Necronomicon 29 & More (Photo heavy)

Moon over St. Petersburg, FL, where Necronomicon was held. I managed to take this steady shot freehand, with a 1/40-second exposure at f4.

First, some news briefs...

The cover for Bloodlines is now in the running for a New Covey Cover Award, here. You can see the full set of this month's contestants here.

Examiner reviewer David Roth gave Covenant five out of five stars here. Among other things, he writes, "Without sensationalized graphic violence or the glamorized pornography of pulp romance novels, Ms. Malcohn achieves what good science fiction/fantasy is intended to do. She has created a believable world, with characters with whom you can empathize, in a good story that is well and eloquently told."

You can hear me perform my poem "Neighbors" (which appears in Vampyr Verse) as part of the Science Fiction Poetry Association's 2010 Halloween Poetry Reading, put together by Liz Bennefield. I also have some digital collage art on the page. Also among the performers: David Kopaska-Merkel reading "By the Grace of Winter's Queen," David Lee Summers reading "A Vampire's Domain," Lyn C.A. Gardner reading "House 5," Karen A. Romanko reading "Country Inn," T.J. McIntyre reading "The Revolutionary Behind the Tavern," Shelly Bryant reading "Night Falls," Stephen M. Wilson reading "Frost Bitten," Liz Bennefield reading "Alien Life," and Maria Alexander reading "The Little One" (translated from the French, "Petite"). Gardner, Romanko, and Bennefield also provide digital art.



I attended Necronomicon 29 on October 22-24, 2010 in St. Petersburg, FL. Thanks to coordinator Ann Morris and all the volunteers for a great convention!

Click below to continue...

My display included Deviations: Covenant (paperback, Aisling Press); Covenant and Appetite on CD (click here for more info and free downloads); She Nailed A Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror (Dybbuk Press, 2010; contains my story "Judgment at Naioth"); Bram Stoker Award-winner Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet (Dark Scribe Press; contains my story "Memento Mori"); IPPY Silver Medalist Riffing on Strings: Creative Writing Inspired by String Theory (Scriblerus Press; contains my story "Arachne"); Oct./Nov. 2009 Asimov's (Contains my novelette "Flotsam" and poem "Derivative Work"); Vampyr Verse (Popcorn Press; contains my poem "Neighbors"); My chapbook 30 Science Sonnets for April 2010; and chapbook Divinations: Writing by the Throw of the Dice.

Thanks also to K.L. (Kathy) Nappier and her husband Richard for putting me up over the weekend and for their awesome hospitality.



Above: Kathy with her able assistant, Justine.



Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc (in the gown) poses with friends.



Several passers-by.



At three months old, Puck was already autographing his own calendar (thanks to food coloring), which sold out. Throughout the weekend he seemed fascinated with the convention, loved being held and petted, and met each day with a fresh costume change. His human Dee kept him on a leash for walks and also carried him in a homemade Kitty Snugli, while keeping food and litterbox at the ready.



David Gerrold was this year's Guest of Honor and gave a fabulous address about reading outside the genre to develop as a writer, why we have smartphones instead of flying cars, and much more.

On Saturday morning, John Tumlin and I hosted a speculative poetry workshop and reading. That afternoon, I joined Richard Lee Byers, E. Rose Sabin, and Terri Garey to talk about "Pitfalls & Traps Writers Can Avoid on the Road to Success," from the writing process through publishing.



Necro coordinator Ann Morris reads contestant entries for the Masquerade on Saturday night.



The title of this entry was "Prince of Darkness." Note "BP" on the hardhat.



The shield and costume for Captain America were all handmade.



Effect created with latex and spirit gum.



Alice in Wonderland.



I also encountered a young Iron Man.



These lovely ladies welcomed us to the Necronomi-Prom.



Dancing just starting to get underway. I headed off to bed before things really got going.

More Necro photos may be found in my photoset.

Necronomicon came on the heels of the NaNoWriMo Kickoff, the first of the Citrus County Library's three-part NaNo Series.

We had an audience of almost 30 people. Here I am with my usual wares:



I dug out my old literary tee for this place because it's purple. I wore that, along with my rainbow peace pin and rainbow kerchief tucked alongside my belt (you can just see the ends in this shot), in memory of the teens who have committed suicide over the past few weeks as a result of bullying. More info on "Wear Purple Day" is here.

I joined fellow panelists (click on the pictures to get to their bios) Loretta Rogers:



Joyce Elson Moore:



Dylan Newton:



and our fabulous attendees:



The Kickoff consisted of two sets of presentations. First, we held a genre workshop. I gave a general intro to the concept of genre and spoke about science fiction and memoir/biography. Loretta covered westerns, inspirational, and mystery; Joyce covered young adult, historical, and romance; and Dylan covered fantasy/paranormal and children's fiction. Earlier, we'd collected surveys from attendees that told us what genres and other areas they wanted us to discuss.

After a break, the second half of the Kickoff included "words of wisdom." Dylan started us off with inspiration and energy: what it takes to write 50,000 words in 30 days. (Her NaNoWriMo project became Despite the Ghosts, a paranormal romance published with The Wild Rose Press.) Joyce followed with general info on how to get published. Loretta spoke about how writers get their ideas. I brought up the rear with general guidance and helpful writing hints, and gave a preview of what we're doing for the "Write-In" next month, the second part of the NaNoWriMo series.

Thanks to Citrus County Library director Flossie Benton Rogers, reference librarian Tom Mueller, programming and youth services coordinator Karen Slaska, library staff, and Friends of the Lakes Region Library!

Elissa Malcohn's Deviations and Other Journeys Promote Your Page Too





Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.)
Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite
Vol. 3, Deviations: Destiny
Vol. 4, Deviations: Bloodlines
Free downloads at the Deviations website and on Smashwords.

Go to Manybooks.net to access Covenant, Appetite, Destiny, and Bloodlines in even more formats!

Participant, Operation E-Book Drop. (Logo credit: K.A. M'Lady & P.M. Dittman.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.