{"id":5062,"date":"2014-05-29T15:16:16","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T15:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawrencecconnolly.com\/archive\/?p=5062"},"modified":"2023-07-07T22:43:59","modified_gmt":"2023-07-08T02:43:59","slug":"storytelling-night-rileys-presents-writers-on-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawrencecconnolly.com\/archive\/2014\/05\/29\/storytelling-night-rileys-presents-writers-on-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Storytelling Night @ Riley’s Presents: Writers on Writing<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lawrence<\/a>Outside, rains rolled in to hammer the pub’s street-side windows, but the inside remained warm and friendly as a packed house gathered for Storytelling Night at Riley’s Pour House. The night’s theme: The Writing Life.\u00a0Special quests for the evening were members of Write or Die<\/a>, Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction Program<\/a>, and contributors to the book\u00a0Many Genres One Craft<\/i><\/a>, the multi-award winning book on genre writing edited by\u00a0Heidi Rubi-Miller<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Michael A. Arnzen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The roster also featured Shelia Collins<\/a>, author of Warrior Mother, Fierce Love, Unbearable Loss, and the Rituals that Heal<\/em><\/a>, and was rounded out by some\u00a0Riley’s regulars, among them Owen Kilbane and Shag (who, \u00a0like Cher, Sting, and Bono,\u00a0needs no last name) and a wonderful storyteller named Maggie (whose last name I did not catch at the event, though I will be glad to add it here if someone posts it below).<\/p>\n

\"Larry<\/a>The night got rolling with a story by Larry Ivkovich, who has been writing genre fiction for over thirty years and whose credits include over twenty short\u00a0stories published in various online and print publications. His debut urban fantasy The Sixth Precept<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(IFWG Publishing) is currently available in print and ebook formats. His fantasy novel, Blood of the Daxas\u00a0<\/em>(Assent Publishing), arrives later this year.\u00a0His story for the night, “Writing – An Altered State,” showed how to everything has its own season – a time to write and<\/em> a time to heal.<\/p>\n

\"joe<\/a><\/p>\n

Joe Coluccio came next. He attended New Experimental College in Denmark, served as an early program director\u00a0of WYEP-FM<\/a>, and founded the comedy group Lackzoom Acidophilus<\/a>\u00a0(which had a Saturday\u00a0night show on WYEP and a weekly Sunday morning program on WURP-AM). He serves as\u00a0president of Parsec, Pittsburgh\u2019s premier SF organization, which each year hosts the Confluence<\/a> SF\u00a0convention.<\/p>\n

Joe informed the audience at Riley’s that he has been writing all his life. He then went on to share a piece of that life and the insights drawn from it — a story that centered on a prophetic dream. As a special bonus, you can listen to that story by clicking the player at the end of this post. (I’ll be posting more audio from the night soon, so keep checking back.)<\/p>\n

\"Kevin<\/a>Kevin M. Hayes and Karen Yun-Lutz followed Joe. Two of the driving forces behind the organizations Write or Die<\/a> and Parsec<\/a>, they also help run Confluence, Pittsburgh’s annual sf convention.<\/p>\n

Their piece for \u00a0the night, titled \u201cLet’s write\u00a0the Synopsis,\u201d considered how sometimes writing with a collaborator can be a bigger challenge than\u00a0writing alone.<\/p>\n

\"SheliaSheila K. Collins<\/a> followed Karen and Kevin. She is a dancer, social worker, university professor, clinic director, writer, and improvisational performance artist. She currently directs the Wing & A Prayer Pittsburgh Players, an InterPlay-based improvisational performance troupe that assists human service agencies in serving noble purposes in the Pittsburgh community. Sheila writes about the power of play, dance, and the expressive arts in her book Stillpoint: The Dance of Selfcaring, Selfhealing<\/em>. Her most recent book,Warrior Mother, Fierce Love, Unbearable Loss, and the Rituals that Heal<\/em><\/a>, came out in 2013. True to her performance artist roots, Sheila delivered her story with a combination of song and narrative, making for a dynamic delivery and one of the highlights of the evening.<\/p>\n

\"Sheldon\"<\/a>Sheldon Higdon<\/a>, our next guest, graduated from the Seton Hill University Writing Popular Fiction program. He \u00a0is a\u00a0fiction writer with over 40 publication credits, an award-winning screen writer, and a book reviewer.<\/p>\n

His\u00a0story, \u201cSources Tell Us,\u201d started in a cemetery, passed through some surreal and unexpected\u00a0places, and ended with a newspaper account in which a couple of mysterious sources relate their crazy\u00a0experience for the inquiring readers of a small-town newspaper.<\/p>\n

\"stephanie<\/a>Just returned from the World Horror Convention in Portland, where her critically acclaimed collection of poetry Hysteria<\/em><\/a> was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award, Stephanie M. Wytovich<\/a> shared a story about some nights she spent in abandoned prisons and mental hospitals — all in the name of research, of course.\u00a0Currently serving as the poetry\u00a0editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press<\/a> and book reviewer for Nameless Magazine<\/em>, Stephanie is currently one of the rising stars of the horror genre, a quality that was evident to those lucky enough to catch her performance at Riley’s.<\/p>\n

\"Rileys<\/a><\/p>\n

Always a hit at the Storytelling Nights at Riley’s are the regulars who show up, sign in, and take their turns at the microphone. This night featured \u00a0first-rate performances from\u00a0Owen Kilbane and Shag (who brought a wonderful does of humor to the night’s proceedings) and\u00a0Maggie (who delivered an emotional story about loss and cleansing). We hope all three will return for next month’s session.<\/p>\n

\"Arnzen\"<\/a>Our headliner for the evening, Michael A. Arnzen<\/a>, was born in Amityville, New York \u2013 home of the infamous \u201cAmityville Horror House.\u201d He has been telling creepy stories ever since. Over the past twenty years, he has won\u00a0four Bram Stoker Awards for everything from novels to short stories to poetry. He teaches at Seton Hill University, where he is currently a Professor of English when he isn\u2019t otherwise writing his\u00a0dastardly tales.<\/p>\n

His story for the night — \u201cWhat Possessed Me to Write Horror?\u201d — made for a memorable conclusion to the night’s celebration of story and performance.<\/p>\n

Please join us again next month, June 24, when Riley\u2019s will present Performance Stories: Tales from\u00a0the Theatre, with special guests from Pittsburgh\u2019s Throughline Theatre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign-ins are welcome.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a theatre story,\u00a0whether it be from the stage or the balcony, bring it with you and be ready to share. Or simply come to\u00a0listen. By doing so, you\u2019ll be helping establish a new venue for the spoken word.\u00a0Until then, remember the advice of Mike Riley. \u201cHave fun while you can!\u201d<\/p>\n

Now here, as promised, is an excerpt from the evening’s performances.<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/lawrencecconnolly.com\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Joe-Coluccio-Rileys.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

\"connolly<\/a>The host of Storytelling Night at Riley’s: Bram Stoker Award finalist\u00a0<\/em>Lawrence C. Connolly is the author of the Veins Cycle books, the first of which,\u00a0<\/em>Veins<\/a>, has just been released in a special\u00a0Kindle\u00a0<\/a>edition from\u00a0Fantasist Enterprises<\/a>. \u00a0The third book in the series,\u00a0<\/em>Vortex<\/a>, will debut in print and ebook later this year.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos:
\nPour House Windows from rileyspourhouse.com.
\nStorytellers by Karen Yun-Lutz.
\nThe 21st Century Scop by Tom Monteleone<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outside, rains rolled in to hammer the pub’s street-side windows, but the inside remained warm and friendly as a packed house gathered for Storytelling Night at Riley’s Pour House. The night’s theme: The Writing Life.\u00a0Special quests for the evening were members of Write or Die, Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction Program, and contributors to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-cat-21st-centuryscop","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-21st-centuryscop"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t