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Garden Variety Aliens
Category: TV writing
2025 so far
It’s been a good year for writing and adventures. My new credits:
- 2025 Emerging Screenwriters Sci Fi & Fantasy Qu 1 2025 for my tv pilot of “Lights, Camera, Paranormal Action!”
- My story “The Second Maud” was published in July in Sally Port Magazine. It’s a sweet middle-grade story about a dragon who finds a girl. Find Sally Port Magazine here.
- My story “Hera’s Bargain” was published in July in Polar Borealis Magazine. It’s an amusing story with Greek goddesses and power struggles set in a local cafe.
- On Spec Magazine published my story “Shambolic Manor” in Dec 2024, issue 130. It’s a haunted house story set on the UBC campus. Cover by Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk. Find On Spec here.
I also visited London and Paris. It was a terrific trip. Here are some pictures from it. I did London on my own and then met Jessica in Paris. We had an amazing time!
Here Be Dragons! Vancouver SFF Con
I had a very enjoyable Saturday Nov 23rd, 2024 at the “Here Be Dragons!” mini-con. It was held on the BCIT campus. My events were three panels and a reading. I was often the lone writer of scripts versus novels on my panel so I hope I gave a new angle or added perspective to the discussions.
Pulp Literature’s JM Landels was there to read and promote her work and that of Pulp L. There were many writers and artists. They had a very good dealers’ room filled with all sorts of items and most of the booksellers featured QR codes, so you didn’t have to lug a physical book around if you bought one.They also had a vibrant gaming floor. The group will offer another one-day con next year and if interest is wide enough, to return to the full weekend VCONs of yore.
I read from “Shambolic Manor” which is due to be published by “On Spec” though I have no date as yet. It’s been purchased and edited. More on that when I know. I was pleased with the responses as it is a comic piece and I got a lot of laughter in the room.
Panels:
Exploring Alternate Media – Talked a lot about working on and selling TV shows, radio, and even story seeds for games. Don DeBrandt talked about his experiences with comics and writing tv novelizations. Wen Handyman talked about her work with new media such as VR stories which was fascinating.
Where do I go from here? Editing Process discussed.
Building Backwards– World building after story creation. Very interesting discussion.
Garden Variety Aliens Win!
Garden Variety Aliens is a Quarter-Finalist in the Animation Screenplay Competition at Emerging Screenwriters!
See the list of QFs at Emerging Screenwriters
Garden Variety Aliens Win
January 16, 2024
Garden Variety Aliens has made it onto the Red List again on Coverfly! This time it’s in the top 31% of discoverable projects on Coverfly! It’s marked as a Two Award Finalist!
Murderbugs Author
Murderbugs Author Spotlight – Cat Girczyc, with a new story out in Pulp Literature and the upcoming Blu-ray release of her animated series “Cybersix”.
The Tomato Liberation Front – “Dear fellow gardeners of the Dunbar South Community Garden of Vancouver… my apologies for this email.”
Cat Girczyc
Cat Girczyc works as a technical communications manager while pursuing creative writing. She writes female-led stories, poems, and scripts, usually in science fiction or fantasy.
She has sold 15 television episodes, including episodes of the dark fantasy “The Collector” and animated series such “Cybersix”. Her story, “The Lady M” garnered a 2022 Q1 Finalist position in the Writers of the Future (WOTF) competition. Her work has been published in small Canadian magazines. Previous notable items include 10 WOTF HMs, and 2 Silver HMs. Also, a WIFTV 2020 #FromOurDarkSide award for script: “Lights, Camera, Paranormal Action!” Author spotlight and image by Mike Jack Stoumbos. #MikeJackStoumbos #Kickstarter#Murderbugs#Leavingsoon
Cybersix back in my life
I spent about 10 hours in June on Cybersix! I was asked to do a voiceover with commentary re-watch of my #cybersix episode “Terra” for the upcoming blu-ray edition. The show was done about 25 years ago. So difficult to know what to say after that long! I honestly did not keep every scrap of paper on its evolution as a script, but I did locate and read my final (5th draft) script for the episode. I was able to note certain additions the director, storyboard and animation team added, as I compared final script with final cut of show.
I told my anecdotes about it, too. I won’t spoil those here by retelling- I hope the blu-ray Cybersix is successful! Thanks for the memories!
Cybersix back in my life
I spent about 10 hours this year on Cybersix! I was asked to do a voiceover with commentary re-watch of my #cybersix episode “Terra” for the upcoming blu-ray edition. The show was done about 25 years ago. So difficult to know what to say after that long! I honestly did not keep every scrap of paper on its evolution as a script, but I did locate and read my final (5th draft) script for the episode. I was able to note certain additions the director, storyboard and animation team added, as I compared final script with final cut of show.
I told my anecdotes about it, too. I won’t spoil those here by retelling- I hope the blu-ray Cybersix is successful! Thanks for the memories!
2023 LCPA Pilot SCREENPLAY ACCOLADE
So pleased to get a Coverfly accolade – Top 37% for LCPA the Pilot! It received very nice coverage from the TSL Free Screenplay competition this month which gave its own accolade! This is significant because this competition gets close to twelve thousand entries!
Writing for TV & Film – For Apex
I just finished two Saturdays of presentations for the APEX writers group. This is a great group of mostly science fiction and fantasy writers who are trying to learn to be better at what we do. I’ve met a lot of new friends in SFF who are, like me, interested in getting better at their creative writing.
My presentations were on Writing for Film and TV. The first one was about the field in general, answering a lot of questions about ‘who’s who’ and what ‘pitching’ is. The second presentation was on how to turn a short story into a script.
For those interested in being part of APEX, you find them at https://www.apex-writers.com/. Originated by David Farland, an award-winning writer of fantasy and science fiction, the group continues on after his passing, providing encouragement, motivation and learning opportunities for members.