Rain (Also: World Horror Convention 2016!)

The weather has been cloudy, wet, and dreary in Utah as of late, and I'm loving it. Writing while it's raining outside, and I'm nice and cozy inside, is one of my favorite things.

There's rain in them thar hills.

It's also perfect weather for the WORLD HORROR CONVENTION*! (Cue crash of lightning and Vincent Price-style dramatic musical intro)

It so happens that the 2016 World Horror Convention is right in my backyard this year in Provo, UT--which means, of course, I'll be attending! I'm fortunate enough to have made it onto a few panels as well. I'm pretty excited about the whole experience--I've never been to WHC before, despite the con taking place in Salt Lake City just a few years ago. I think this will be a slightly different experience from the normal Sci-Fi/Fantasy and media cons I usually attend, and I'm looking forward to that.

Here's my official schedule for WHC 2016 (descriptions in quotations marks "" are WHC's descriptions of each panel):

Thursday 28 April at 2:00 PM - "Horrific Fantasy: A Touch of the Macabre"
"Dark fantasy as a sub-genre that often dances across the line between fantasy and horror. Is there a line, and how can you effectively cross it?" I'm very much looking forward to this panel. I usually tell people I write "epic dark fantasy." A large part of why I classify my work as "dark fantasy" is the fact that I like to integrate elements of horror into my writing.

Friday 29 April at 9:00 AM - "Using Social Media Effectively"
"Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Goodreads, etc. are all good places to promote  yourself as a writer, but how do you do so effectively?" This will be an interesting panel, as I'll get to represent the group of writers who maybe have a book deal in the works or a book coming out soon, but have not had much of a social media presence before breaking in to the industry. I've done quite a bit of research on this, and have a solid plan for moving forward on social media before, during, and after the release of my first book.

Sunday 1 May at 9:00 AM - "Graduate School Possibilities for Writers"
"For those who are interested, there are a lot of places you can get an M.A. or M.F.A. that will help you as a writer. Come find out some of the possibilities." Considering I have an MFA in Creative Writing, and that I learned about the process of preparing, choosing, and applying to MFA and MA programs (both through research and trial and error), I think I'm an ideal candidate for this panel, and I'm looking forward to sharing what I've learned.

I'll also be attending other panels and presentations, and generally just stalking the halls of the hotel looking for fun things to do and interesting people to talk to. It'll be a good time.

So if horror, dark fantasy, and awesome authors and artists strike your fancy, you should definitely come check out WHC 2016.



* Notate bene: correct pronunciation is key, here. Don't make the same mistake I did and accidentally tell someone that you're attending the "World Whore Convention."

My Little Masters Thesis

So, yeah, I wrote a Masters Thesis.  (Is it Master's or Masters?  I'm too lazy to Google it [wow...that is really lazy].)  And you know what?  The whole process was actually pretty cool.  At least I think so.

The thesis was titled Look Me in the Stars.  Strange title, you say?  Yeah, little bit.  It actually derives from a line in Robert Frost's* poem "A Question":

A voice said, Look me in the stars
And tell me truly, men of earth,
If all the soul-and-body scars
Are not too much to pay for birth.

That poem has been on my mind for some time, and it sort of worked its own way into the title.

The thesis is a collection of short stories (seven of them, to be exact--no coincidence there) that all treat, with varying degrees of heavy-handedness, the plethora of delightful and crappy things that we all go through in life.  Ok, it mostly revolves around the crappy stuff (hence the titular poem).  The delightful stuff is boring anyway.  Each story also incorporates some aspect of speculation or fantasy, as well; from time travel to the zombie apocalypse, it's all there.  And, well, I'm kind of proud of it.  Look, here it is:

In all its glory!  Pretty cool, no?

For those interested, here are some stats:
Total word count:  38,461
Total page count:  133
Contents:  7 short stories ("Rewind," "The Reception," "On Redemption," "Chronosingularity," "In the Details," "Oneirology," and "Look me in the stars"), Critical Introduction, Abstract, Acknowledgements, Table of Contents, and Title Page
Start date:  This is a tough one.  The first draft of the oldest short story in the collection dates back to 7 Feb 2009, and I suppose that is as good a start date as any.
End date:  Final draft was submitted on 15 June 2012.

Overall, it was a really great process.  Much more enjoyable than the whole Honors Thesis thing (which actually wasn't that bad for a critical thesis...but nowhere near this cool).  And my defense was fantastic.  I was lucky to have three pretty amazing professors ask some really interesting questions amd give some really helpful feedback...and it was actually kind of fun; a far cry from the purgatorial panel I had feared.  I don't know many people who can say they genuinely enjoyed their thesis/dissertation defense, so I'm glad to be part of that elite group.

I'd give you a link to check out the entire document on BYU's Electronic Thesis and Dissertation website, but you can't find it there.  You see, as an MFA student dealing with a creative work that might actually be a source of income (however modest) in the future, I don't have to release it to the public.  So I didn't.  Instead, I'm currently in the process of getting at least a couple of the stories from my thesis published in literary journals, magazines, etc.  And, trust me, as soon as I find a home for any of these stories, you guys will be the first to know.  Okay, maybe not the first.  My wife will be the first.  And actually my parents will be second.  And then I'll have some other friends and family members I'll want to tell right away.  So you guys are maybe five or six down on the list...but you'll get the news relatively soon :-).  Priorities, you see.  You understand.

Also, I think I'll paste the Abstract and the Acknowledgements sections in the next post, just so you can get some more specifics about the project...and because there were a whole lot of people who helped me out with the project, and they deserve all the thanks they can get.

In fact, I think I'll get on that right now.



*  Robert Frost is one of my favorite all-time poets, by the way.

Here Endeth the Hiatus

I won't gush about how its been SOOO long since the last time I posted, nor will I make any promises about when I'll post again next.  I think it's safe to say that there is hardly anything safe to say when it comes to that sort of thing.

All that being said, here is a list of what's been keeping me busy this summer:

• Graduate Thesis, or, more accurately, my "Thesis Proposal" for what will one day be a collection of short stories.  Or so I'm told.  Or so I keep telling myself, anyway.
• Going to Hawaii.  Mostly Kauai, to be specific, which happens to be one of the most beautiful places on earth.  And also Oahu.
• My wife's sister getting married in LA.
• My sister getting married in Alaska.
• Family Reunions...ish...es.
• Reading books.  Unfortunately, not as many as I would like.  I've read about 25ish books this year--woefully short of my goal (around 60).
• Getting ready for Renovation--my first Worldcon, which I'm pretty excited about.
• Starcraft II.  For the swarm, indeed.
• Watching Alias.
• Getting a new computer.  (Which I'm hoping will up my productivity--or, again, so I keep telling myself.)
• Teaching freshmans how to write good.

So there you have it.  Will I post again in the near future?  Only time will tell.  I may talk about my first year of grad school.  I may talk about how my writing is going.  I may talk about Zerg strategies in SC2.  I may even talk about ballroom dancing.  Until then--keep it real, and keep it simple.  Keep it real simple.

Graduate School

I've been scarce the last few months.  Okay, more than scarce.  I know.  I KNOW, I know, but listen--its because of GRADUATE SCHOOL.  Apparently the people who made up graduate school decided they actually wanted students to WORK while they were there.  Imagine that.  I don't know where the people who made up undergraduate school and the people who made up graduate school separated paths, but boy is there a HUGE difference now.*

Anyway, thats why I haven't been around lately.  Grad school stuff.  Awful of me, I know.  But here's some consolation:  I'm excited to write in this blog more often this semester.  My course load isn't nearly as frightening, and I'm committing.  Really.  The nonfiction course I took last semester turned out to be a pretty good thing, and while I'm still focusing on fiction, I might use this blog as my "creative nonfiction" outlet every once in a while.  So . . . expect greatness.

And, in the spirit of Christmas, here is some more consolation (in the form of youtube videos that talk about how awful graduate students are, as a race):








Enjoy, and its safe to say that you'll hear a lot more from me over the break.

*  Yeah, apparently a bunch of people just MADE UP the whole college/university thing.  True story.  I read it on the internet.  You'd be surprised at how much "serious" stuff we take for granted nowadays--that apparently matters--that was just made-up in the first place.