One of our Extended Catalog authors, Michael Carson has lived in Montrose, Colorado, for thirteen years after moving from San Marcos at the age of twelve. He graduated from Colorado State University-Pueblo with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communications and a minor in Creative Writing.
 
While attending CSU, Michael began work on his first novel, Extreme C-Sections!, which he went on to publish after finishing college.
 
Extreme C-Sections! is a science fiction comedy that satirizes every aspect of science fiction, from aliens to hovercars—a futuristic smoothie made of 1-part Douglas Adams, 1-part Mel Brooks, with a dash of green and blue lasers for color.

Our Extended Authors

The Mt. Sneffels Press Catalog is expanding, soon to include Mary Ann Dismant’s memoirs remembering her early years in Denver.

And I’ve added something new. We have many local authors who have put together some pretty cool stuff. I’ve volunteered to do web distribution for them, and am pleased to add an “Extended Catalog” to include these. Although not published under the Mt. Sneffels Press logo, you can purchase them online for Mt. Sneffels Press fulfillment.

Up first on this list is young author Michael Carson with his science fiction parody of science fiction, Extreme C-Sections!

And I’m adding three of Susan Palmer’s handbound and handpainted books of poetry, The Tao of Now, Autumn of the Seeker, and Living in the World. These handcrafted books complement Susan’s lovely poetry.

Writing: Dialog

Carole London, owner of Lifetime Chronicle Press and a Montrose, Colorado, local who specializes in helping local authors through the “daunting process of self-publishing,” collaborated with Meg Nagel of the Montrose Public Library to organize a two-Saturday workshop to celebrate March as Small Press Month.

The workshop was filled to capacity and beyond both Saturdays. Carole spoke on the first Saturday about writing and self publishing and Betty McKinney spoke about submitting manuscripts.

This last Saturday, the second of the event, once again found overflow crowds. I spoke about marketing on the Internet, and intend to put the information in my presentation into posts here. This was followed by a panel discussion (I was on the panel), and the afternoon saw a reading by 20 local authors (including me) and the opportunity to sell books (I sold 16). I also donated a copy each of Broom 1 and Broom 2 to the Montrose Public Library, so stop by and check one out!

My many thanks to Carole for organizing the event!

Mt. Sneffels Press, Writing: Characterization

Oh, my! Am I ever out of date!

I’m afraid I am a tad snide about New Yorkers in the first and second Broom books. I based my thoughts on too many movies and TV series. New Yorkers are pushy. New Yorkers won’t give you the time of day. The world revolves around New York.

At least I can say that no one contradicted me. Someone should have.

I had been to Long Island on business, years before, flying through La Guardia. I saw Manhattan across the river, but from that vantage point it looked like a concrete jungle. My business on Long Island was relatively straightforward (teaming arrangements for an aerospace contract) and I was introduced to the best Italian food I’ve ever had before or since.

This past week my outlook changed completely. My (real) work took me to the IBM Research labs in Hawthorne and Yorktown Heights, both within easy driving distance from the Tarrytown Marriott. As it turned out, I had last Thursday free from about 2:00 p.m. on. So I took a cab to the Tarrytown train station, took the train to Grand Central Terminal (not “Grand Central Station”) and entered a world such as I have never seen.

Armed with a map of lower Manhattan, I began my exploration. Times Square. Central Park. Wall Street. The World Trade Center site. Battery Park.

So what are my impressions?

It was not anything like I’d imagined. Read more…

American Flying Broomstick