Event Appearances | Alex Shvartsman's Speculative Fiction

Keystone Comic Con 2019

August 23, 2019

I will be signing at the Keystone Comic Con this Saturday, August 24. You can find me at the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society / Philcon table (table 610 in the dealers room) at 10-11am and again at 12pm-1pm.

[SFWAPro]

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Balticon 2019 Schedule

May 23, 2019

I’ll be a guest at Balticon 53 this Memorial Day weekend. You can see the detailed schedule here.

Fri, 6pm – Room 6017 – Future SF pitch session

Sat, 11am – St. George – Reading (with Elektra Hammond and David Walton)

Sat, 3pm – Room 7029 – AMA: Editors and Publishers

Sat, 4pm – Room 6017 – Improving Your Pitch workshop

Sun, 3pm – Mt. Washington – Effective Marketing for a Self-Published Author (M)

Sun, 6pm – Watertable BC – Tales from the Slush Pile

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Pocono Liars Club Writers Workshop

April 14, 2019

I’m back from spending a day at the writer’s workshop in Stroudsburg, PA. This event is a brainchild of Mike Ventrella and is organized by the Pocono Liars Club at the Hughes Library (which, with its two stories, grand event space, and a built-in cafe, is among the finest libraries I’ve visited to date. Kudos!)

Speakers at this event included literary agent Marisa Corvisiero, SF/F author Gregory Frost, romance author Gwen Jones, and me. Author and anthologist Mike Ventrella hosted. There were roughly 40 attendees (a bit smaller than average, I’m told, as the original event date got snowed out and we rescheduled for April.) Each guest delivered an hour-long talk on various aspects of writing and then selling one’s writing. I talked about editing your manuscript as well as how to benefit from outside feedback by beta readers and critique partners.

The event was free, with an optional $20 fee that got you into private sessions with the guests, whereas they would also read and critique a writing sample. That’s a bargain’ a professional level critique on a 5000 word writing sample would normally cost far more than $20, and that’s without a private session. And on top of that, Marisa requested several synopses and even a couple of fulls from the people in her group, so they might find representation, too!

There’s tremendous value in these sorts of workshops for the newer writers. I highly recommend that you sign up and attend the 2020 workshop next April if you’re in that geographical area.

Next month, me and Ian Randall Strock of Fantastic Books will lead workshops for high school students at a book festival in Maspeth, NY. That’s another free event and while the workshop is limited to high-schoolers, there will be panels and author tables open to everyone.

See more photos from the Pocono Writer’s Workshop here.

#SFWAPro

1 Comment | Event Appearances | Tagged: gregory frost, gwen jones, marisia corvisiero, maspeth book festival, Mike Ventrella, pocono writers workshop | Permalink
Posted by Alex Shvartsman

Heliosphere 2019 Schedule

April 4, 2019

I’ll be at Heliosphere in Tarrytown, NY this weekend. Here’s where to find me:

Friday, April 5

5pm-6:15pm – Ballroom 1 – SF/Fantasy/Horror on TV
10pm-11:15pm – Ballroom 4 – Two Stupid Ideas Make a Story

Saturday, April 6

2:30pm-3:45pm – Ballroom 6 – Books N Brews (Kaffeeklatch)
5:30pm-6:45pm – Ballroom 4 – Reading (with Lorraine Schein, C. S. E. Cooney, Barbara Krasnoff)

Sunday, April 7

10am-11:15am – Ballroom 5 – Crowdfunding 101
1pm-2:15pm – Ballroom 2 – Magic = Metaphysics of the Author

Schedule on the Heliosphere website, along with panel descriptions.

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Philcon 2018 Schedule

November 15, 2018

I’ll be attending Philcon this weekend. Here’s where you can find me!

- Fri 6:00 PM in Crystal Ballroom Three—Creative Curses to Inflict on Your Characters (3083)
  Falling asleep for a hundred years is so passe. What are some fun, fresh, modern enchantments you can use to put your protagonists to the test?

Vikki Ciaffone (mod), Gordon Linzner, Nicholas MacDonald-Martell, Elektra Hammond, Alex Shvartsman

- Sat 11:00 AM in Plaza II (Two)—Indie Pub 102: The Editing Process (3069)
  Beta-readers, developmental editors, copyeditors, proofreaders… What do I need, where do I find it, and how much will it cost?

Brenda W. Clough (mod), John Skylar, Ann Stolinsky, Alex Shvartsman, Ian Randal Strock, Michael Hanson

- Sat 12:00 PM in Plaza II (Two)—Indie Pub 103: The Publishing Process (3070)
  From cover design to distribution options, where do you take your masterpiece?

Alex Shvartsman (mod), Aaron Rosenberg, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Paul Levinson, Ken Altabef, Tee Morris

- Sat 5:00 PM in Plaza V (Five)—Crowdfunding for Fun and…What Do You Mean We LOST Money??? (3144)
  Just how does a “Kickstarter” work? Will Patreon’s recent changes impact your ability to attract and keep Patrons? Is it worth setting up a KoFi account?

Jazz Hiestand (mod), Philippa Ballantine, Alex Shvartsman, Alana Phelan, Glenn Hauman

- Sat 8:00 PM in Plaza II (Two)—Meet the Editors! (3040)
  Magazine and small press editors discuss what goes into creating their publications, from the economics of staying viable in the electronic age to getting appropriate submissions.

Hildy Silverman (mod), Darrell Schweitzer, Joshua Palmatier, Alex Shvartsman, Neil Clarke, Ian Randal Strock

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My Readercon 2018 Schedule

July 12, 2018

I’ll be attending Readercon for the next three days and participating on their program. Here’s where to find me:

Friday, 6:00 PM - Blue Hills - Scouting Global Speculative Stories - Anatoly Belilovsky, Neil Clarke, Liz Gorinsky, Mimi Mondal, Alex Shvartsman, 
Francesco Verso - Magazine and book editors will discuss how they scout and promote authors from outside the U.S. and U.K., sharing their expertise 
and best practices. How can writers and editors make the best use of resources such as Lavie Tidhar's WorldSF Blog and Rachel Cordasco's SF in Translation 
site? What would make it easier to find, publish, and publicize world speculative fiction? 

Saturday, 3:00 PM - Blue Hills - The Possibilities and Perils of Comedy - Martin Cahill, James Morrow, Eric Schaller, Alex Shvartsman, Chandler Klang Smith, 
Torger Vedeler - Even the saddest and scariest fiction can contain elements of comedy or humor. It must be handled well, no matter the seriousness or 
frivolity of the work, or it can destroy the story. What does humor bring to the reader's experience of a work? How can a dash of humor add to or detract 
from otherwise non-comedic works? Comedy is hard; is it worth the effort? 

Sunday, 1:00 PM - Salon B - Reading
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My Balticon 2018 Schedule

May 24, 2018

I’ll be at Balticon as usual this Memorial Day weekend. I will spend much of the time in the dealers room where you can find me under the enormous UFO banner. 🙂 Here is the list of my scheduled events:

Friday, 8pm – Room 9029 – Microfiction and Micropoetry panel
Saturday, 2pm – St. George – Reading (with Cerece Rennie Murphy and John L. French)
Saturday, 3pm – Room 8029 – Kaffeeklatch
Saturday, 6pm – Mount Washington – Religion and Spirituality in SF panel
Sunday, 11am – Guilford – Jews in Space panel
Sunday, 1pm – Club Lounge – The Golem of Deneb Seven and Future SF launch event
Monday, 12pm – Room 7029 – Writing for Themed Anthologies panel

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Touching the Face of the Cosmos FREE Seminar in New York

April 8, 2018

I’ll be one of the panelists at this FREE seminar on the intersection of space travel and religion tomorrow. Come hear Paul Levinson, David Walton, Guy Consolmagno, and others.

https://www.facebook.com/events/210551846167041/

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