Laurel Anne Hill

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Compete for Literary Prizes (Including a $20,000 creative writing scholarship) at the San Mateo County Fair

Heroes Arise

CARRY THE LIGHT: 

COMPETE FOR LITERARY PRIZES
AT THE SAN MATEO COUNTY FAIR, JUNE 11-19, 2011
(Note:  You don’t have to live in San Mateo County or in California to enter.)

ENTRY DIVISIONS INCLUDE NOVEL (Science Fiction/Fantasy, Mystery, Graphic), SHORT STORY (Various genres), CHILDREN’S, POETRY, MEMOIR, IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE AND ESSAY (Various themes).

One of the contests is for the Heroes Arise Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel Chapter Award.  (Science Fiction/Fantasy short stories should be entered in the short story competition.)

The Heroes Arise Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel Chapter Award
Sponsored by Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”)

 Awards Offered:  $100 first prize; $50 second prize; $25 third prize

Eligibility:  Submit three (3) copies of chapter one (maximum chapter content 7,500 words) of your unpublished science fiction or fantasy novel according to the entry guidelines for San Mateo County Fair literary contest submissions.  Please do not include a synopsis or a prologue.  Use standard manuscript formatting.      

Deadline is 7 pm, Friday, April 29, 2011 for all of the literary contests.  (The May 18 date on the general entry forms does not apply to the writing contests.)  Registration to compete can be done online at https://www.sanmateocountyfair.com/ as long as three (3) printed copies are submitted in time to meet the contest deadline.  Written material can be mailed or delivered to the San Mateo County Fair literary arts competition office: San Mateo County Fair, 2495 So. Delaware St, San Mateo, CA 94403.  Entries mailed in the USA must be postmarked by April 25th.  Foreign entries must be postmarked in time to arrive by April 29, 2011.

Literary contests at the San Mateo County Fair are open to writers within and outside of the United States.  All entries must be in English.  Youth may enter in the adult literary divisions, however, those doing so won’t be permitted to enter in the youth division afterward.  In the San Mateo County Fair literary contests, there are no restrictions associated with professional or amateur writer status.

Also, there is a $20,000 creative writing scholarship contest for High School Juniors and Seniors considering attendance at Notre Dame De Namur University (NDNU) in Belmont, California.  The scholarship would pay $5,000 per year for four years at NDNU, contingent on meeting university requirements.   

The entry fee for the NDNU creative writing scholarship contest (and any other contest open only to youth) is $1 per entry.  The fee for all other literary contests is $10 per entry.  For more information about the literary contests, contact Bardi Rosman Koodrin at artika@earthlink.net.

Best of luck in the competition!

Laurel Anne Hill (http://www.laurelannehill.com)
Author of Heroes Arise, a novel about breaking the cycle of vengeance, about reaching into one’s personal darkness and finding the light of reason

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Laurel Anne Hill, Schedule at RadCon 2011, Pasco, WA

Ready for Radcon

I’ll be at RadCon (Red Lion Inn, Pasco, WA) on February 18-20, 2011, with a trip to one of the local schools beforehand.  My RadCon schedule is as follows:

Saturday, Feb. 19, 11 am – 1 pm, Bronze Room; Group Book Signing.

Saturday, Feb. 19, 2-3 pm, Cobalt Room; Fandom as a Political Force; Laurel Anne Hill, Andrea Howe, Guy Letourneau, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Nisi Shawl.

Saturday, Feb. 19, 3-4 pm, Sage Room; Steampunk Medicine; Chris Bruscas, Miki Garrison, Laurel Anne Hill, David Levine

Saturday, Feb. 19, 6-7 pm, Executive Room; Neuroscience–How do we think?; Laurel Anne Hill, Joyce Reynolds-Ward.

Sunday, Feb. 20, 12-1 pm, Emerald Room; Steampunk and the Wild West; Laurel Anne Hill, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Nisi Shawl, Dameon Willich.

Hope to see some of you there,

Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com

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Cooking the Not-So-Enchanted Spaghetti Squash (by Laurel Anne Hill)

Spells and Swashbucklers Anthology

Well, I had to do it sooner or later, serve spaghetti squash for dinner.  My husband, David, loved the stuff.  So did I.  But my short story, “The Vengeance Garden,” due to be published in the “Spells and Swashbucklers” anthology (Dragon Moon Press, Nov. 2011, edited by Valerie Griswold-Ford), dealt with the potential down-side of large, yellow squash.  Even storing one in my refrigerator for a week was a bit creepy.  I found myself thinking, “Mr. Squash, are you about to do something I might regret?”

The afternoon for the cook vs. squash showdown arrived.  I rinsed the outside of the being and stabbed it four times with a paring knife.  Not in self-defense, just to allow escape ports for steam.  No screams or flowing blood (from it or me) followed, so I placed the thing in a pot of cold water and let my trusty stovetop bring the water and squash to a simmer.  After forty minutes of simmering, the squash was still firm, but soft enough for me to cut in half lengthwise with ease.  (Note that some squash will require more cooking time.)

I removed the seeds (luckily, I found nothing worse inside), then peeled off the rind.  Finally, I transferred the peeled squash halves (cavity-side down) into a glass baking dish, added water and a couple tablespoons of margarine, applied an aluminum foil cover, then baked the squash for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Carnivores may wish to consider serving the squash with this topping:

one pound lean ground lamb
one-third pound lean ground beef
A few tablespoons olive oil
Chopped garlic (I used 7 cloves for good luck)
Diced Serrano chili pepper (remove the seeds if a mild level of “hot” is desired)
Water as needed to keep the meat from sticking to the pan when browning the meat-garlic-pepper mixture in the oil.
14-1/2 oz. can of S&W Ready-Cut Tomatoes (diced with no salt added)
Wine mixture (equal parts of red wine, white wine and sweet marsala) to taste.  (Try ½ cup of wine total.)
Italian seasoning to taste.
Add salt if you must.

Brown the meat in oil and water with the garlic and Serrano.  Add the tomatoes, wine and Italian seasoning and simmer until cooked.  The browning-simmering process usually takes me about 30 minutes. Serve with a cooked green vegetable, green salad or both.  Enjoy!

Warning:  If you notice that the squash moves by itself, whispers or bleeds at any point in storage or preparation, carefully dispose of it as garden trash and take your family out to dinner.

 Warm wishes,

Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com    

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Evicting Critters and Lopping Branches (Putting Christmas Away) by Laurel Anne Hill

Memories Shared

Twelfth Night has come and gone.  The Three Wise Men have done their thing and headed home.  At my house, the Christmas season has officially ended.  Thus, even though the seven-foot tree in our bedroom was still drinking water this morning, my husband, David, pulled out his lopping shears after lunch and prepared to perform massive reduction surgery.

It always has saddened me to see the annual tree fed to the garden trash barrel.  Even harder, though, has been removing the decorations. I didn’t relish the pending task.

I evicted the critters from the tree branches first.  The snakes, crickets, frogs and red-and-black bat were pretty easy to find.  So were the tarantula, gecko and birds.  The mice were a challenge, though, as usual.  I walked past two of their dark brown wooden bodies on the first pass, even though they hung by their leather tails in plain sight.  The small blue bat hid behind a silver garland, as did the glass pig.  The crab had buried itself in the sheet we used to protect the carpet from the tree stand.  I don’t think any of the critters really wanted to go back into their storage boxes under our house, any more than our tree was ready for recycling.  I mean, how would you feel about living in a shoe box or having thirty of your arms amputated?

I piled the other ornaments on our bed as I removed them from the tree.  Glass balls…eggs hollowed out and decorated by my daughter-in-law…Russian dolls…bells…   I tried not to cry when I boxed the Styrofoam ornaments my great-aunt Alice had created for me over 40 years ago.  Using straight pins, she’d attached hundreds of small beads, sequins and other glittery items to the Styrofoam forms, all this after she’d become legally blind.  And I knew there was still the mantelpiece in our living room to clear–the Nutcracker from David’s oldest brother, the Styrofoam snowman and ceramic birds my great-grandmother had displayed in her apartment for many, many years.  And the decorative candles in my lighted display cabinet.  My wax angels and choir boys were so old they originally had sold for 15 cents apiece.  I’d be happy looking at them all year round.

David entered the bedroom.  He put away the garlands and lights.  I left the room as soon as he commenced lopping branches.

I started a load of laundry then poured a cup of coffee.  So many loved ones had passed from this earthly life.  So many trees had been discarded. 

Memories and ornaments remained.

May memories bring joy to you and those you cherish,

Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”) 
http://www.laurelannehill.com

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Laurel Anne Hill’s New Short Story Selected for “Spells and Swashbucklers”

Maybe no one will notice I haven't baked any Christmas cookies.

 Yippee!  Editor Valerie Griswold-Ford has selected one of my short stories for her next pirates and magic anthology.  My fantasy, “The Vengeance Garden” will be included in “Spells and Swashbucklers” (Dragon Moon Press).  Here is the listing of pieces selected.

 “By Silent Spell” – Danielle Ackley-McPhail
“Tarwell’s Last Day as a Pirate” – Stuart Jaffe
“Vapor Rogues Cycle – Cloud Pirates” – MJ Blehart
“The Vengeance Garden” – Laurel Anne Hill
“Window on the Soul” – Gail Martin
“Anne Bonny’s Child” – Tera Fulbright
“Death Tide” – Jesse L. Cairns
“Enemy of My Enemy” – Susan Isik
“Facing the Wind” – Bernie Mojzes
“Blood of the Hydra” – Chris A Jackson
“Goddess Clause” – ADR Forte
“William Did” – Erik Amundsen
“Running from the Storm” – Kathryn Scannell
“Pinkbeard” – Danny Birt
“The Sorrow Sea” – Robert Waters
“Masked Panama” – Erin Hartshorn

(The above list is posted on Valerie’s website:  http://vg-ford.com/?p=372. )

“Spells and Swashbucklers”  will be Valerie Griswold-Ford’s second pirates and magic anthology.  Dragon Moon Press published her first pirates and magic collection, “Rum and Runestones,” in 2010, which is available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Laurel Anne Hill  (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com