Tag Archives: farpoint

After Action Report: Shore Leave 40

July 9, 2018 philgiunta@ptd.net

Clear skies and milder temperatures ushered in Shore Leave’s 40^th 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.

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.

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 40^th birthday celebration for Shore Leave! Kudos to the Star Trek Association of Towson, organizers of the convention. Next stop, Farpoint SF convention in February.

Blog, Conventions, Writing Contest

After Action Report: Farpoint 25

February 11, 2018 philgiunta@ptd.net

Farpoint 25 Program Book Cover by Todd Brugmans featuring caricatures of the entire Farpoint Convention Committee

Just returned home from the 25th annual Farpoint SF convention in Hunt Valley, MD and I am proud to say that I’ve been attending since day one waaaaay back in 1993 when I first met the convention’s co-founder and fellow writer, Steven H. Wilson.

We struck up a friendship that has only become stronger over the years since both of my novels and our Middle of Eternity anthology series were all published under Steve’s imprint, Firebringer Press. In fact, we have more books coming soon as we discussed during our Saturday morning panel along with fellow Firebringer writers Susanna Reilly, Michael Critzer, Diane Baron, Daniel Patrick (Renfield) Corcoran, and our layout specialist, Ethan Wilson.

In its early days, Farpoint sponsored a short story contest. My first submission was in 1995 when I entered a Star Trek story and took second place after a tie-breaker. The contest faded away through the decades until this year, when author track manager Steve Lesnik resurrected it. This time around, entries had to be 2,500 words or less and be based on a common photograph taken by Steve during his trip to Europe. No details about the origin of the photo were divulged, but I happened to recognize it.

I am ecstatic to report that, once again after a tie-breaker, I took second place for my post-WWII short story, “All That Matters is What You Believe.”

Second Place Trophy-Farpoint 25 Short Story Contest

Now that the contest is over, I can dish the details. Click here to read the stories from the contest! Not sure how long the link will remain up. There were 13 entries total. Mine is #12: “All That Matters Is What You Believe.” First place winner was #4: “Splitting Arrows” by Eric Bakutis and Third Place was #6: “Hillfolk” by Aaron Rosenberg. All three of our stories will be printed in next year’s Farpoint program book.

As for the rest of the convention, I had a great time reuniting with many friends, some of whom I only get to see twice a year at the Maryland conventions (Farpoint and Shore Leave). Many of these friends are my fellow author guests such as the aforementioned Firebringer Press writers, but also Aaron Rosenberg, Russ Colchamiro, David Mack, Heather Hutsell, Diane Baron, Howard Weinstein, Keith DeCandido, Allyn Gibson, and many more!

The celebrity guests included Matt Frewer (Max Headroom, Timeless, Orphan Black, Watchmen, Eureka, the list goes on), Nana Visitor (most known to SF fans as Kira from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Nora McLellan (Killjoys), and popular SF and Star Wars author, Timothy Zahn.

While I’ve met Ms. Visitor at many cons in the past, this was my first time meeting Matt Frewer and it was a delight. He was funny, gracious, and kind to the fans. A truly positive experience.

On Friday night, Farpoint hosted the traditional book fair for all of the published author guests. It was a great opportunity for me to catch up with many of my fellow word slingers. Below are just some of my colleague at Firebringer Press (from left to right: Steven H Wilson is chatting with a friend while Michael Critzer and Susanna Reilly smile for the camera).

Firebringer Press at Farpoint 25

Writer pal Heather Hutsell (below) was one of a few authors who had book premieres at Farpoint 25.

Heather Hutsell at Farpoint 25

My Farpoint 25 Book Fair Table

I actually set up at two different tables over the weekend. During the book fair (above) and on Saturday (below) where I spent about two hours at the assigned Firebringer Press table with my wife and long time convention pals Kathy and Kevin.

Phil at Farpoint 25

Evon, Phil, Kathy, Kevin at Farpoint 25 (Photo by Blair Learn)

Dalek at Farpoint 25 Of course, what SF convention would be complete without props and costumes! I’m sorry to say that while there were many fans in wonderful costumes during the convention (as always), I didn’t have an opportunity this time to take pictures. Worse, I did not feel well enough to attend the masquerade contest on Saturday night, but with credit to the photographers, here are a few of this year’s props and cosplayers…

Willy Wonka vs. Darth Vader (Photo by Blair Learn)

Overall, my compliments to the Farpoint committee on a marvelous 25th anniversary celebration. Here’s to another 25 years!

Blog, Conventions

Celebrating Milestones…

January 9, 2018 philgiunta@ptd.net

2018 marks two milestones for two of my favorite annual science fiction conventions in Hunt Valley, Maryland and the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, my second favorite Trek series.

Next month, Farpoint celebrates its 25th anniversary with celebrity guests Matt Frewer (Max Headroom, Orphan Black, Eureka, Timeless), Nana Visitor (Deep Space Nine), Nora McLellan (Killjoys), and Hugo award-winning author Timothy Zahn.

Additional writer guests include Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Howard Weinstein, Robert Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, Keith RA DeCandido, Heather Hutsell, Dave Galanter, Steven H. Wilson, Mary Fan, Phil Giunta (hey, that’s me!) and more…

In July, Shore Leave celebrates 40 years with the return of William Shatner as well as Deep Space Nine cast members Chase Masterson and Aron Eisenberg. From Dark Matter, Melissa O’Neil and Alex Mallari, Jr. will also join us.

Writer guests include many of the same from Farpoint including Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Howard Weinstein, Robert Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, Keith RA DeCandido, Heather Hutsell, Steven H. Wilson, Mary Fan, Dave Galanter, Phil Giunta (hey, that’s me again!) as well as Dayton Ward, Lorraine Anderson, Scott Pearson and more.

So far, 2018 is shaping up to be a great year! Keep an eye on my Upcoming Events page for updates on these and other conventions and author events.

Blog, Book Reviews

Book Review: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer

April 23, 2017 philgiunta@ptd.net

A lost journal by Doctor John H. Watson—discovered by Nick Meyer’s uncle in the attic of a home in Hampshire, England—tells the tale of Watson’s desperation to permanently exorcise Sherlock Holmes of the demons of cocaine addiction. In seeking advice from a fellow physician, Watson learns of the unorthodox methods of a Viennese psychiatrist.

Meanwhile, Holmes has been spending his days and nights in the dogged pursuit and general stalking of Professor James Moriarty, the “Napoleon of crime!” as the famous detective has come to consider him. Surely, the fiend is up to something and must be stopped.

For his part, Moriarty, a humble math professor, has no idea why Holmes is shadowing him and implores the assistance of Watson who believes the genteel man to be honest. Together with Sherlock’s older brother, Mycroft, Watson convinces a reluctant Moriarty to travel to Vienna hoping that Sherlock will follow.

The plan works perfectly, and Watson “guides” Holmes to the residence of Doctor Sigmund Freud where both physicians attempt to rehabilitate the master detective and cure him of his hideous addiction through hypnosis. Needless to say, Holmes’s withdrawal and convalescence are torturous to both himself and Watson.

At the same time, a young catatonic woman is brought into the local hospital and Freud is summoned to look in on her. Holmes and Watson decide to join him. Freud again employs hypnosis to discover that the woman is actually Nancy Slater, the American widow of the late Baron von Leinsdorf and had spent her honeymoon in an attic!

Holmes, as usual, applies his extraordinary powers of observation to determine, based on her physical condition, that the Baroness had been abducted, bound, and imprisoned in an attic somewhere near the river among closely constructed factories and warehouses.

From here the game is—as Holmes would say—afoot as our intrepid trio attempts to solve this nefarious crime.

I’d first read The Seven Per-Cent Solution over 15 years ago, but no longer had my copy. I was fortunate to meet Nicholas Meyer at the Farpoint convention in February 2017 wherein I purchased a newer edition and had it signed. Meyer is, of course, the director of many excellent films including Time After Time, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He also co-wrote those Star Trek films along with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. He also wrote the screenplay based on the novel I am currently discussing.

The Seven Per-Cent Solution is a thoroughly enjoyable read that felt like a solid Sherlock Holmes tale. Narrative, pace, and dialog were mostly faithful to Doyle’s work, and a young Sigmund Freud was represented in a way that honored his reputation and abilities.

Blog, Conventions, Sales

The Power of Presentation

March 26, 2017 philgiunta@ptd.net

The Write Stuff writers conference this weekend proved my point yet again about the power of presenting. After delivering a fun and engaging session first thing Saturday morning on “Writing the Compelling Short Story,” I proceeded to sell 10 books at the afternoon book fair. Compare that to last year where I worked only as a volunteer and sold one book.

Going back further in the time to 2014 when I last presented at the Write Stuff, my sales at the book fair were higher than one year later, when I was the conference chairman.

With one exception, it never fails that delivering a quality solo presentation—or participating in a discussion panel—and connecting with an audience will generate books sales for an up and coming writer. Whereas merely showing up and sitting at a table with your books without first building a rapport with the attendees will almost always fail to generate decent sales unless you’re already a well-established name/best-selling author.

After decades of attending conventions like Shore Leave and Farpoint and becoming a regular participant in discussion panels there, I can always count on selling at least a few books at these conventions. Whereas at Philcon or Balticon, where I am a relatively fresh face, sales are few or nonexistent right now. These things take time.

The aforementioned exception to my rule was last year’s Great Philadelphia Comic Con in April in Oaks, PA. There, I had no presentations or discussion panels. I merely set up a table and proceeded to sell about a dozen books. It was an amazing weekend and I will be returning to the Great Philly Comic Con again in two weeks along with writer pals Steven H. Wilson of Firebringer Press and Bob Greenberger, Peter David, Aaron Rosenberg, and Russ Colchamiro of Crazy 8 Press.

All told, the Write Stuff conference was a fantastic three days filled with brilliant presentations, excellent information, and most of all, camaraderie with generous and supportive writers. Keynote speaker Michael Hauge was outstanding.

Kudos to two-time Conference Chairman Charles Kiernan and the entire Write Stuff committee for their herculean efforts!

Blog, Conventions, Upcoming Projects, Writing and Publishing

Farpoint 2017 After-Action Report

February 19, 2017 philgiunta@ptd.net 2 Comments

We’re home from yet another fantastic Farpoint where I finally had the honor of meeting someone I consider an inspiration as a writer and storyteller—Nicholas Meyer. Mr. Meyer’s directing and/or screenwriting credits include Time After Time, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, The Day After (TV movie), and much more including the new CBS series, Star Trek: Discovery. He also wrote the Sherlock Holmes novel and screenplay, The Seven-Percent Solution.

I wanna be THAT guy when I grow up! 😀

After a thoroughly enjoyable dinner at La Tolteca with Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, Chris Kennedy, Glenn Hauman, and Eric Bakutis, it was time for the Friday night book fair, where I would have the opportunity to meet Nick Meyer.

Earlier in the day, I had purchased a replacement copy of The Seven-Percent Solution from a dealer. From my personal collection, I brought copies of the scripts for the aforementioned Star Trek movies while my wife, Evon, brought her hardback copy of A View from the Bridge, Mr. Meyer’s memoir of his time working on the Star Trek films.

As Mr. Meyer signed my items, I told him that he was one of my writing heroes, which actually brought him to a complete stop. He became momentarily verklempt, as did I. He thanked me as he continued signing. Before having our photo taken together, I presented him with a copy of By Your Side, one of my paranormal mystery novels. He seemed genuinely grateful.

Phil with Nicholas Meyer

After that, I returned to my table where shenanigans ensued as Bob Greenberger began swapping name placards amongst nearby writers including myself, Aaron Rosenberg, Kelly Meding, Steve Wilson, and Lance Woods. Cameras, bottles, cans, even Steve Wilson’s flask were not spared from the hide-and-seek hilarity. This added even more magic to the evening. You just can’t find a group of silly scribes like this anywhere else!

Phil and Evon at Farpoint 2017 Lance Woods and Steve Wilson at Farpoint 2017 Kelly Meding, Bob Greenberger, and Aaron Rosenberg Kelly Meding at Farpoint 2017 Bob Greenberger and Aaron Rosenberg at Farpoint 2017

My table was part of the Firebringer Press row that included Steven H. Wilson, Lance Woods, and debut author Diane Lee Baron with her novel, Gal Wonder. Click here for more info on Diane’s book! By the end of the night, I sold a few books and signed one that a reader bought elsewhere (which is always a good feeling).

Gal Wonder by Diane Lee Baron

Saturday morning began with my wife and I taking our Star Trek II posters to Nicholas Meyer for yet more autographs and photo ops.

Evon with Nicholas Meyer Phil with Nicholas Meyer

My first panel of the day was Firebringer Press Presents at 11AM. Diane Lee Baron chatted up Gal Wonder, which had a “soft” launch at Farpoint’s book fair, but will have a full premiere at Shore Leave in July along with the mass-market paperback collection of Steve Wilson’s Arbiter Chronicles SF novellas.

Firebringer Press Presents

I spoke about Like Mother, Like Daughters, my paranormal novella slated for release in October, as well as my second-place winning Rehoboth Beach contest story, “Tower Sixteen,” which was recently submitted (with its original ending) to a paranormal anthology slated for next year. If accepted, it would be my first story to be published in two different anthologies and with two different endings!

Firebringer Press Presents discussion panel

Michael Critzer chatted briefly about his upcoming non-fiction book, Heroic Inspirations, debuting this summer. Michael has taught courses on the mythology of superheroes and this book will represent a extension of that.

Afterward, Steve Wilson and I made our way to our scheduled readings at noon. Our audience consisted of Michael Critzer and my wife. Writer David Mack then arrived to finish the hour with his reading, but with such a small gathering, we simply yammered instead.

I was then free until 3PM when I shared a table with Peter David for our autograph hour. It was wonderful to spend time talking with him about his own work as well as the legendary Harlan Ellison, another writer who inspired me and has been close friends with Peter for decades. With no sales, and with Nick Meyer speaking at 4PM on the main stage, I packed up my books early, dropped them off in my room, and joined my wife who was saving a seat for me in the ballroom.

Mr. Meyer regaled an appreciative audience with stories of his first meeting with producer Harve Bennett about writing Star Trek II. A few drafts of the script (each a completely different story) had been written, from which Bennett and Meyer created a list of the best parts. From that list, Meyer wrote an entirely new script, but waived credit for it. This was after he had already signed on to direct.

Nick Meyer at Farpoint 2017

He also spoke about working with Ricardo Montalban (whose much-debated chest was actually his own, not a prosthetic), his vituperative relationship with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry (who balked at the story for Wrath of Khan), and touched on the film adaptation for The Seven-Percent Solution.

Mr. Meyer’s presentation ended with a skit in which linguist and Farpoint regular, Marc Okrand—who developed the Klingon language for the Star Trek movies—read a “communique” from the Klingon Empire, translated into English by Nick Meyer, honoring Gene Roddenberry and all of the main Star Trek actors that we’ve lost over the past 25+ years including DeForest Kelley, Mark Lenard, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, James Doohan, Leonard Nimoy, and Grace Lee Whitney.

At 6PM, I had the honor of moderating (somewhat nervously and perhaps ineptly) a discussion panel called “Avoiding Cliches in Your Writing” with panelists Lauren Harris, Peter David, and the reason for my jitters…Nicholas Meyer. However, the panel was entertaining and informative, but not without each of us veering off into tangents once in a while. Yet even as moderator, I would never have the temerity to interrupt Nicholas Meyer!

Avoiding Cliche in Your Writing discussion panel

My wife and I ended our evening with dinner at the Silver Spring Mining Company (love that place!) before calling it a night. Normally, I would have stayed up late and joined my fellow con attendees at the Ten-Forward Dance Party in the atrium, but I was exhausted and wanted to get a few things done online.

Of course, in between the book fair, discussion panels, and autograph sessions, my wife and I caught up with old friends that we only see at the cons. This is an important reason why many of us attend. In fact, for some it is the only reason.

Since I was not scheduled for anything on Sunday, my wife and I departed by 9AM and made it home before noon to enjoy our first taste of spring weather. Sunshine and 65F degrees!

It should be noted that there was still a full day of programming on Sunday at Farpoint including a 2PM showing of Time After Time hosted by Nick Meyer.