Tag: writing

  • Upcoming Events at Prime Stage Theatre:
    Mystery, Monsters, and More …

    This site has been quiet for a while. Things have been busy, what with dodging the microscopic shrapnel of World War C. Through it all, I’ve been doing my best to learn from the examples set by writers who lived through past epidemics – Sherwood Anderson, Beatrix Potter, and W.E.B. Du Bois (all of whom…

  • Fade In:
    Talking Scary Movies with Bob Scott of CSW

    Last month, following the release of Nightmare Cinema, I had the chance to drop by PCTV-21 for a conversation with Bob Scott of Carnegie Screenwriters. Bob is a screenwriter, playwright, poet, actor, director, producer, stage manager, and host of the series Fade In, now in its third season on PCTV-21. Since its debut in 2016, …

  • Talking Writing with Laura Powers

    Earlier this month, I got the chance to chat with the multi-talented Laura Powers about film festivals, Nightmare Cinema, and the philosophical approach to writing that I like to think of as “the long game.” You can listen in on that conversation by clicking the player above. If you like what you hear, there’s plenty more…

  • Confluence: One of the Great Regional Cons

    Confluence, one of the great science fiction conventions, was held last week at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. As always, it provided an opportunity for fans to connect with professionals in the field and for professionals to get out from behind the desk to spend some real-world time with folks they see all too seldom.…

  • Writer at Work: Trusting the Process

    There’s a scene in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Le Mystère Picasso, a 1956 documentary that shows the artist Pablo Picasso at work. The artist starts with random lines, splashes of color. There seems to be no method in what he’s doing, but soon a few recognizable images emerge — a boat pulling a water skier, a woman…

  • Writer at Work:
    Santas, Wizards, & Life behind the Curtain

    So it’s December 1997. I’m driving north out of Oakland, toward Bigelow Boulevard and downtown Pittsburgh. It’s a gray day, light snow falling. Colored lights trim some of the buildings along North Craig Street, but it doesn’t feel like Christmas. Then I see him. I clear the rise toward Bigelow Boulevard, and there he is—fourteen-feet…