Saturday, July 2, 2011

BeneFictions

On Thursday, 6/30, Horrific Miscue, a group of Seattle speculative fiction writers to which I belong, held a reading of prose at the awesome  Inner Chapters cafe (which is also a bookstore!) The proceeds from the reading go to support Japan's recovery efforts.
I think I will express everyone's opinion if I say that the event went incredibly well, and was fun and rewarding both for the writers and their audience. No matter how small such events may be, they require a lot of organizational work, and nothing would have happened without contributions of effort by many Miscue writer-members. Big thanks are due to Liz Argall, Cat Rambo, Vicki Saunders, Tod McCoy, Randy Henderson, Dallas Taylor, and Rashida (Eddie) Smith, who volunteered their time to make things happen: the venue, press release, web publicity, artwork, chapbook printing, audio/video support, donations management. Most of the above-mentioned folks also read their fantastic prose (also available as a chapbook). Others who joined in reading were local authors K.C. Ball, Keffy Kehrli, Sandra Odell, Kris Millering, and myself. Our emcee, the incredible Caren Gussoff, introduced us so imaginatively, that those introductions alone could be considered her flash fiction improvisation -- a special for the event.
In short, if anybody out there is reading this blog post because of the BeneFictions reading by the Horrific Miscue -- thank you. We just may do it again sometime in the near future, and we will keep you posted.     
My sci fi story Death, Rebirth. An Heir, a Karakuri is out in Abyss and Apex this month. I read from this story at this year's Norwescon. I am delighted by the choice of artwork, and the little lily flower section dividers are an awesome touch, considering that there are some -- well,  unusual lilies in the story. 
Thanks and compliments to the editors and staff of Abyss & Apex!