Literary Parlor at Steamy Screens
I was invited to do a reading of Evie’s Gift at a Literary Parlor a couple of weeks ago along with Stella Price and Leanna Renee Hieber. This new adventure was full of corset chaos, shenanigans and awesome Pimms cups cocktails.
Held at the Waystation, a little steampunk style bar tucked into Brooklyn NYC, this fundraiser event turned out cozy and well attended. The place was decorated with all sorts of interesting steampunk items to catch the eye, and honestly, I was delighted by the TARDIS. Oh yes, the place had a TARDIS and it really was bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside.
A little nervous to do my first reading, I decided to avoid the stage and perched up on the back of one of the booths. Pros: I sat comfy and could see everyone, meaning they could all see me. Con: Voice projection is a must. For the most part, I believe everyone could hear me. It may have been easier, had I been on the stage with the microphone, but I think speaking properly into the microphone might have taken up one too many of the multi-tasking resources of my brain and I might have read flat and sort of “wah wah, wa wah wah wah”. Instead, I sat comfy and was able to read with at least a little interesting inflection.
Watching Leanna was an education. She has quite a bit of experience in stage presence and read most beautifully. She had occasional eye contact, arm gestures and great voice inflection for every one of her characters. I truly admire her ability to put accents and personality into her dialog. Stella was quirky and fun, reading with lots of great personality. She also thought fast on the fly to keep her segments PG 13 - ish.
Once the three of us completed our readings, we were free to mingle as various musical performers also took the stage. We set up a little table to display promotional items and books. Promo and pens seemed to be the most popular items of my swag. I think, or hope, Evie’s Gift will be a popular purchase this coming holiday season when it comes out in print as part of an anthology. All in all, it was a very fun afternoon - steampunk style.
The fundraiser was held in support of the SteampunkPictureShow.com and this very fun video captured the event. Take a look and you’ll see Stella, Leanna and myself popping in and out of the video.
Steamy Screens - for SteampunkPictureShow.com from The Surface Of Things on Vimeo.
Originally published at www.pjschnyder.com. You can comment here or there.