1996 - 09/1996 Meeting

Page Created: 08/25/10. Last Updated: 10/26/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 03/01/08.

ANNE LESLEY GROELL

Novels:

Anvil of the Sun

Bridge of Valor

Cauldron of Iniquity

The March 2000 issue of WRITERS WRITE INTERNET JOURNAL carries this interview with Ms Groell: http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/mar00/groell.htm

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: September 14, 1996.

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

Official Attendance: 41.

Meeting Program: Talk by Science Fiction / Fantasy Writer / Editor.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

We had a surprisingly good turnout for the September 14, 1996 S F A B C meeting. The gathering was held at the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River, across the street from our usual meeting place. On site activities included a used book sale and the meetings of our Anime Associates and the Final Frontier.

Pat Malone screened the first two episodes of GUNSMITH CATS and the first episode of a new series, ESCAFLOWNE. Both shows were subtitled and well received with one of our larger audiences.

Fernando Ruiz ran the meeting of the Final Frontier. The topic was a discussion of the ten best TREK episodes as selected by TV GUIDE. There were only a few people present at the beginning of the discussion, but we had a nice audience by the time STAR TREK, DEEP SPACE 9 aired. Lose of the front third of the Fellowship Hall where we had planned to hold this gathering was not a problem.

Anne Lesley Groell gave an interesting and enthusiastic account of being an author and an editor. She talked about meeting and speaking to science fiction writers she had long admired in the capacity of a neo editor and had a funny story about being hit in the head by a roll thrown by Stephen Donaldson. In a more serious vein, she emphasized that when an editor buys a book, they should really love it because they typically have to read it five times as it's considered, proofread and edited. She feels that the success of the STAR WARS titles at Bantam gives her the opportunity to discover and develop new authors that she might not have at another publisher.

ANVIL OF THE SUN is her first published book, the first in the Cloak and Dagger series. The books are set in the Victorian Age of an alternate universe where the technology is based on magic. The overall theme of the series is the Industrial Revolution as a series of science-based technological breakthroughs rock the mage-guilds which run the various countries. He heroine is a sort of female James Bond for the Assassins' Guild which serves as a sort of interpol of this world. Each book will be set in a different country ruled by a different mage-guild.

Her educational background is in biology but does not play a part in this fantasy series. She does have some ideas on the back burner for a couple of science fiction novels.

She talked of the difficulties of writing accurate biology based science fiction ("Experiments take so long!"), of characters who have a mind of their own and will not do what they're supposed to do, and read a short passage from ANVIL. She spent a long time answering questions from the audience and joined us at East Side Mario's after the meeting.

Thanks to Chris Hasselkus for help unpacking and setting up the new television for the anime, to Nancy Denker, Sarah Matthews and Greg Roman for help with setting up the booksale, Pat Nash for transporting the club's old television and VCR, Pamela Webber for running things until Philip De Parto arrive, Bill Wagner for bringing Ann Lesley Groell home, and everyone else for help with the set up, clean up, and keeping the meeting running smoothly.