Month: August 2009

Context 22 – A Weekend in Review

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

Context 22 was a great time.  I got to sit on one panel (the other was cancelled) and got to meet; Tim Deal from Shroud Publishing, Michael Knost, Gord Rollo, Scott Sandridge, Michael D’Ambrosio, Holly Sullivan McClure and Jason Sanford.  I also got to reconnect with Jason Sizemore of Apex Book Company and Maurice Broaddus.  Overall, it was a great time being able to hang out and party with a bunch of other people as well.

Besides partying and hanging out with all the above, I also got to ‘talk shop’ with Gord Rollo and Michael Knost on Saturday.  Gord and I spoke about our current and future projects.  Michael shared a wealth of knowledge of the business on writing and ‘how to’ become a successuful writer, to which I am eternally greatful.  Thanks, Michael.

Below are some pictures from the event, courtesy of Sheryl Scanlon.

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Sitting on the 'Trusting Your Reader' panel on Friday night.
Myself & Gord Rollo at the Shroud Publishing party on Saturday.
Myself & Gord Rollo at the Shroud Publishing party on Saturday.
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Having a bite to eat & drink at the Shroud party.
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Myself & Michael Knost.
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Tom Erb, myself, Sheryl Scanlon, Michael Knost & Kurt Criscione

Context 22 is in sight…

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

Tomorrow, Friday, August 28th, I will be heading to Columbus, Ohio to be an author guest/panelist at Context 22.  This is a speculative fiction and literature convention and will run from 7:00pm on Friday (8/28) through 2:00pm on Sunday (8/30). Participating Guests, include: Gary Braunbeck, Maurice Broaddus, Jason Sizemore, Timothy Deal, Michael Knost, Gord Rollo and many many more.  You can view a full list of all the attendees by visiting the Context site.

During the convention I will be on the following panels:

Trusting Your Reader on Friday at 9:00pm

Humor To Horror on Saturday at 10:00am

As I did while in Nashville, TN for Hypericon 5, I will be making daily updates to this site regarding the day’s events.  You can also follow me throughout the day and night (parties) on my Facebook page.

If you have a copy of Night School or a magazine one of my short stories appeared in, free free to bring it and I’ll sign it for you.  This should be a fun event and I hope to see some of you there!

An Artist with a Vision

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

I recently came across the work of a fantastic artist/illustrator.  Her name is Candice Joy Wright and her medium(s) of choice are; charcoal & graphite, paint and pastels.  She enjoys doing people, flowers and animals, often with a very dark personality.

About Candice (used with permission from her website) :

Having an appreciation for art at an early age, I started to take private art lessons.  My most loved medium to work with is soft pastels.  Using pastels and blending them with my fingers adds softness, and puts a piece of me in all my pictures.  Being versatile with my subject matter, I like to work from life, my own photography, other reference photos, and my imagination.   My favorite subjects are self portraits, portraits of other people and animals.

Some artwork I love to create displays a mood and brings out different emotions.  A painting can open people’s minds to new experiences and ideas which allows them to see things that they would not normally see.  Creating art is both relaxing and pleasurable for me.  It allows to me visualize images and ideas and then put them on paper.  Producing art work that I genuinely love allows me to continue to amaze myself each time I stand at my easel.


When I asked Candice to give a name for her art, she replied, “I have no idea really…disasterpieces, but that would be stealing from Slipknot…but they aren’t really disasters.”


You can check out Candice’s website and work by clicking here.

LIVE Chat Scheduled

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

As you know, this coming weekend I will be an author guest/panelist at Context 22 in Columbus, Ohio.  I hope to meet a lot of other authors and fans.  After this event, I think I’ll be more energized than ever to really buckle down and start turning out new material.

On a different note…

I’ve toyed with the idea awhile on doing an online Live Chat of sorts.  Basically, it would work like this.  If you’re not already one of my friends on Facebook (or don’t even have an account yet – in which case you really need to get with the times and sign up), you would add me.   Next, you would go to my Facebook Fan Club page (which was set up by a great fan in the UK) and Join the Group.  My regular page is a great place to read the daily ins and outs of my life and the fan club page, well, that’s just plain cool!

After you have added me as a friend on my regular Facebook page, you then come online on Wednesday, September 2nd @ 8:00pm.  I will make a Wall Post at that time when the ‘chat lines are open’ and you can begin to ask me whatever questions (writing related or not) you would like to know.  I will do my best to answer each and every question to the best of my abilities.  As far as how long the chat lasts, that either depends on when you get tired of reading what I’ve gotta say or I’ve had one beer too many and I say the hell with it…

That’s the scoop for now.  Hope to see some new faces on both of my pages and to talk with a bunch of you on Sept. 2nd at 8:00!  I’ll be posting a reminder on this site and both of my pages a day or two before the event.

A Yearly Ritual

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

My 32nd birthday is dead ahead…September 4th to be exact.  Every year as my birthday closes in, I begin to reflect on the previous year.  Not sure why I do this on my birthday and not New Years, as most people do, but I just do.

Lots of things have happened over the past year from  9/4/08 – 9/4/09:

  • My first novel was published in November 08.
  • Several short stories were published during this time.
  • One of my stories was optioned for a short film.
  • The reach of my writing started to move out from the Ohio area to the rest of the country and now beginning to pick up steam overseas.
  • A short story collection was completed and sent to the publisher for consideration (still awaiting word on this).
  • Completed a novella about a ‘doctor that makes a house call’ which will be one of three novellas written by three horror authors and packaged into one book.
  • And other various business and personal happens – some were not so good and some turned out great!

All of this makes me think about the upcoming year and what I want to have accomplished when the big ’33’ comes around in 2010.

My goals (as far as writing is concerned) are as follows:

  • Finish my novel-in-progress that I had to put on the back burner when Night School was accepted for publication (it is about a classic monster with a vary unique twist and parts of it are probably some of the most hardcore and best written stuff I have ever done).
  • Continue to pitch movie ideas to a certain major film studio.
  • Watch the short film (based on my short story) ‘Cake Batter’ come to life on the screen after it is finished shooting in the coming months.
  • Continue to work with Shadetree Films to produce more short stories and potentially a feature length film.
  • Besides finishing the aforementioned monster novel, I would also like to write two additional novels on top of that.
  • Would like to see the short story collection picked up.  If not, I will more than likely break apart a great collection and begin to submit them individually to various magazines.
  • Submit the 3-novella book to publishers and hopefully get it picked up.
  • And I’m sure there will be a few short stories and maybe another novella mixed in there as well.

Whew!  Sounds like a lot of work ahead of me, huh?!  Well, perhaps it is.  But, I also know that I need to start pushing myself harder than ever and really start to turn out some material over a relatively short period of time.

Those are my thoughts for now.  And since I’ve heard from a few of you about getting/sending me something for my birthday, feel free to shoot me an email and depending on what it is (ha ha), I’ll respond with my mailing address.

Review Found Published

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

Back in April of this year I wrote a review for Withersin Magazine for an issue of their magazine – Withersin Magazine – Death 1.3.  I was unaware that it was ever published until now.

Click here to read the review.

A project dedicated to you, my fans

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

I started this website on September 28, 2008.  As of this post, there have been 9,216 visitors to the site.  For that, I thank you!

Because of you, my new and old fans, being so dedicated coming back to the site over and over again and my writing, I have decided to give a little something back.  I am going to write a short story (the theme decided by YOU) and post it on the site when the ticker in the bottom right hand corner reaches 10,000.

Now it’s your turn.  Tell me via comment below what kind or theme of story you would like to read.  After a week or so I’ll then pick the most interesting idea, let you know what it’s going to be and start writing it. 

So…let me hear you…what do you want to read about?

Appearances Schedule

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

Below are a few updates to my Appearances for the next few months.

Context 22 (August 28-30) at:

The Doubletree Hotel

175 Hutchinson

Columbus, OH  43235

Reservations:  (614) 885-3334 or (800) 222-3334

There are convention rates still available, but call soon to take advantage of them.

During the convention I will be on the following panels:

Trusting Your Reader on Friday at 9:00pm

Humor To Horror on Saturday at 10:00am

There might be copies of the book available for purchase at the event, but I can’t guarantee it.  So, if you want a book or magazine signed I would suggest bringing your own copy.  I should be easy enough to spot (if you don’t already know what I look like from a photo on here or Facebook) since I’ll be wearing a Night School T-Shirt at least one of the days (probably on Saturday). 

Hope to see some of you there to chat and party with after the events are over both days!

 

The next scheduled appearance will be at Homecoming weekend at Heidelberg College (Tiffin, OH) in the Bookstore located in the Campus Center on Friday, October 23rd from Noon – 1:30.  There should be a small supply of books on hand that you can purchase, although, I would suggest ordering your own copy of the book and/or magazines soon so you can come by, chat and have me sign it for you.

Hope to see you soon!

On The Lookout…

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

The open casting call on Saturday went well for the film adaptation of my short story ‘Cake Batter’.  Although, Warren with Shadetree Films would still like some more people to audition for one of the three roles.

So if you’re interested in trying out, grab Warren’s email address off the casting call link above and let him know.

Horror: Sub-Genres & Terms

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

One of the things I love about writing horror, is that you don’t always have to stick to the basic ideas of a group of teens going into the woods, a beast that scales the Empire State Building or a madman running loose in the streets.  Instead, you can include all different types of ideas and themes and still make the plot interesting and scary at the same time.

Having said that, I wanted to provide you with a list originally published by Dark Echo that can break it all down for you.  Click here to read the article.