered to sell and sign books. It was also where I finally had the pleasure of meeting Michael and Denise Okuda, who collectively worked in graphic design, and other capacities, for Star Trek: The Next Generation through Enterprise. I’d brought with me three of their Star Trek reference books to be autographed including the Star Trek Chronology, Star Trek Encyclopedia, and Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual.

Phil with Michael and Denise Okuda

During the remainder of Meet the Pros, I managed to sell a few books and catch up with fellow writers Diane Baron, Kelly Meding, Heather Hutsell, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, Russ Colchamiro, David Mack, Kelli Fitzpatrick, Derek Tyler Attico, Lorraine Anderson, and others.

Saturday began at 9AM with “Science Fact” an edifying discussion panel about incorporating real science into your fiction and what scientific advancements have been most exciting to write about. My fellow panelists included Christopher Bennett, Marie Louise Davie, and moderator Kelli Fitzpatrick. The panel afforded me the perfect opportunity to chat about the SF novel I’m currently writing and the various sciences involved including advances in personal communication and space ship propulsion as well as the soft sciences such as the socioeconomic effects of the events in the story.

Allison Scagliotti Autograph

After that, it was back to my hotel room to change for my photo ops with Ming-Na Wen and Allison Scagliotti, and William Shatner. First, however, I stopped by Allison’s autograph table and picked up a Warehouse 13 photo. It was an honor to meet her, given how much I enjoyed her character on the show.

Phil with Ming-Na Wen and Allison Scagliotti Phil with William Shatner

A minor delay and some scheduling confusion caused a brief imbroglio with the photo op lines, but everything worked out well in the end. At the start of my photo op with Allison and Ming-Na, I stood between them and said, “fanboys, eat your hearts out,” which got a laugh out of Allison. Ming-Na didn’t hear me until I repeated the comment after the photo was taken and it gave her a chuckle.

After that, it was time for two more discussion panels. The first, Firebringer Press Presents, was supposed to be a one hour update about what books are forthcoming from Firebringer—the small press I work with most and owned by the aforementioned Steve Wilson—but we were scheduled opposite Ming-Na’s stage talk and she was only at Shore Leave for one day. Needless to say, our panel had no audience other than my friend Omar who just happened to cross paths with me in the hallway and wanted to catch up. Thus, Ethan Wilson, Diane Baron, and I sat and talked with Omar for about 25 minutes before abandoning the room.

However, I returned to the room at 4PM for my final panel of the day, “Robert Heinlein’s Five Rules of Writing,” moderated by Laura Ware. My fellow panelists included Jim Johnson, Lorraine Anderson, and Dayton Ward. We managed to actively fill the entire hour expounding on each of Heinlein’s Rules of Writing, which are:

  • You must write.
  • You must finish what you write.
  • You must refrain from rewriting except to editorial order.
  • You must put your work on the market.
  • You must keep your work on the market until it sells.

The final task of the day was obtaining a Ming-Na autograph, which I managed to do surprisingly quickly during the official 5PM autograph session.

Ming Na Autograph

Then it was out to dinner at Andy Nelson’s BBQ with several writer friends, then back to the hotel to hang out with Farpoint Con Chair Sharon VanBlarcom for a few hours before finally crashing in my room.

Sunday began with an overpriced breakfast buffet in the hotel’s Cinnamon Tree restaurant before my 11AM panel, “The Writing Life” with Heather Hutsell, Roberta Rogow, Richard White, and Diane Baron. The panel covered such topics as writing schedule, obstacles and distractions to writing, and overcoming burnout.

As that was my final panel for the day, I packed up my car, said my final goodbyes to as many friends as I could track down, then hit the road to meet up with my wife and friends in Rehoboth Beach, DE, from which this blog post was written.

All told, it was a triumphant 40th birthday celebration for Shore Leave! Kudos to the Star Trek Association of Towson, organizers of the convention. Next stop,  Farpoint SF convention in February.

Farpoint-Shore Leave Plaque Star Trek Dinos Star Trek Dinos

Dalek and TARDIS        R2 Unit

Big Hero 6BorgStormtroopers

 

 

 

 

 

Delaware – The Coastest with the Mostest!

My wife and I spent another fantastic vacation in Rehoboth Beach, DE with several wonderful friends. The latter half of the week delivered sweltering temperatures ranging from 96F to 100F, but that didn’t stop up from having a marvelous time!

It was a busy and fast seven days I could absolutely use another week at the beach just to finish the book I’m reading and get some writing in, but I’ll jump back into writing once I’m home. It was quite a tempest of activity including daily morning walks along the beach and boardwalk, catching SpiderMan: Homecoming at the Midway Theatre, parasailing in Dewey Beach with my friend Renee, shopping and lunch in Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island, a trip to Cape Henlopen State Park, shopping at Heritage Antiques in Route 1 and in historic downtown Lewes, and of course, ice cream from various shops including the Royal Treat and King’s Homemade Ice Cream.

Finally, no trip to Rehoboth/Bethany would be complete without visiting our favorite toy shop, Yesterday’s Fun—both in Rehoboth and in Bethany.

Henlopen Lighthouses

Cape Henlopen Beach Cape Henlopen Dunes Cape Henlopen Dunes Cape Henlopen State Park

Fort Miles 8in Gun Fort Miles 16in Gun Fort Miles and Tower 7

Henlopen Lighthouse & Cape May Ferry

Parasailing with Renee Parasailing with ReneeParasailing with Renee Parasailing with Renee

Parasailing with Renee

I also held a book signing at Browseabout Books on Thursday. I only sold one book, but I enjoyed chatting with people, including my friend Mary Ann who was in town on vacation for the week.

Browseabout Author Signing Ad Browseabout Signing-WhiteboardBrowseabout Book Signing Maryann & Phil at Browseabout

 

 

Of Home Renovations, Work Disasters, and Book Signings…

In a previous post, I discussed the recent home renovation project that consumed most of June for me. I painted a large portion of my second floor through the middle of the month and the renovation was completed as of June 29 with the installation of new carpet! Now, approximately 80% of our second floor has new carpeting.

Since then, I have been busy reassembling our dining room and library with little or no time at all for writing. In fact—and to my chagrin—my SF novel-in-progress took a back seat for the entire month, but that wasn’t entirely unexpected to be honest.

New Carpet-Library

New Carpet-Hallway  New Carpet-Stairs

Empty Bookcases

Bookcases Filling Up

To make matters worse, a severe storm struck my area on July 1, causing a partial roof collapse at my workplace, accompanied by flooding and a natural gas line rupture to the generator that provides power to a portion of our IT equipment in the event of a main power failure—which also occurred.

As a member of our IT Infrastructure team, I was called in to assist with disaster recovery implementation, an activity that required participation not only from my own immediate team, but various members of our corporate parent’s IT group as well as vendors of the two or three of the major hardware and software platforms we rely on.

After a continuous 50-hour conference call, during which I slept no more than 4-6 hours, our systems were restored and business was able to resume. Unfortunately, the disaster occurred on my birthday, forcing me to cancel all plans with my wife and family. A final critical issue remained outstanding into Monday that I was not able to resolve until July 4…so that holiday was also lost.

It has been a brutal four weeks, friends. I am exhausted to the point of burn out and as of this writing, we are still working through new and unexpected problems, while I’m still working to put my house back in order.

On a high note, the Bethlehem Writers Group announced the winners of their 2017 short story contest and I am proud to have taken an Honorable Mention (as I mentioned before!) with my story “So Hungry…,” which will be published in the fall edition of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable online magazine.

Also, I look forward to my book signing at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, DE on Thursday, July 13 from 11AM to 1PM. The titles available for purchase at the signing include my paranormal mystery novels, Testing the Prisoner and By Your Side as well as the speculative fiction anthologies Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity and Elsewhere in the Middle of Eternity, and of course, Beach Nights!

Lastly, I will be meeting with Firebringer Press publisher Steven H. Wilson next week to discuss the release of my paranormal mystery novella, Like Mother, Like Daughters later this year.

Once the mayhem subsides, I hope to return to work on my SF novel in progress and resume some semblance of a normal routine.

Enjoy your summer!

 

Of Home Renovations, Writing Contests, and Audio Books…

For me, this summer has begun with a challenging and exhausting home renovation. We’re repainting an area of the house that has not been touched in 14 years—specifically, our library.

With five packed bookcases, two recliners, two tables, and more “stuff”,  and the fact that the library shares ceiling space with the adjoining stairwell and hallway, it’s no wonder that we left it alone for as long as we did. However, the carpet is in dire need of replacement and I thought that since we’ll need to move furniture to make that happen, I might as well repaint these areas.

 

As of this writing, I have patched and sanded where needed, primed, and applied the first coat of paint. The second coat of paint will be applied tomorrow evening and then I can clean up. After that, it’s touching up the window trim and inside the hall closet. The carpet installer will be out next Monday to measure for the estimate and provide samples. It’s a family-owned business and we had them out last June to replace the carpet in our bedroom–which I also repainted a few days in advance. They did a fantastic job and as such, we called them first.

On top of this, two high-profile projects at my FT job are keeping me busy and will consume part of my upcoming weekend and well as my summer. As you might have guessed, I have not written at all this week and probably won’t next week either,  but over the past two to three months, I did manage to write three more chapters in the first draft of my SF novel-in-progress while also editing submissions for Meanwhile in the Middle of Eternity, the third volume in our series of speculative fiction anthologies.

The first volume is called Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity (released in 2014), and the second, Elsewhere in the Middle of Eternity, was released last August. Our third collection has a tentative release of summer 2018.

On the short story front, I have two submissions out into two separate contests. The first is the Rehoboth Beach Reads Short Story Contest in Delaware, sponsored by Cat & Mouse Press and Browseabout Books. I won second place last year and my story was published in the resulting anthology, Beach Nights.

I already had a new story ready to go by the end of 2016 for this year’s contest, which is themed Beach Life. Winners will be announced around August 7-8. Watch this space for updates!

The second story is a paranormal tale set in New Mexico and was submitted to the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable annual contest. I was informed last month that the story made into the final round of judging and is now in the hands of NYT bestseller Carrie Vaughn to select the top three winners. Winners will be announced by July 1, which would make a marvelous birthday present for me! Stay tuned.

Lastly, when Podiobooks merged with Scribl.com, I was disappointed to see that the reviews for my audio books did not migrate over… then I stumbled upon my audio books at LibriVox and not only do they have the older Podiobooks reviews, but new reviews that I had not seen before. My exciting discovery for the week!

Click here to listen to Testing the Prisoner. 

Click here to listen to By Your Side. 

 

 

 

 

Book Signing at the Beach!

Taking a few hours out of my summer vacation to sign books at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, DE on July 13 from 11AM to 1PM.

The titles I’ll have on hand include:

By Your Side by Phil Giunta Testing the Prisoner by Phil Giunta

Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity 

 

Browseabout Books is located just a block and a half up from the boardwalk at 133 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971