Write By The Rails Workshop

06/08/2024 – Greetings one and all from Curious Penman. The Curious Penman staff were out and about in Old Town Manassas to attend a workshop held by Write By The Rails, a member organization of the Virginia Writers Club. This group event was at 10 am at Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Church at 9350 Main St in Manassas, VA, and it was awesome! Mary Ellen Stone hosted the event. Nine people joined the workshop and discussed poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. This was a critique and support workshop, where writers brought samples of their work.

After laying down the ground rules for the workshop, no dominating the conversation, make sure your input is constructive and don’t be needlessly negative or positive, give specifics, etc. Curious Penman joined the fiction group with a sample of an upcoming Knight Shade Files story, and listened to other ineresting works; a short story about the day in the life of a Naval Academy graduate, a Christian thriller, and an epic Irish fantasy tale! Subsequent Write By The Rails workshops will be held at Bull Run Unitarian every first Saturday at 10 am, the next one slated for Saturday, July 6, 2024.

Catch you on the flipside!

Spilled Ink VA

05/29/2024 – Hello and Happy Summer from Curious Penman! Spilled In VA was held on Friday, May 24, 2024 at Jirani Coffeehouse at 9425 West St in Manassas VA at 6 pm, and it was a blast! Curious Penman and the host of Happy Hour Café were among those in attendance. Curious Penman and the host of Happy Hour Café were among those in attendance. Curious Penman read excerpts from an upcoming book in the Knight Shade series to be published later this year. Jirani Coffeehouse is a regular hub of writing activity during fourth weekends, with Happy Hour Café moving to Jirani from 4-6pm every fourth Friday, followed by Spilled Ink VA from 6-9pm. Happy Hour Café is a place for aspiring writers to meet and discuss work, accompanied by exercises to encourage creativity (Bring pen and paper). Spilled Ink VA is an open mic venue for new and established writers to road test new material in front of a built-in audience. And beginning in June, the Java Press Book Club will host monthly get together venues at Jirani every Fourth Saturday at 12:45 pm! If you’re looking to grow your writing skills, meet fellow scribblers, or just see what there is to offer, be at Jirani Coffeehouse every Fourth Friday at 4 pm and every Fourth Saturday at 12:45 pm!. Catch you on the flipside!

Ian Fleming Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Ian Fleming, born May 28, 1908.

Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.

To read more, go to Wikipedia.

To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.

Dashiell Hammett Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Dashiell Hammett, born May 27, 1894.

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), The Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse) and the comic strip character Secret Agent X-9.

Hammett is regarded as one of the very best mystery writers. In his obituary in The New York Times, he was described as “the dean of the… ‘hard-boiled’ school of detective fiction.”

To read more, go to Wikipedia.

To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.

Auberon Waugh Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Auberon Waugh, born November 17, 1939.

Auberon Alexander Waugh was an English journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname “Bron”.

After a traditional classical education at Downside School, he was commissioned in the army during National Service, where he was badly injured in a shooting accident. He went on to study for a year at Oxford University.

At twenty, he launched his journalism career at the Telegraph Group, and also wrote for many other publications including Private Eye, in which he presented a profile that was half Tory grandee and half cheeky rebel. As a young man, Waugh wrote five well-received novels, but gave up fiction for fear of unfavourable comparisons with his father.

To read more, go to Wikipedia.

To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.

Write By The Rails Meeting

9/30/2023 ‑ The Curious Penman attended an impromptu morning meeting of local author’s group Write By The Rails, hosted by Ms. Mary Ellen Stone, at Panera Bread in Manassas VA on Saturday, September 30, 2023. Coffee was consumed and extensive conversation was enjoyed. New ideas and favorite topics were discussed at length, with the Curious Penman addressing current projects and upcoming venues such as Spilled Ink Virginia and the Write By The Rails Winery book event.

Exchange of ideas ranged from monster fiction and gargoyles, the classic monsters to television shows, fantasy fiction such as Lord of the Rings versus Outlander, and pulp fiction such as the Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, and Conan stories.

Spilled Ink East continues on second Friday’s with the upcoming October 13, 2023 7:00 p.m. meet up on Zoom, an online open mic forum. Write By The Rails is hosting a Writers Enrichment venue at Barrel Oak Winery on Saturday, October 14 at 11 am.

For Write By The Rails, check out their Facebook page. Catch Spilled Ink Virginia every fourth Friay at 6pm at Jirani Coffeehouse. Check out what Curious Penman has to offer in our Books section!

Commencing Launch

Thank you for visiting Curious Penman.

Curious Penman offers visitors a blog where readers interested in our products can see what’s new and where to purchase them.

We’re launching two new authors. Michael Sensale offers three new pulp stories and Asa Jensen presents a life lived in verse. Go to Browse Books for more information.

Also, on September 11, 2022, Michael Sensale will be at Arts Alive! from 12 noon to 4 PM. Come meet the author and talk pulp!

See you there!