Carv's Thinky Blog I'm an author with a focus on satirical science fiction.

9Dec/150

Creative Colloquy Volume Two

I finished reading Rick Steves' Travel as a Political Act last night, a book I recommend to every reader, travel-minded or not. That leaves me free to start reading my newest acquisition, Creative Colloquy Volume Two, released last night at a gala in Tacoma's pretty-much-perfect B Sharp Coffee House. My time-travel story "Personal History" is included in this anthology of South Puget writers, and what's more, it's been beautifully illustrated by Carrie Foster and Michael Haeflinger, a first for me. I heard five of the other stories last night (of 19 total), and I was pleased and excited by the quality. I think you will be, too.

To purchase a copy, click here. No money from that purchase goes to me, by the way, so I'm recommending it purely from respect for the project. As always, I've been impressed by the work Jackie Fender and Joshua Swainston put into Creative Colloquy, and you shouldn't be surprised if I remain highly involved with that worthy group in 2016.

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30Jul/150

Wordstock Olympia…2016?

Many, many thanks to everyone who came out for Wordstock Olympia 2015. We had a full house on a hot Wednesday night in an insufficiently air-conditioned theater. Our loyal friends were rewarded with a short clip from Eva Suter's "Glory, Glory, Vanish," soon to be presented in full as part of Theater Artists Olympia's Improbable Peck of Plays 4. Then Dianne Kozdrey Bunnell read from her engrossing novel The Protest, which concerns the fundamentalist annexation of a family. I had the great privilege and pleasure of watching Tacoma actor Deya Ozburn read "Retreat" (which you can also read for free here).

After a brief intermission, Olympia actors Jackson Jones and Amanda Stevens read a chapter from Ned Hayes's forthcoming YA novel The Eagle Tree, in which an autistic teenager wages a memorable environmental campaign. Then Amanda and I read an episode from Alec Clayton's charming novel Visual Liberties, the concluding installment of a trilogy set in fictional Freedom County, Mississippi.

Our program marks the start of an effort to extend the wonderful work Creative Colloquy is doing in Tacoma to Olympia. There's been talk of making Creative Colloquy a regular Oly event at a business near Capitol Lake. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, the full house to which some of you contributed means we'll do this again...though probably not in the heat of the summer! Remember, we owe our space to Theater Artists Olympia, whose Improbable Peck debuts a week from Friday (i.e., August 7). That anthology of short plays features local writers as well, and I can tell you from personal experience (as I'm acting in three of the short plays collected) that this is an excellent program well deserving of your money and attendance. I hope to see you there! I'll be the guy in the horned Viking helmet.

No, seriously.

Dianne Kozdrey Bunnell, author of The Protest

Dianne Kozdrey Bunnell, author of The Protest

Deya Ozburn reads "The Retreat"

Deya Ozburn reads "The Retreat"

Amanda Stevens and Jackson Jones read from The Eagle Tree

Amanda Stevens and Jackson Jones read from The Eagle Tree

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