2021 - 04/2021 Meeting

Page Created: 11/22/20. Last Updated: 04/30/21.

ANDREW J MARINO / ANDY MARINO

ANDREW V MARINO / ANDREW VALENTINE

ANDREW J MARINO (ANDY MARINO)

Author Site: http://www.andy-marino.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andyjmarino/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/andy_marino

Books:

The Door

Uncrashable Dakota

Unison Spark

The Oregon Trail Diary of Willa Porter

The Plot to Kill Hitler, Book One: Conspiracy

The Plot to Kill Hitler, Book Two: Execution

The Plot to Kill Hitler, Book Three: Escape

ANDREW V MARINO (ANDREW VALENTINE)

Author Site: http://www.andrew-valentine.com/

FaceBook:

Twitter:

Books:

Bitter Consequence

Bitter Things

Troublemaker

Deep Bent

Meeting Date: April 10, 2021.

Meeting Site: Zoom Video Conference,

Attendance: 33.

Meeting Program: Talk / Q & A with YA/MG SFF Author & Horror Author,

Notes:

Conversation at the post-meeting Virtual Diner Run included Godzilla movies, WONDER WOMAN 1984, RAYNA & THE LAST DRAGON and the Space Shuttle Explosion.

Andy Marino

..........Is a free-lance copy writer

..........Admires Jeff VanderMeer and other weird writers.

..........Treats writing as a job, even if what comes out is dark.

..........Never takes notes ahead of time.

..........Is unable to multi-task. Works in dead silence to help himself focus. Uses MacFreedom to cut himself off from the internet for three hours to write. Ditto for phones / television.

..........Queried agents with a novel that did not sell. Book got some nice rejections. Agent told Andy to try something else. That book sold to Scholastic.

..........UNISON SPARK is NEUROMANCER for kids, with an evil social network.

..........UNSTOPPABLE DAKOTA alternate world steampunk. DIE HARD on a steampunk airship for kids.

..........THE DOOR is an after death fantasy about a girl who follows her dead mother in the otherworld.

Andrew Marino

..........Owns a digital media company which provides services for business who wish to do mass emails.

..........Daughter is 21. Son is 18.

..........Venturing into screen plays and stage plays.

..........Michael Crichton is a big influence.

..........On Scenes: Imagine you are a terrible guest at a party. Arrive late and leave early when constructing your scenes, (This was a paraphrase of some writing advise he had read.) When in doubt, write short chapters and end with a hook or question.

..........First published book, BITTER THINGS was entered in a contest & did not win. Ten years later one of the judges from that contest contacted him. She was starting a small press and wanted the book. Anne Rice was an influence. Book has African vampires. Vampires are ubiquitous across all cultures. Lots of sex in book. NC-17. Vampires are addicts.

..........DEEP BENT was self-published through X-Libris because he had completed the first book in a projected trilogy when he heard there was a movie with a similar premise underway. He wanted to establish proof that he had written his book first. The book is not available for purchase. He hopes to find a traditional publisher for the work. Currently researching book two,

..........There are 10,000 species of trilobites, ranging from under an inch to 6' long. Ancestor of some bugs and of horseshoe crabs.

Newsletter Account:

The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2021 Philip J De Parto:

The April 10, 2021 General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held as a zoom video conference. Authors Andrew J Marino, who writes as Andy Marino, and Andrew V Marino, who writes as Andrew Valentine, were our speakers. Any Marino writes YA. His genre works are UNISON SPARK (cyberpunk), UNCRASHABLE DAKOTA (steampunk), and THE DOOR (afterlife fantasy). Andrew Valentine writes horror (BITTER THINGS, BITTER CONSEQUENCE, and TROUBLEMAKER) and technothrillers (DEEP BENT ).

The first half of the meeting consisted of the pair interviewing each other. The second half was questions from the audience.

Andrew J was a Lord of the Rings fan since he was 8 and wanted to write epic fantasy since he was 11. Andrew V did write a book, a John Carter Barsoom knockoff when he was 11. AJ is a panster who starts typing the first scene with no idea about what happens next. AV is a plotter who showed a plot graph with the inciting incident, rising action, falling action, climax, and falling actions. He starts with the end, then writes the beginning, and then fills in what happens in between. His thriller, DEEP BENT, is about dangerous trilobites.

Our thanks to Carol Gyzander, Kathy Cannarozzi, the two Andres, and everyone who attended. More information appears in note form at 2021 - 04/2021 Meeting on the club website.