Chris Gavaler

Gavaler teaches courses on creative writing, contemporary fiction and comics, which are also his main areas of research.

Chris Gavaler

Chris Gavaler

Associate Professor of English

Website

Education

  • M.F.A., Fiction, University of Virginia (2006).
  • M.A., English Education, Rutgers Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University (1992).
  • B.A., English, Rutgers College (1988).

Research

  • Fiction
  • Comics
  • Pop culture

Teaching

  • ENGL 202-Playwriting
  • ENGL 203-Topics in Creative Writing: Fiction
  • ENGL-ARTS 215-Making Comics
  • ENGL 308-Advanced Fiction Writing: Literary Genre Fiction
  • ENGL 369-Late 20th Century North American Fiction: Highbrow vs. Lowbrow
  • ENGL 370- 21st Century North American Fiction: Thrilling Tales
  • ENGL 413-Strategies in NarrativeWRIT 100-First Year Writing Seminar: Superheroes

Selected Publications

Books:

  • Revising Reality: How Sequels, Remakes, Retcons, and Rejects Explain the World. Co-authored with Nathaniel Goldberg. Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2024.

  • The Comics Form: The Art of Sequenced Images. Bloomsbury 2022.

  • Creating Comics: A Writer’s and Illustrator’s Guide and Anthology. Co-authored with Leigh Ann Beavers. Bloomsbury 2021.

  • Revising Fiction, Fact, and Faith: A Philosophical Account. Co-authored with Nathaniel Goldberg. Routledge 2020.

  • Superhero Thought Experiments: Comic Book Philosophy. Co-authored with Nathaniel Goldberg. University of Iowa Press 2019.

  • Superhero Comics. Bloomsbury 2017.

  • On the Origin of Superheroes: From the Big Bang to Action Comics No. 1. University of Iowa Press 2015.
  • School for Tricksters. Southern Methodist University Press 2011.

  • Pretend I’m Not Here. HarperCollins 2002.

Academic Publications:

  • “Meant to Judge: The Vigilante Heart of the Superhero Genre.” Companion to Comics Studies. Peter Lang. Forthcoming 2024.

  • “Superheroes and Ethical Philosophy.” Encyclopedia of Heroism Studies. Springer 2023.

  • "Misdirections in Matt Baker’s Phantom Lady Viewing Paths.” Co-written with Monalesia Earle. Desegregating Comics: Debating Blackness in Early American Comics, 1900-1960. Rutgers 2023.

  • “How to Make Comics: What Are Comics?” MoMA Magazine. September 9, 2021.

  • “How to Make Comics: What Are the Elements of a Comic?” MoMA Magazine. September 16, 2021.

  • “How to Make Comics: Where Do You Begin?” MoMA Magazine. September 23, 2021.

  • “Watchmen and Philosophy: Illustrating Time and Free Will.” Co-authored with Nathaniel Goldberg. The Palgrave Handbook of Popular Culture as Philosophy. Palgrave 2021.

  • “Yes, Roya as Philosophy: The Art of Submission.” Co-authored with Nathaniel Goldberg and Maria Chavez. The Palgrave Handbook of Popular Culture as Philosophy. Palgrave 2021.

  • “Perceiving Images and Styles.” Co-author with Nathaniel Goldberg. Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts, 2. 1. 2021.

  • “‘Which World Would You Rather Live In?’ The Anti-Utopian Superheroes of Gary Jackson’s Poetry.” Mixed-Race Superheroes. Rutgers 2021.

  • “Teaching the Art of Comics.” Innovative Teaching Experiments: Sociology Through Pop Culture. 2021.

  • “There and Back Again: A Philosophy of Revision for Fictional Narrative.” Co-written with Nathaniel Goldberg. Narrative. 28.3. 2020.

  • “The Literary Genre Effect: A One-Word Science Fiction (vs. Realism) Manipulation Reveals Intrinsic Text Properties Outweigh Extrinsic Expectations of Literary Quality.” Co-written with Dan Johnson. Scientific Study of Literature. 9.1. 2019.

  • “Does Belonging Belong in Comics?” The Cincinnati Review. 16.2. 2019.

  • “Three of a Perfect Pair: Image, Text, and Image-Text Narrators.” Image [&] Narrative. 20.1.2019.

  • “Clarifying Closure.” Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. 9.3. 2018

  • “Undemocratic Grids: Eight Approaches to Accenting Panels.” Comics Grid. May 2018.

  • “Refining the Comics Form.” European Comic Art. 10.2. 2017.

  • “The Genre Effect: A Science Fiction (vs. Realism) Manipulation Decreases Inference Effort, Reading Comprehension, and Perceptions of Literary Merit.” Co-written with Dan Johnson. Scientific Study of Literature. 7.1. 2017.

  • “Dr. Doom’s Philosophy of Time.” Co-written with Nathaniel Goldberg. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. 8.4. February 2017.

  • “Loving Lassos: Wonder Woman, Kink, and Care.” Co-written with Maria Chavez and Nathaniel Goldberg. Wonder Woman and Philosophy. Wiley. 2017.

  • “Marvels of Skepticism.” Co-written with Nathaniel Goldberg. Foundation: the international review of science fiction. 46.1. 2017.

  • “’I Want to Believe’ vs. ‘The Will to Believe’: Fox Mulder Meets William James.” Co-written with Nathaniel Goldberg. The X-Files and Philosophy. Open Court. 2017.

  • “Alan, Moore, Donald Davidson, and the Mind of Swamp Things.” Co-written with Nathaniel Goldberg. The Journal of Pop Culture. 50.2. April 2017.

  • “The Art of Literary Violence.” Ford City Workshop Anthology. Urban Farmhouse Press. February 2016.

  • “‘Something Like This Just Couldn’t Happen!’: Resolving Naturalistic Tensions in Superhero Comics Art.” Studies in Comics. 7.1. 2016.

  • “The Meanings of Comics.” International Journal of Comics Art. 18.1. Spring/Summer 2016.
    “Economy of the Comic Bool Author’s Soul.” Co-written with Nathaniel Goldberg. International Journal of Comics Art. 18.1. Spring/Summer 2016.

  • “The Anti-Superhero in Literary Fiction.” IMAGE [&] NARRATIVE. 17.3. 2016.

  • “Time to Choose.” Co-written with Nathaniel Goldberg. Superman, Batman, and Philosophy. Open Court. 2016.

  • “The Rise and Fall of Fascist Superpowers.” Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. 7.1. 2016.

  • “The Pulp Fiction of Jennifer Egan.” The Writer’s Chronicle. 48.4. February 2016.

  • “Genre Apocalypse.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. January 26, 2015.

  • “Zombies vs. Superheroes: The Walking Dead Resurrection of The Fantastic Four Gender Formulas.” ImageTexT. 7.4. Winter 2015. Reprinted in Literary Criticism on Stan Lee (Layman Poupard Publishing).

  • “The Well-born Superhero.” The Journal of American Culture. 37.2. June 2014.

  • “Is and Isn’t: Literary Upheavals in the Post-Real Landscape.” The Writer’s Chronicle. April 2014. Reprinted in Phantom Drift. 4. Fall 2014.

  • “The Imperial Superhero.” PS: Political Science & Politics. 47.1. January 2014. Teahouse

  • “How to Teach Zombies.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. October 29, 2013.

  • “The Ku Klux Klan and the birth of the superhero.” Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. 4.2. 2013.

  • “Five Sentences.” The Exercise Book. Wellington, NZ: Victoria UP, 2011.

  • “Sylvester Long.” African American National Biography. Oxford UP. January 2008.

  • “Chameleons and Imposters: Marianne Moore and the Carlisle Indian School.” Co-written with Lesley Wheeler. Paideuma. 33.2&3. 2005.

  • “I Mend a Break in Time: An Historical Reconstruction of H.D.’s Wunden Island Ceremony in The Gift and Trilogy.” Sagetrieb. 15.1&2. 1996.

  • “The Empty Lot: Spiritual Contact in Lenape and Moravian Religious Beliefs.” American Indian Quarterly. 18.2. 1994.

  • “Endnotes to ‘Righting the Margins: The Prosody of Prose in Language Writing.’” Poetic Briefs 17. August/September 1994.

Literary Journal Publications:

  • Visual art. “Ride Takes 2 Tickets.” North American Review. 2022.

  • Sequential art. “Family Resemblances.” Studies in Comics. 2022.

  • Sequential art. “Metropolis 2.” Interim. 2022.

  • Sequential art. “My American Dream.” Grub Street. 70. 2021.

  • Sequential art. “Intro to Art.” 45th Parallel. 5. Spring 2020.

  • Visual art. “Seventies Celebrities,” “Botched,” “Graduation,” “Christmas 1902,” “Sister Squares.” The Petigru Review. 15. 2020.

  • Sequential art. “Necrobots.” riverSedge. 33. January 2021.

  • Sequential art. “How I Met My Wife,” “Wally and Egon,” “Hall of Mirrors.” Outer Dark Symposium 2020 Chapbook. August 2020.

  • Sequential art. “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.” [PANK]. August 2020.

  • Sequential art. “Judy Suite (six visual poems).” Chronically Lit. July 2020

  • Sequential art. “Missing Scenes.” Grub Street. 69. 2020.

  • Visual art. “Four Panels,” “Three Divers,” “Male Nude Sitting,” “Nude with Flag.” FishFood. March 2020.

  • Sequential art. “My Mother’s Ashes.” Big Other. February 2020.

  • Visual art. “Galleries.” Dream Noir. February 2020.

  • Sequential art. “Strips.” Lumina. 10.1. January 2020.

  • Visual art. “’Lady Frankenstein (1971), No. 1-9.” Abstract: Contemporary Expressions. January 2020.

  • Short story. “Unproven.” Book XI: A Journal of Literary Philosophy. 1.3. 2019.

  • Sequential art. “The Swimmers.” Ponder Review. 3.2. 2019.

  • Sequential art. “American Descent.” Scoundrel Time. October. 2019.

  • Sequential art. “Obscured Panels.” Sequentials. 1.3. 2019.

  • Sequential art & cover. “Don’t.” Two Cities Review. 22. Summer 2019.

  • Sequential art. “Made for Each Other.” Co-authored with Lesley Wheeler. Split Lip. August 2019.

  • Sequential art. “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” Empty Mirror. July 2019.

  • Sequential art. “Thought Bubbles.” Redivider. 16.2. Summer 2019.

  • Sequential art. “Muybridge, Nude Woman Washing Face, Animal Locomotion, Plates 412 & 413.” The Sonder Review. 11. Summer 2019.

  • Sequential art. “Expected Outcomes.” The Ilanot Review. Winter 2019.

  • Sequential art. “Muybridge Comics.” Aquifer: The Florida Review Online. December 2018.

  • Sequential art. “Queer Arrangements.” Sequentials. 1.2. 2018

  • Sequential art. “1917: Van Doesburg & Modigiliani.” Hair Trigger 2.0. 1.3. 2018

  • Short story. “Godmother.” Crazyhorse. 92. 2017.

  • Short story. “The Afterlife.” Image. 94. 2017.

  • Sequential art. “This Is Not Marilyn: The Dailies.” Sequentials. 1.1. 2017.

  • Short story. “Willing.” Phantom Drift. 6. October 2016.

  • Short story. “The First Week.” Crazyhorse. 88. Fall 2015.

  • Prose poem sequence. “Paragon Comics.” Drawn to Marvel: Poems from the Comic Books. Minor Arcana Press. February 2014.

  • Short story. “A Working Theory of Everything.” Phantom Drift. 3. Fall 2013.

  • Short story. “The Way Home.” The Saint Ann’s Review. Summer/Fall 2012.

    Short story. “Isn’t.” Phantom Drift. 2. Fall 2012.

  • Short story. “Talk to the Dead.” Tampa Review. 43.44. 2012.

  • Short story. “The Way Back.” Fiction. 58. 2012.

  • Short story. “A Very Light Fever.” Witness. 25.1. Spring 2012.

  • Short story. “Who’s Afraid?” Zone 3. 27.1. Spring 2012.

  • Short story. “Script Outline: ‘The One and Only!’ Draft 1.” The Pinch. 31.2. Fall 2011.

  • Creative nonfiction. “Supergirl.” Brain, Child. 12.1. Winter 2010.

  • Short story. “The Hole It Would Leave.” Crazyhorse. 77. Spring 2010.

  • Short story. “C+, B-, B, F, B, A, C-, A-.” dislocate. 6. Spring 2010.

  • Short story. “My Half.” Quarter After Eight. 16. Spring 2010.

  • Short story. “The Marriage of the Strawman and the Patchwork Girl.” The Literary Review. 53.1. Fall 2009.

  • Short story. “Almost Africa.” Saranac Review. 5. 2010.

  • Short story. “Waiting for You.” roger. 4. Spring 2009.

  • Short story. “G.O.D.” The Hudson Review. LXII.1. Spring 2009.

  • Short story. “Identical.” Potomac Review. 45. 2009.

  • Short story. “NAME: ___________.” Pank. 3. 2009.

  • Short story. “The First Documentary.” Witness. XXII. 2009.

  • One-act play. “The Chris and Alex Show.” Third Coast. Spring 2008.

  • Short story. “Truth.” American Literary Review. 19.1. Spring 2008.

  • Short story. “Is.” New England Review. 29.2 2008.

  • Short story. “Sixteen.” Short Story. 5. Fall 2008.

  • Short story. “Tax Information for Parents of Kidnapped Children.” Phoebe. Fall 2008.

  • Short story. “Regrets.” Beloit Fiction Journal. 21. 2008

  • Short story. “Indian Finds Blood on Trail of Lost Child.” South Dakota Review. 46.1 2008.

  • Short story. “The Bones.” Prairie Schooner. 82.1. 2008.

  • Short story. “Recipe for Giblets.” Crab Orchard Review. 12.2. 2007.

  • Short story. “Earth 2.” Harrington Gay Men’s Literary Quarterly. 8.4. 2007.

  • Short story. “Bury the Survivors.” minnesota review. 68. 2007.

  • Short story. “Ivy Miller Poses.” Southwest Review. 92.1. 2007.

  • Short story. “Best Adaptation.” Sou’wester. 35.1. 2006.

  • Short story. “Yes.” storySouth. Fall 2006.

  • Short story. “Simple Objects.” Boulevard. 22.1 2006.

  • Short story. “Burn This When You’re Done Reading.” Saint Ann’s Review. 6.1 2006

  • Creative nonfiction. “Paperback.” Texas Review. 26.3&4. 2006.

  • Ten-minute play. “Who’s on First: The Movie.” McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. 2005. Reprinted Toronto Star, March 12, 2005.

  • Short story. “The Passion of Joan Allen.” Black Warrior Review. 32.1. 2005.

  • Short story. “The Longest Distance.” Aethlon. 22.2. 2005.

  • Short story. “INT. HOTEL ROOM — DAY.” Hayden’s Ferry Review. 35. 2005.

  • Short story. “Plague of Frogs.” Image. 44. 2005.

  • Short story. “The Best and Worst Sex Scenes of All Time.” Shenandoah. 54.3. 2005.

Stage & Film

  • Full-length play. The Zombie Life. Aura CuriAtlas Physical Theatre, Williamsburg, VA, July 2023.

  • Full-length play. The Zombie Life. Firehouse Theatre, Richmond, VA, in production for August 2021.

  • Online monologues. “The Zombie Monologues.” Firehouse Theatre, Richmond, VA, August 2020.

  • One-act play reading. “The Afterlife.” Pittsburgh New Works Festival Original Play
    Reading, November 3, 2017
    .
  • One-act play production. “Empty Plots.” Pittsburgh New Works Festival, September 2015.

  • One-act play production. “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Pittsburgh New Works Festival, September, 2014.
  • Ten-minute play production. “Cell Phone.” Hell With the Lid Off. Thoreau, NA—A Production Company. Pittsburgh, PA, May 10- 11, 2014. Barhoppers, Charlottesville, VA, March 15-17, 22-24, 29-31, April 5-7, 2009. WOMENSCENE, Pittsburgh, PA, May 15-17, 2008.

  • One-act play staged reading. “Life on Mars.” Pittsburgh New Works Festival. August 19, 2012.

  • One-act play production. “The Tragedy of John Wilkes Booth.” Pittsburgh New Works Festival, September 8-11, 2011.

  • Short screenplay. “Mary’s Fare.” Filmed by Linda Byrket, Bret Dahlgren, Donald L. Drennan, premiered Cowtown Film Series—Shorts, Columbus, OH, December 2009.

  • One-act play production. “Vows.” Pittsburgh New Works Festival, October 1-4, 2009.

  • Full-length play staged reading. William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of John Wilkes Booth. Harriett Lake Festival of New Plays, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, January 25 & 29, 2009. Workshop production, Virginia Playwrights Initiative, Hamner Theatre, Nelson County, VA, December 7, 2008.

  • Ten-minute play production. “Angie.” The Body Beautiful, Your Inner Vagabond, Pittsburgh, PA, January 21-25, 2009.

  • One-act play production. “Man Woman Hombre Mujer.” Pittsburgh New Work Festival, September 2008.

  • One-act play production. “The Chris and Alex Show.” Pittsburgh New Works Festival, September 2007.

  • Dance script production. “Re-Membering: The World is Made Daily in Our Hearts,” choreographed by Joan Gavaler, premiered November 2007, Williamsburg, VA. Adapted as dance script “Practice Songs,” premiered November, 1991, Columbus, OH.

  • One-act play production. “Moving Mary.” Pittsburgh New Works Festival, September 2006.

  • Short screenplay. “Who’s on First: The Movie.” Filmed by Socal Film Group, CA, premiered Austin Film Festival 2005.

  • Short screenplay. “Always Late.” Filmed by One Block Over. 2004.

  • Dance script production. “Virus Warning 42: A Poetry Reading,” choreographed by Joan Gavaler, premiered Williamsburg, VA, October 30, 2003.

Honors & Awards

  • “Expected Outcomes.” Nominated for Best of the Net, Creative Nonfiction by The Ilanot Review, 2019.

  • One-act play. “Empty Plots.” Outstanding Playwright award, Pittsburgh New Works Festival, 2015.

  • Short story. “Isn’t.” Phantom Drift. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize. 2012.

  • Short story. “G.O.D.” Other Distinguished Stories of 2009, Best American Short Stories 2010.

  • Short story. “Is.” Selected for The Real Unreal: Best American Fantasy 3. Edited by Kevin Brockmeier. Underland Press. 2010.

  • Short story. “Marriage of the Strawman and the Patchwork Girl.” Nominated for a Pushcart Prize. 2009.

  • Short story. “Identical.” Nominated for a Pushcart Prize. 2009.

  • Short story. “NAME: ___________.” Nominated for a Pushcart Prize. 2009.

  • One-act play. “Vows.” Outstanding Playwright award, Pittsburgh New Works Festival, October 1-4, 2009. Delauney Playwriting Award, University of Virginia, 2006.

  • One-act play. “Man Woman Hombre Mujer.” Outstanding Playwright and Outstanding Production awards, Pittsburgh New Work Festival, September 2008.

  • Full-length play. “The Last Video Store Starring Albert MacKenzie.” Semifinalist, City Attic Theatre Play Competition. 2008.

  • One-act play. “No Service.” Honorable Mention, FirstStage One-Act Competition 2007.

  • One-act play. “The Chris and Alex Show.” Outstanding Playwright and Outstanding Production awards, Pittsburgh New Works Festival, September 2007.

  • Short film. “Who’s on First: The Movie.” Director’s Choice for Best Comedy, Smogdance Film Festival 2007.

  • Silver medal for Short Short, Rebel Planet Film Festival 2007.

  • One-act play. “Moving Mary.” Outstanding Playwright award, Pittsburgh New Works Festival, September 2006.

  • Best Student Play Award, University of Virginia, 2006.

  • Short screenplay. “Always Late.” Audience Award Winner and Finalist for Cincinnati’s 48 Hour Film Competition 2004.

  • Henry Hoynes Fellowship, University of Virginia, 2004

Presentations

  • Panel paper. With Nathaniel Goldberg. “Ordering Comics.” Philosophy of Comics conference, Columbus, Ohio, August 2023.

  • Panel paper. “Black and White and Color: Reprinting Race in Jaime Hernandez’s Mechanics.” Comics Studies Society conference, Denton, Texas, July 2023.

  • Panel paper. “Drawing Pandemics.” Graphic Medicine conference, Toronto, July 2023.

  • Panel paper. “White Supremacy in Marvel Comics.” Northeastern MLA conference, Niagara Falls, March 2023.

  • Panel paper. “The Comics Form.” Advancing Comics Theory (chair), Northeastern MLA conference, Baltimore, March 2022.

  • Panel paper. “The Color of Paper: Racial Invisibility in the Comics Medium.” Invisible Lines conference, Venice, June 2022.

  • Panel paper. “Superhero Islamicism: An orientalist history of the 20th-century character type.” Muslims in Comics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor/Zoom, October 23, 2020.

  • Lecture. “Weirding Whiteness: Genre and Eugenics.” Outer Dark Symposium, Atlanta/Zoom, August 16, 2020.

  • Panel paper. “Making ‘the Invisible Art’ Visible: Theorizing Undrawn Comics Content.” Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association. Pittsburgh, November 2019.

  • Panel paper. “Graphic Violence.” MLA International Symposium, Lisbon, Portugal, July 2019.

  • Panel paper. “Making “the Invisible Art” Visible: Theorizing Undrawn Comics Content.” Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association. Pittsburgh, November 2019.

  • Lecture. “A Brief History of Swamp Things.” The Outer Weird Symposium. Atlanta, April 2019.

  • Panel paper. “Modernist Alternatives to Heroism in 1930s America.” Modernist Studies Association Conference, Columbus, OH, November 2018.

  • Lecture. “On the Origin of Supermen.” Colby College, November 21, 2017.

  • Panel paper. “The Proto-Barksian Dialect of Frans Masereel.” Modernist Comics Panel (chair), Modernist Studies Association Conference, Amsterdam, August 2017.

  • Panel paper. “Resolving Naturalistic Tension in Superhero Comics.” Mid-West Popular Culture Association Conference, Chicago, October 9, 2016.

  • Guest lecture. “Supermania.” Marymount College Manhattan, New York, September 26 & 27, 2016.

  • Panel paper. “On the Origin of Superheroes.” Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Conference, Philadelphia, October, 2015.
  • Panelist. “1940: World War II and Comics.” Wizard World Comic Con Pittsburgh. September12, 2015.

  • Panel paper. “Donald Davidson and the Mind of Swamp Things.” Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association International Conference, Reykjavik, Iceland, July22-24, 2015.

  • Panel paper. “‘Super’ History.” Super Heroes Before Superman. Comics Arts Conference, Wonder-con, Anaheim, CA, April 3, 2015.

  • Panel paper. “The Literary Superhero.” Northeast Popular Culture Association Conference. Providence, RI. October 24, 2014.

  • Panel paper. “The Well-born Superhero.” Michigan Statue University Comics Forum. February 25, 2014.

  • Panel discussion participant. “Contemplative Practices in Higher Education.” Washington and Lee University. February 27, 2014.

  • Featured lecture. “Goon Squad is Pulp Fiction.” Tom Wolfe Weekend Seminar. April 6, 2013.

  • Featured lecture. “Alice Munro.” Nobel Prize Luncheon. November 13, 2013.

  • Panel paper. “Zombies vs. Superheroes: The Walking Dead Reboot of Fantastic Four Gender Formulas.” University of Florida Graduate Comics Organization’s 11th

  • Annual Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels. March 15, 2013.

  • Playwriting seminar. Virginia Writers Club, Staunton, VA. February 24, 2013.

  • Panel paper. “Recreating, Rewriting and Reinventing Myth,” AATE and ATHE Conference, New York, 2009.

  • Featured lecture, fiction contest judge. “He Said, She Said: Strategies for Using and Framing Dialogue.” Chesapeake Writers’ Conference, Glenns, VA, October 2003.

  • Commencement speaker. Harrisonburg High School, Harrisonburg, VA, June 2003.

  • Program session leader. “Creative Writing: A Tool for Critical Thinking in the New Era for Literacy.” VRSA Conference, Roanoke, VA, March 2003.

  • Panelist, Virginia Festival of the Book, Charlottesville, VA, March 2003.

  • Panelist, Harriette Austen Writers Conference, Athens, GA, July 2002.