Upstate Steampunk dining out at Fitzy's and more

Busy weekend, getting to see Mark at the new

Coffee to a Tea, attending the Upstate Steampunk dining out at Fitzpatrick's where we had a turnout of 44 people and I hung out with lots of friends, Cindy, John, Lindy, Bethany, the irrepressible Ben of IFB, Tara and Elizabeth, Gypsey, Marla, Sarah and Braxton of Valentine Wolf and met new friends as well, including, Shelby and Eddie.  Lots of great Irish food and good conversations, talking about books and science, music and the upcoming plans for the Upstate Steampunk Con next November at the Garden Hilton Inn in Anderson,SC.  Gypsey is already setting things in motion for indie films, a late night Victorian costume swimming party in the indoor pool.
Gypsey is hard at work setting things up and has already planned our next Upstate Steampunk dining out for March 5, 2011 at the new hotel so we can check it out and see how to use every inch of it's space to our advantage.Check the hotel out - it looks lovely in the photos.
Beware all!  Ben and I are putting our off-kilter heads together and plotting the crazy tea party, picnic, scavenger hunt,for some day in the spring at a park.  Ben has experience with a mad hatter tea party and I have scoured the steampunk empire for ideas, so it will be a jaunt into Wonderland for sure!  Details to come!
 It was wonderful to see so many people at Fitzy's dressed up in new and amazing new costumes. These people are dedicated. We freaked the mundanes downstairs and inspiration was offered all around. I came up with something at the last minute. It was cold outside! So I stuck with a sweater skirt and corduroy jacket. I did wear my poisonous plant necklace and the watch fob watch I made with copper and beads, and had fun fixing up the hat with the goggles I won from Nick Valentino. He offered them in a contest for tweeting etc. about his book Thomas Riley.  Which I didn't even know I'd entered, I was just tweeting because it's a fun book. I jazzed the goggles up at the last minute out of desperation and for fun used butterflies.

And while it was fun playing on facebook, more plotting, exchanging book ideas with new friends, I had to settle down and focus and finish writing the article I'm writing on the psychology of steampunk for the Upstate Steampunk Anthology, Gypsey is editing to be published by Cambridge University Press in England.
I think it's written, may need a bit more organization and some copy edits.  So I'll put it aside for a day or two and then check it over and hopefully have Brian do a critique before I submit it.

    Photos by Pher Reinman of Touch of Grace Photography

Shaman in Exile finished!

On January 16th I finished my magical realism novel, Shaman in Exile, which is a follow up to the novel Shaman Circus which was released by ATTM Press last January. I think the anniversary release date was what influenced me to settle down and finish the book. 
Here's the stats
Took 4 1/2 years to write
106,000 words
61 chapters
Music I listened to: Ten Years, Apocalyptica, Temple of Thieves, IAMX
Writing influences:  John Fowles, Carl Jung, the journals of Anais Nin, Doris Lessing, A.S. Byatt, Heraclitus, Nietzsche, Brian K.Ladd, B. Miller, j.m. Niotta, Poppy Z. Brite, Neil Gaiman.

It takes place in  a variety of locales, New Hampshire, the Alsace region of France and Folly Island, SC with flashbacks to Africa, Haiti and New Orleans. 
When I cam back to Greenville, South Carolina, I had to move into my art studio at the Village Studios and Gallery, in the Pendleton St,. Arts District.when pipes burst at my home requiring a lot of renovations. I lived there eight months.  Then I returned to my home near downtown Greenville. During that time, my mother passed away, my daughter was married, and two years later divorced, she was also very ill for three years, I went full time with my small press, Shadow Archer Press and after publishing,      books, was forced to almost completely shut down the press due to the recession.  It is now limping along to the dismal point of producing only one issue of Fissure magazine last year.  Also during that time, I had many good friends move away, some who have been friends for over 20 years. These included my main writing buddy, Brian K. Ladd, my great friend and art mentor, Donna, my Shadow Archer Press technical advisor, Shaggy Randall, my ex-lover and friend, Kevin, and my confidant and dear friend from the music industry, also a talented artist, Cindy Woods. Some moved quite far away, which was very difficult. All of these comprised my support system and served as inspiration for both writing and art.  Perhaps it's why I focused on the concept of "exile" in this book, even though I remained in my own town much of the time. Perhaps a sense of "home" is not a physical place but a state of mind.
I had book signings and art openings, and started a new job as a Rehab Support Specialist and art facilitator for individuals with traumatic brain injuries.  I spent many hours with my granddaughter, now 7 years old, since her mother was ill and works nights.  I have become much more of a hermit than I was when I wrote Shaman Circus to the point I no longer hold parties or fire pit gatherings, writers groups or staff meetings at my house.   


  There's always a few down days following my ending of a project.  Now that I've finished Shaman in Exile and will wait a week or so to being the editing process, I find myself at a crossroads.  There are tow projects I have deadlines for one a bio for the band Temple of Thieves and another an article on the psychology of steampunk.  Both of these are kind of twisting my brain right now.  And then there's the temptation to do art with Tim Holtz and Graphic 45 coming out with new amazing product lines.  What to do, what to do.   I plan to complete at least the two writing projects this weekend, try and spend some time with friends I didn't get to see over the holidays and let my subconscious figure it all out.

Sandy Ang's Victorian/Steampunk Art Challenge #2

Quite by accident while viewing images of paper arts on the Graphic 45 Ring, I found Sandy Ang's Challenge #2. It's a very cool and lively  Victorian/Steampunk Challenge.  And since this era is my millieu I couldn't resist. I'm heavily involved in steampunk with the Upstate Steampunk Group in Greenville, SC (having hosted a panel on creating art, selling my handmade books, collages and paper arts as a vendor and facilitating a panel for authors who I featured in Steampunk Fissure, a magazine I publish with my small press, Shadow Archer Press.)
Wow, you need to check out Sandy's work.  She is so talented. 
So this is one of the pieces I'm entering to Sandy's challenge.  Twist of Soul and Heart- it's a mixed media beeswax collage using Graphic 45 sand other papers, a vintage Victorian photograph, metal embellishments from my stash of things I pick up from the side of the road when walking  (my eyes are just drawn to anything metallic on the ground) and one of my statements devised to make viewers think of the Victorians as more than a bunch of stodgy folks in stiff clothes.  I also added some gold leaf, Perfect Pearls, Golden Interference metallic paint and chalky blue oil pastels for that dash of glamor.