Short Stories: The Long And The Short Of It

Event Details


  • Event Date:
    To Be Determined

Event Description


So what’s the story?

The short story form continues to stimulate writers, whether novice or veteran. It is not an easy form to perfect, and not an easy form to market, but the draw for the writer is undeniable.

The rich tradition of the short story encompasses some of the most creative and memorable literature.

The short story can be lyrical, like a poem, gritty, cartoon-like, super-realistic, and it often grabs the writer and does not let go until it turns itself into a novelette or novel.

  • What is this animal?
  • How do we communicate our ideas in a short form?
  • What is the length of a short story?
  • How do we promote it in this world of changing electronic opportunities?

We will answer these and more as we stimulate you, get your creative juices flowing, and educate/entertain you about this everlasting draw for the serious writer.

Our panelists:

STEPHEN BLACKMOORE is the author of the novels “City of the Lost” and “Dead Things” and his short stories have appeared in publications such as “Plots with Guns,” “Spinetingler,” “Thrilling Detective,” and “Shots,” as well as the print anthologies “Deadly Treats,” “Don’t Read This Book,” and “Uncage Me.”

He is an editor for the print periodical “Needle: A Magazine of Noir” and co-hosts the bimonthly Los Angeles literary event “Noir at the Bar,” facebook.com/NoirAtTheBarLa.

He has also written essays on Los Angeles politics and crime for the website LAVoice.org and the true crime blog LA Noir.

RACELLE ROSETT is the winner of both the Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Prize for Jewish short fiction and the Lilith Fiction Prize.

Her work has also appeared in “Tikkun,” “Plougshares,” the “New Vilna Review,” “Jewish Fiction,” the “Santa Monica Review,” and “Zeek.”

As a television writer she won the WGA award for “thirtysomething.”

Her website is RacelleRosett.com.

NEELANJANA BANERJEE’s poetry and fiction have appeared and are forthcoming in “The Liner,” “PANK Magazine,” “World Literature Today,” “The Literary Review,” “Nimrod,” and more.
She is co-editor of the award-winning anthology “Indivisible: An Anthology of South Asian American Poetry” (University of Arkansas Press, 2010). She is media director for Kaya Press, a small press dedicated to cutting-edge Asian American and Asian diasporic writing, and teaches creative writing in LA continuation high schools with The HeArt Project. She lives in Silverlake.
Her website is neelanjanabanerjee.

MODERATOR:
PETER BALASKAS
has been a chemist, theatre actor, NBC page, NBC camera technician and founder and owner of his own award-winning publishing company, Ex Machina Press, until he finally found his own professional groove as a copyeditor, voice-over artist, SEO web page writer, and speculative fiction writer.

His first book, “The Grandmaster,” was awarded Best Science Fiction Novel of 2007 by the Hollywood Book Festival. His horror story collection, “In Our House,” was nominated for the 2012 Pushcart Prize for Fiction.

He also serves as a journalist for Splash, Newport Beach and Bespoke magazines.

Peter is now researching and writing his first full-length supernatural crime thriller, and he has the chronic morning sickness to prove it!

His website is PeteraBalaskas.