Phil Ford

The Memorial Library of Kenton J. Stanfield

Curators Thea Duskin and Noah Scalin are pleased to present a recreation of the study of Kenton J. Stanfield (1890 – 1937?) displaying unusual artifacts from his collection, as well as the enigmatic state it was in at the time of his disappearance.

An opening reception will be held Friday, February 13 from 5:30-7:30pm.

While mostly forgotten today, the native Richmonder was known in his lifetime as an intrepid world traveler, an expert in gemology, and writer of some renown. After his unexplained disappearance in March of 1937 Stanfield’s home (at 5317 Marshall Street) was preserved intact until its destruction in the 1980s. Luckily the contents were saved by the son of a former student of Stanfield, who recently provided them to Duskin & Scalin. Thanks to the work of researchers Phil Ford & Alane Miles, the curators have managed to produce an accurate representation of what Stanfield’s study looked like at the time of his disappearance.

The exhibition, “The Memorial Library of Kenton J. Stanfield” will be on display on the second floor of Chop Suey Books from February 13 – March 31.

Art Installation project at Chop Suey Books

Recently, my friend Noah Scalin asked if I would like to write some back story to a mysterious art installation he and Ghostprint Gallery‘s Thea Duskin were going to be working on in February. Without giving too much away, the installation will run about 6 weeks in the exhibit room at Chop Suey Books. My writing partner, Alane Cameron Miles, and I have had a wonderful time creating the content for this project, writing a series of letters, notes and news articles in order to bring the character featured in the installation to life. This may also lead to the possibility of some sort of publication with Noah & company.

Be on the lookout at Chop Suey in mid February for the opening. It should run through April.

New projects in the works

Several things to do!

First, a top secret sci-fi project with Skull-A-Day and friend Noah Scalin. Expected to come to fruition by the end of the year.

Also, I have been co-writing lately with another good friend, Alane Miles. We have produced a zine called “The Atheist and her Spiritual Advisor”, a kind of series of dialogs that has already peaked interests in other media outlets and may lead to even bigger and better things. Fingers crossed!

Richmond Young Writers Summer Workshop

We had a teriffic time. A group of ingeniously creative kids, Julie Geen, and myself talked about environment, and how environment can and should be treated just as a character in your horror story. A perfect recent example is Lemony Snicket’s new childrens book called The Dark. Delightfuly illustrated by Jon Klassen of “I want my Hat back” fame. I wrote a review here.

We took a trip to the Byrd Theatre like last year. It was a lot of fun to see the faces light up with wonder when we went to the spooky basement to see the cold spring that was dug up when first under construction in the 1920s. They housed it in a room called the “Pond Room” and has stayed there ever since. That water is usually 3-4 feet deep at any given time, and is cold at around 52 degrees. Our tour guide was the equally historic projectionist, Bill, who not only gave us great information on the Theatre but of some of the colorful employees as well, including one employee that dared to swim in the cold pond. Fantasic story fodder for the workshop!

I also came up with a thought the other day and maybe it will help others that may feel they have a lot going on in their creative lives. At times, I feel like my creative ideas are like buckshot from a shotgun. I need tofocus my energy on one thing at a time and become an assassin of one project at a time.

Okay, photos!

The lobby of the Byrd. They used to have a fish pond where the popcorn maker now stands.

pondroom — In the basement, just outside of the Pond Room. The kids loved it.

Richmond Young Writers Summer Workshops

Richmond Young Writers are a great group of people. They offer writing sessions nearly all year round to young aspiring writers ages 8-17. A creative bunch, not only the instructors, but the kids that show up as well. I was lucky last year to be able to be a guest writer with my pal, Julie Geen, for their Summer Sessions and I have been asked back this year! So, if you have a kid 11-13 interested in getting their creep on, sign up for this one! (June 17-21, 10am – 1pm) There is also a great variety of other themes with other guest folk like Meg Medina, Lana Krumwiede, Hershel Stratego, and Dennis Danvers. Good stuff.

Check out the website, and sign them up!

Also, Beth Brown and I are being interviewed about Richmond Macabre 2 on the WRIR 97.3 local media news program, Open Source. The air date will be announced soon!

WRIR 8th Birthday Party

Friday, Feburary 1st (this Friday!), I will be MC-ing the annual Radio for the Rest of Us Birthday bash at the Renessance Ballroom 107 W. Broad Street. More info here. Lots of great bands and performances..and cake! A 10 dollar suggested donation to one of the country’s best non-profit low-power FM radio stations, 97.3 WRIR. Support independent media, support independent radio!

JRW Twitter Chat

The kind people at James River Writers have asked me to participate in their JRW Tweet Chats on Friday, January 18th 11am-12PM EST. I have a Twitter account, but am not very good at it so it should make for an interesting time! Join us, we can talk about books and stuff.

In other recent news, Richmond Macabre 2 is doing well at the local bookstores and online. If you have not gotten a copy yet, you can go get it locally at Chop Suey Books in Richmond, or online globally at Amazon or Barnes & Noble and order it there!

Picture below from Chop Suey Books Facebook page, we made their “Caturday” picture, WONTON MACABRE!

Richmond Macabre II: More Nightmares …is out!

The book is out! As of 12/12/12 Richmond Macabre II: More Nightmares is available on Amazon (eBook soon too) and we’re having a book launch gathering at Chop Suey Books Friday, December 28th, 6-7PM. Buy local! There will be some snacks and weird sounds by our friend Sean Lovelace, as well as some of the authors on hand for signing your copy. The Facebook event is here!

Eleven new and bizarre stories by authors: Charles Albert, David Alluisi, R.C. Allen, Jr., Michael Gray Baughan, Dale Brumfield, Meriah Crawford, Julie Geen, Dean Knight, Rebecca Snow, Sarah Vogelsong and yours truly.

I am pretty excited about my story called, “The Incident of the Park Giant”. It’s a kind of a throwback to the Manly Wade Wellman style; combining tall tale, history and horror. I hope people like it!

Also, the amazing cover is by RVA local kick ass artist James Callahan, AKA Barf Comics. A great follow-up anthology, plus we might even have some original RMs on hand for purchase too! Join us!

Writer’s Fest

This Saturday, December 1st, I will be at the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School in Petersburg, Virginia for their annual Writer’s Fest. I am very excited to be doing a workshop similar to the one I did with the Richmond Young Writers summer program. Here is a teaser of what will be happening:

That’s right! Turning every one of them into Cthulhu heads! Nah. This is a photo of my daughter that I use on the title slide of my workshop called “Look out! Behind you! Creepy places & creature creations”. It should a great time, we’ll even be touring the old building, which before it became a school, was used as a morgue during the influenza outbreak in 1918! Amazing material!

The whole day is packed with writer’s and poet’s, as well as some bonus fun with a book and bake sale. Open to the public and runs from 10AM – 7PM!

Upcoming…

Writer’s Fest

I’ll be doing a workshop with some high school students as part of their annual Writer’s Event. Saturday, December 1st at the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School in Petersburg.

Body of Evidence

An upcoming book art project with artist Chuck Scalin, Tom DeHaven and other authors. Event will be Wednesday, December 5th at the Visual Arts Center in Richmond.

Plus Richmond Macabre II should be coming out soon!