MGOC Contributor News: Albert Wendland is New Dog Star Books Author

Many Genres, One Craft contributor and Seton Hill Writing Popular Fiction MFA program director, Albert Wendland, just signed a deal with Dog Star Books for his debut Science Fiction novel The Man Who Loved Alien Landscapes.

This space opera/mystery is scheduled for release in June 2014.

EVENT: Seton Hill WPF Residency 2013

EVENTS

Many Genres One Craft contributors were in full force at the Seton Hill University Writing Popular Fiction MFA Residency this month. The keynote speaker was Kevin Hearne, New York Times Bestselling author of the Iron Druid Chronicles.

Kevin Hearne and Heidi Ruby Miller

Albert Wendland

Lee Allen Howard and Jason Jack Miller

Heidi Ruby Miller and Victoria Thompson

Anne Harris and friends

Heidi Ruby Miller and Jason Jack Miller

Elaine Ervin and Lee Allen Howard

Heidi Ruby Miller and Albert Wendland

MGOC Authors at Confluence 2012

Several contributors to Many Genres One Craft were guests at Confluence 2012, a Speculative Fiction Convention in Pittsburgh. Among the attendees were Gary A. Braunbeck, Lawrence C. Connolly, Heidi Ruby Miller, Jason Jack Miller, Lucy A. Snyder, Diane Turnshek, Tim Waggoner, and Albert Wendland.

Heidi Ruby Miller and Gary A. Braunbeck

Tim Waggoner, Heidi Ruby Miller, and Jason Jack Miller

Jason Jack Miller
posted by heidi

MGOC Contributor: Albert Wendland

ALBERT WENDLAND

EXCERPT from "Description on the Edge: The Sublime in Science Fiction" by Albert Wendland in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction

Description in science fiction does not describe as much as create. All description does this to a certain extent, encouraging--intentionally or not—a reader’s creative interaction that makes a place or object "one’s own." This identification with, participation in, and ownership of characters or settings is crucial for reader enjoyment, and for selling the book. "I felt I was there" and "It seemed so real" are phrases spoken by satisfied buyers. In mainstream prose, or in genres focused on contemporary settings, identification can happen easily because of the usual familiarity of place. But for SF’s unreal locations, unknown planets, interstellar vistas postulated from scientific parameters, or "worlds beyond space and time," reader participation can be more challenging. So the test of much SF description is not in the accuracy of reproduction, which often can’t be measured, but in how far the reader can be led to half create and then to enter imaginary realms.

--

Dr. Albert Wendland grew up in the Pittsburgh area, attending both Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. At CMU, he majored in physics with the intention of going on into astronomy and writing science fiction in his off-time. He soon pursued a Ph.D. in English literature instead and has been teaching at Seton Hill ever since. Al is now the director of the Writing Popular Fiction MFA Program. His publications range from magazine and journal articles to poetry and short stories, as well as the non-fiction book Science, Myth, and the Fictional Creation of Alien Worlds published by UMI Research Press. He currently has a Science Fiction novel he’s shopping around.

MGOC Contributors in Low-Residency MFA Handbook

Several Seton Hill Writers and Many Genres, One Craft contributors are part of the Low-Residency MFA Handbook: A Guide for Perspective Creative Writing Students by Lori A. May. This guide offers prospective graduate students an in-depth preview of low-residency creative writing MFA programs, as well as interviews with program directors, faculty, alumni, and current students.


Low-Residency MFA Handbook by Lori A. May

Here is the full list of Seton Hill Writers:
Shelley Bates (Shelley Adina)*
Matt Duvall*
Natalie Duvall*
Heidi Ruby Miller*
Jason Jack Miller*
Cynthia Ravinski
Nicole Taft
Albert Wendland*

* - also a MGOC contributor

ABOUT LORI A. MAY
Lori is a part-time writing instructor and a member of the AWP, MLA, and the Michigan College English Association. She is a frequent guest lecturer and workshop presenter at writers' conferences and graduate writing programs. In addition to her freelance writing, Lori is the author of Moving Target (Athena Force), The Profiler, and stains: early poems. More information about her is available online at www.loriamay.com.

posted by heidi