1993 - 04/1993 Meeting

Page Created: 09/18/10. Last Updated: 10/27/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 02/05/08.

NANCY COLLINS

Novels:

A Dozen Black Roses

Angels on Fire

Darkest Heart

Final Destination: I Looks Could Kill

Final Destination 2: The Movie

In the Blood

Paint It Black

Sunglasses After Dark

Tempter

Walking Wolf: A Weird Western

Wild Blood

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: April 10, 1993.

Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 33.

Meeting Program: Talk by horror writer.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

The skies were overcast the whole day and it showered a couple of times during the afternoon, but, hey, this is the winter of '93. It rains or snows EVERY weekend. The precipitation really didn't effect our meeting except to wipe out a potential evening stargaze.

The S. F. A. B. C. meeting was held on April 10, 1993 at the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River. Pre-meeting activities consisted of a brief meeting of the U. S. S. Asimov (several of whose members took an unplanned side trip to the new Barnes & Noble Superstore on Route 17--Jeannette and Laurie were disappointed and Marylou bought books), Bill Molendyk doing some work on starting up his AD&D campaign, and the Writers' Critique Group holding session.

Charles Garofalo, Maxine Kappler, newcomer Daniel Kisselik, and Patricia Nash formed the Writers' Group, although several other S. F.A. B. C.ers sat in on things for varying amounts of time. Pat read a chapter of Chuck's untitled YA novel-in-progress. I wandered by when this was being read and heard a conversation between a cat and a goblin arguing why the latter should harbor the former from an irate dog. Maxine read an untitled short story by Dan which had a cyberpunk flavor but was not as bleak as many of those tales often are. Maxine also discussed a book she had read which analyzed the author as shaman.

The meeting proper began at 8:00 PM after STAR TREK and dinner. The usual announcements were made, door prizes awarded, and so on. Author Nancy Collins was introduced and read three short passages from her "Sonia Blue" novels. The first was from SUNGLASSES AFTER DARK. Sonja, a vampire, takes a walk on the seedy side of town, her inhuman eyes piercing the disguises of the "Pretender" races in our midst employ (pp. 59 - 61). The other two were from IN THE BLOOD. We see the first meeting between psychic detective William Palmer and Sonja Blue, as well as the investigator's encounter with a ghost, Sonja's double-crossing ex-lover Geoffrey "Chaz" Chastain (pp. 55 - 62). For comic relief, she read a riff she'd don on the old TWILIGHT ZONE episode with William Shatner, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet."

The talk and question and answer session wandered around from voodoo to comics (Ms Collins also writes the SWAMP THING comic for DC Comics) to how she broke into the field.

The author had been a fan of science fiction from her early days but migrated to the fantasy/horror area both because of the increased freedom of those genres and because she felt that her scientific background was insufficiently strong. She did a bit of writing in southern fan circles and eventually came to the attention of writer John Shirley. Mr Shirley worked with her through the mail for several years until he felt that her writing was good enough for the marketplace. He then sent a highly complimentary cover letter along with the first three chapters of SUNGLASSES AFTER DARK to John Silbersack at Roc Books.

Since the last author Mr Shirley had taken a similar interest in was the highly acclaimed William Gibson, the folks at Roc were quite receptive to this unknown. After they bought the completed manuscript, they marketed the novel in an unusual manner.

The original print run of SUNGLASSES was published without the title of the book or the author's name on the front cover. They also used a white background instead of the usual black for a horror novel. Whether because or despite this marketing ploy, the book sold well. Subsequent novels by the author have continued several elements from the first book, although the title and author now appear on the front cover.

The first three books, as well as a forthcoming werewolf novel, are set in a universe in which vampires, ogres, werewolves, and other creatures of legend dwell unseen in our midst. Only a few humans can see their true guise. The evil predators hunt mostly among the underclass, where life is cheap and few questions are raised when people disappear.

After the meeting, about a dozen and a half of us trekked over to the Horizon Diner. Many thanks to Paul Dellechiaie who got the management to sit us all at one long table.