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Upcoming Events
April 2
Santa Cruz Chapter @1-2:45PM
Duke Southard, will present the highlights of his journey into the true crime genre. Green Valley Library, 1-2:45 PM, free and open to the public. (more info)
April 7
Metro-Phoenix Chapter @10:30AM
Jana Bommersbach, "Long and Short Form Writing"
info: Katherine Herbert—kaherbert@cox.net or call, 602-604-1827.
(more info)
April 14
Arizona Mystery Writers @10-2PM
Morning—Detective Ben Jimenez will speak on weapons and ammunition used in local shootings and homicides. Afternoon—Susan Cummins Miller will tell us how to "Set the Hook." El Parador Restaurant 2744 East Broadway Blvd.
RSVP at www.arizonamysterywriters.com.
April 15
SSA Forum @ 11AM—2PM
Four Points Sheraton
Dorothy Daniels Anderson -
"No Tame House-Cat Woman!"
(see article this page)
May 7
Santa Cruz Chapter @1-2:45PM
Robert Hunton will discuss strategies for conducting personal interviews. Green Valley Library, 1-2:45 PM, free and open to the public. (more info)
May 12
Arizona Mystery Writers @10-2PM
Morning—Mike White, owner of local publisher, Ghost River Images. Afternoon—Clark Lohr will speak on "Using Film to Learn Structure and Plotting." El Parador Restaurant 2744 East Broadway Blvd.
RSVP at www.arizonamysterywriters.com.
May 20
SSA Forum @ 11AM—2PM
Four Points Sheraton
Harvey Stanbrough -
"Seven Surefire Ways to Run Off Your Reader"
(see article this page)
To R.S.V.P. SSA Forum
Leave Phone Message
at 546-9382
or e-mail: ssabrunches@gmail.com
WEDNESDAY before the Forum
$25 with reservation or
$30 paid at the door
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Recently at a writing workshop, the question was raised: I want to take a play of mine and turn it into a novel, what do I need to know to do this? Words, character creation, layering, creating the arc of a plot, these are the basic tools of any writer. But what are the necessary changes needed to transform a written piece from one medium to another?
Dorothy Daniels Anderson has been a professional historical storyteller for twenty-four years and is currently in the entertainer's catalogue for Arizona's Centennial and has been on Arizona's artist roster. She has written and developed all her performance pieces. Dorothy is also an award-winning, produced playwright and last year won first place and $500 in the Artist's Path Playwriting Contest for her play, A Ride on the Orphan Train. Her book, Arizona Legends and Lore, Tales of Southwestern Pioneers, is in its 10th printing with American Traveler Press and is also on Kindle, IPad and Nook.
Come listen to Dorothy on April 15, as she shares insights and pitfalls with examples of how to handle the requirements of each medium. Then in keeping with Arizona's Centennial celebration, let Dorothy entertain you with, "No Tame House-Cat Woman,"
a multi-faceted story about Arizona's first nationally recognized woman writer.
Remember, our forums will now be at the Inn Suites at I-10 and St. Mary's. We will start at 11am and it will be $25 with registration ($30 at the door). Call in your reservations to 546-9382 or e-mail ssabrunches@gmail.com by the Wednesday prior (in this case, April 11).
Your primary purpose as a writer is to avoid interrupting your reader. But if you're in it for the tragedy, if you really want to live the whole "struggling, starving writer" experience, unable to find a market for your work even after you've received rave reviews from your mom and your uncles and all your siblings except that mean one, just commit one or more of these seven writerly sins.
This isn't deja vu, Harvey had to miss our February forum because of unforeseen circumstances and Chris O'Byrne was able to fill in at the last minute, giving us great insight into digital publishing. We have invited Harvey back and felt that this was something that every writer needed to know.
Harvey has written and published nine nonfiction ebooks on writing as well as Punctuation for Writers and Writing Realistic Dialogue & Flash Fiction in print. His comprehensive poetry collection, Beyond the Masks, was nominated for the National Book Award and has received rave reviews, and he's published three other poetry collections and two long poems. Finally, he's published four short story collections (Vignettes from a C-130, Six Years in May, The Well, and Stories from the Cantina), 8 magic realism short stories (with at least 10 more on the way), and 19 other short stories in various other genres. Harvey's works have been nominated for the Frankfurt Award, the Pushcart Prize and the National Book Award.
Remember, our forums will now be at the Inn Suites at I-10 and St. Mary's. We will start at 11am and it will be $25 with registration ($30 at the door). Call in your reservations to 546-9382 or e-mail ssabrunches@gmail.com by the Wednesday prior (in this case, May 16).
Forums Moving to Tucson City Center InnSuites
The Four Points Sheraton will be closed for renovations so our Forum Committee has selected the Tucson City Center InnSuites Conference Suite Resort, 475 N. Granada Avenue, as our meeting place for the next several months. This will be at the same timeŠ11:00 am to 2:00 pm., the third Sunday of the month.
We'll be enjoying a great luncheon in restful, elegant surroundings at the same great price of $25.00 with RSVP by phone or email, and $30.00 at the door. (We ask that if you can't make it you call or email SSA your cancellation within 24 hours prior. If you do not do this, we are charged for your lunch.) Watch your e-mail for further news blasts.
LOCATION: Tucson City Center InnSuites Resort, 475 N. Granada, Tucson, AZ 85701
DIRECTIONS: 1) From the East follow Speedway to the light before I-10. Turn left on Main (Main becomes Granada), take Granada past St. Mary's then turn right into their East entrance.
2) From I-10 take St. Mary's East turn just before the light into the North entrance or keep going to the light at Granada then turn right, then right again into their East entrance.
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Successes
Dan Baldwin's new Western, Trapp Canyon, is now up on Amazon and Smashwords. Can A Man Find Redemption Through Murder? Vengeance drives Grat O'brien to find the wagon driver who left him to die in the desert flats of southern Arizona Territory. He attacks the driver's freighting company one station at a time—random acts violence that make him a man wanted by the law and hunted by hired killers. O'brien forces himself to become educated and to learn thinking and planning so he can mix with the merchant class of Tombstone to learn the name of the man he seeks. He makes enemies and allies and finds a passion for the elegant daughter of the freight line company owner——a woman with her own dark and dangerous secrets. As the violence escalates, so does his awareness of who he is, what he has done, and—significantly—who he can become. When he at last confronts the driver, the brute O'brien faces the aware O'brien. Will he torture and kill or will he forgive and forget? Or can he devise a third alternative? The answer to what happens next is found in a place called Trapp Canyon.
Check out www.danbaldwin.biz and
www.fourknightspress.com
Susan M. Ballard is pleased to announce the publication of her article, "Renaissance Cowboy, Sheb Wooley," in The Western Way magazine, Volume 22, Issue 1, winter 2012. The Western Way is the nation's leading publication for western music performers. Her article may be read on-line at: www.westernmusic.com/pdfs/WWay-Winter-2012.pdf.
Susan also has two recently released books—The Raider, a young adult historical fiction novel based on the northernmost raid of the Confederacy on the Vermont town of St. Albans during the Civil War. The Raider tells the stories of two teenagers, one a farm boy yearning for a life filled with adventures, the other, a Confederate soldier, old beyond his years, a true son of the south who has already seen too much adventure in his short life. The Raider is available in trade paperback through the publisher, Goose Flats Publishing, P.O. Box 813, Tombstone, AZ 85638 (www.gooseflats.com) or through Susan's website at: www.smballard.com. The Raider is also available on Nook, Kindle and other ebook applications.
Murder in Pearce is Susan's first mystery and takes place in her hometown of Pearce, Arizona during that town's gold rush heydays, circa 1905. The story follows the investigations of Micah Rogers, former lawman and Rough Rider, as he searches for an old friend in desperate need of help. The situation is literally one of life or death. Murder in Pearce is also available from Goose Flats Publishing and on Susan's website, as well as in ebook formats.
Dr. Kenneth V. Iserson announced that McGraw-Hill has just published his newest book, Improvised Medicine: Providing Care in Extreme Environments. The intended audience is all health care professionals who practice in the midst of disasters or other resource-poor settings.
The publisher is offering a 20% discount at: www.mhprofessional.com/promo/index.php?promocode=iserson&cat=39
Ken can be contacted via email (kvi@u.arizona.edu) to set up a time when he could provide additional information by phone.
You can see his other nonfiction books at www.galenpress.com.
Mabel Leo's The Saga of Jack Durant, will be on stage again. Read the bio of how a young boy hopped the train, left his home in Tennessee with the dream of being a pro baseball pitcher. Instead he became the most trusted friend of the notorious gangster, Bugsy Siegel. Now see Jack Durant on stage in In My Humble Opinion, running April 26-May 12. Call Phoenix Theater: 602-254-2151 for tickets. More info at www.mabelleo.com NEW! Check out new blog: www.mabelsblog.com.
Bob Natiello's collection of 22 short stories and memoirs is now available on Amazon, Authorhouse and Barnes&Noble. Titled The Almost Perfect Crime and Other Award Winning Stories of New York, it's offered in hard cover, soft cover and ebook. Included is his satire, "J.D. Salinger's Tobacco Dependency," awarded first prize for literary humor by the Society of Southwestern Authors.
Four have been nominated for national Pushcart Prizes, those highly competitive awards given to the best of the small presses. Flap copy states, "All are clear, straightforward narratives from an accomplished miniaturist and verbally thrifty storyteller whose endings often surprise."
Bob has also been selected to join a limited team of University of Pennsylvania faculty and alumni who have the privilege of submitting blogworthy pieces for The Wharon Magazine Blog.
Kris Neri's latest magical mystery, Magical Alienation, was nominated for a Lefty Award for the Best Humorous Mystery of 2011! "Wahoo! What a rush. Congrats to the other Lefty nominees: Donna Andrews, Rita Lakin, Jess Lourey, Cindy Sample & John Vorhaus."
"I'll be leaving this week for a short SoCal tour for Magical Alienation. Terry Ambrose, of the San Diego Examiner, wrote about my vision of MA and the cross-genre fantasy writing workshop I'll be presenting at San Diego's Mysterious Galaxy bookstore:
www.examiner.com/fiction-in-san-diego/life-should-be-fun-says-magical-alienation-author"
"And lastly, if you can handle a bit more BSP (what a day this has been!!), I wrote a blog today about what the word "home" means. I have two places that feel like home to me. How about you? Here's what home means to me: krisneri.blogspot.com/2012/01/good-news-and-good-times.html"
Dr. Carroll Rinehart and Eugene Friesen, PhD's On the Journey to Wholeness, has just gone to press for Good Oaks library. On the Journey to Wholeness is based on personal growth from both a psychological and theological framework. On the Journey to Wholeness will soon be available at Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com.
Margaret Turley is the author of Save the Child, the newest book for Good Oaks library. Save the Child is the heart-wrenching story of a typical American family whose world suddenly turns upside down when their youngest daughter is diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Margaret takes readers into the dark world of pediatric cancer and the parents' right to decide what course of treatment would be best for their child. For more information about Save the Child please visit our website at www.goodoakpress.com or Margaret's website at www.margaretturley.com.
Margaret and Gayle Martin of Good Oaks Press would like to thank Linda Radke for donating the front cover art for Save the Child.
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