2024 Trigon Awardees

Spiral Tower Press has established the Trigon Awards to show appreciation for those who champion the past, present, and future of the pulp genres of science fiction, fantasy, and supernatural horror. Trigon awardees demonstrate artistic, intellectual, and passionate commitment to the values celebrated by the sorcerer's mysterious trigon: chronopolitanism, compassion, and hope.

The Trigon Awards will consist of three categories: literary achievement, scholarly achievement, and special achievement.

Trigon Awards are determined by a rotating and anonymous standing committee, "The Trigon Committee," who nominate and select the awardees with the optional voting and nominating aid of previous awardees. Although there will be no formal nominating process, advice and suggestions are welcomed by the committee. Nominees will be secret and will not be announced or discussed by the Trigon Committee in public or outside of official internal award-focused discussions. The award carries no financial remunerations. Awardees will receive a certificate.

Congratulations to the 2024 Trigon Awardees

Literary Achievement: Howard Andrew Jones

Scholarly Achievement: Jeffrey Shanks

Special Achievement: Oliver Brackenbury

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Spiral Con 3 Show Notes

In order to help you continue your mind expanding journey that is Spiral Con 3, below are links for the panelists and moderators.
(Page will be updated as further info is beamed into the cosmic consciousnes.)
Panel #1: NEITHER BEG NOR YIELD: THE SWORD AND SORCERY ATTITUDE.
Panelists
C.L. Werner: Black Library Authors
Adrian Cole: Adrian Cole ISFDB
Eadwine Brown: Eadeine Brown Good Reads
Lawrence A. Weinstein: Author Website
Moderator
Jason M. Waltz: Rogue Blade Entertainment

Panel #2: Guest of Honor: C.L. Werner
C.L. Werner: Black Library Authors

Presentation/Panel #3: Battleborn and the Appeal of Contemporary Sword and Sorcery.
Panelists
Cora Buhlert: Author Website
Matt Holder: Twitter bluesky
J. Cal Baldari
Moderator
Sean CW Korsgaard: BattleBorn Magazine Anvil Magazine

Presentation/Panel #4: Barbarians at the Gates
Panelists Brian Collins (he/him): Science Fiction and Fantasy Remembrances
Paul Weimer (he/him): bluesky Patreon
Kris Vyas-Myall (they/them): bluesky
Moderator
Cora Buhlert: Author Website

Panel #5: Clark Ashton Smith and the Literature of Cosmicism
Read all of Smith's work for free at Eldtritch Dark
Panelists
Robert Poyton: Innsmouth Gold
Jason Ray Carney: Spiral Tower Press
Moderator
Nils Hedglin (he/him): Clark Ashton Smithery blog
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SpiralCon 3 Guide for Attendees and Moderators

For Panel Attendees

No registration is required.

Muting Your Microphone: Upon joining the panel, please ensure your microphone is muted to avoid overwhelming background noise.

View Settings: You may prefer to modify your Google Meet display settings to either "Tiled" or "Spotlight":
    • Spotlight: Highlights the current speaker.
    • Tiled: Allows you to see all the speakers simultaneously. This setting provides a broader view of participants.
Asking Questions: Do not use your microphone to ask questions. Instead, type your questions in the chat box. The moderator and the moderator's aide will monitor the chat closely.
    • If attendance is low, we may allow questions to be asked directly via microphone, but please use the chat initially for organizational purposes.
Technical Issues: If you experience difficulties, such as connecting to the chat, consider logging out and logging back in. This action often resolves technical problems. The meeting links are persistent, so you can rejoin as long as the panel session is active.

For Moderators

Introductions:
  • Encourage panelists to introduce themselves unless you have prepared introductions.
  • Managing the Panel:
    • Have at least three open-ended questions ready to engage the panelists and stimulate discussion.
    • It's essential to direct attention to your panelists and manage the flow of the conversation.
Time Management:
  • Each panel session lasts for 50 minutes. The Google Meet will automatically end at the 60-minute mark.
  • Aim to begin wrapping up the discussion 40 minutes after starting to allow time for final remarks and to discuss ongoing projects.
Handling Audience Questions:
  • A moderator’s aide (typically JRC, but occasionally others) will monitor the chat for questions from the audience.
Additional Support:

For any further questions, feel free to direct message (DM) JRC. JRC is available on both the SpiralCon Discord and the Whetstone Discord channels.

Here are the links to join the panels

All panels are on Saturday, July 27th, 2024. The time zone is US Eastern Standard Time.

8:30a-8:50p (US EST): Pre-con Gathering and Trigon Awards: https://meet.google.com/qxi-rmxo-ohb

9:00a-9:50a (US EST): Panel #1: https://meet.google.com/hzz-gnqc-rqw

10:00a-10:50a (US EST): Panel #2: https://meet.google.com/vut-xdqt-fso

11:00a-11:50a (US EST): Panel #3: https://meet.google.com/vqz-nymy-jug

1:30p-2:20p (US EST): Panel #4: https://meet.google.com/dth-pfah-tnm

2:30p-3:20p (US EST): Panel #5: https://meet.google.com/wun-dqgy-zox
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SpiralCon 3: Panel #5: Clark Ashton Smith and the Literature of Cosmicism

Saturday, July 27th, 2:30-3:20p US EST

Panel Description: This panel will be a discussion on the literary contributions of Clark Ashton Smith, a pivotal figure in the genres of cosmic horror (prose and poetry), sword and sorcery, and sci-fi horror. This panel will explore Smith's unique narrative style and abstract protagonists, his thematic explorations of the macabre, the grotesque, and the cosmic indifferentism that characterizes his work. Panelists will examine how Smith's vivid imagery, esoteric diction, and prose/poetry hybridity creates worlds that both terrify and fascinate, situating him within the broader context of cosmicism alongside Weird Tales contemporaries like H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. Panelists will discuss Smith's influence on modern speculative fiction and the enduring legacy of his literary artistry. 

Moderator: Nils Hedglin. Panelists: Rob Poyton (Host: Strange Shadows: A Clark Ashton Smith Podcast, Innsmouth Book Club) and Jason Ray Carney

Google Meet Link: https://meet.google.com/wun-dqgy-zox




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Spiral Con Panel Links Page (Google Meet Links)

For convenience, here is a page that consolidates the SpiralCon 3 Google Meet Panel Links.

All panels are on Saturday, July 27th, 2024. The time zone is US Eastern Standard Time.

8:30a-8:50p (US EST): Pre-con Gathering and Trigon Awards: https://meet.google.com/qxi-rmxo-ohb

9:00a-9:50a (US EST): Panel #1: https://meet.google.com/hzz-gnqc-rqw

10:00a-10:50a (US EST): Panel #2: https://meet.google.com/vut-xdqt-fso

11:00a-11:50a (US EST): Panel #3: https://meet.google.com/vqz-nymy-jug

1:30p-2:20p (US EST): Panel #4: https://meet.google.com/dth-pfah-tnm

2:30p-3:20p (US EST): Panel #5: https://meet.google.com/wun-dqgy-zox

Get more information about SpiralCon3 HERE.



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SpiralCon 3: Persistent Valheim Server: Help Build the Whetstone Tavern

The evening of Friday, July 26th (approx. 5p EST) to Sunday, July 28th (approx. 10a).

From Friday, July 26th through Sunday morning, July 28th, attendees of our SpiralCon 3 can immerse themselves in a unique gaming experience by participating in a collaborative building project within the survival game Valheim. For those unfamiliar, Valheim is a multiplayer survival and sandbox game where players explore a vast procedurally-generated world inspired by Norse mythology. In the game, players must gather resources, build shelters, craft tools and weapons, and fight mythical creatures to survive and thrive.

Our con will host a persistent Valheim server dedicated to constructing the "Whetstone Sword and Sorcery Tavern." 

The Valheim server will be available continuously throughout the event, allowing attendees to log in and contribute to the building project at any time.  This ephemeral server will only be active from 7/26 to the morning of 7/28.

More details to follow. Thanks to Ben Simmons, editor of Way Station: Amateur Magazine of Space Opera, for volunteering to host this element of our convention.



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SpiralCon 3: Panel #4: Barbarians at the Gates: The Second Sword and Sorcery Boom and the Birth of the Modern Fantasy Genre.

Saturday, July 27th, 2024, 1:30-2:20p.

Panel Description: In the mid 1960s, fantasy exploded into the mainstream, when Ace (illegally) published Lord of the Rings in paperback and Lancer began reprinting the Conan stories with Frank Frazetta covers and new material added. Both were huge successes and opened the floodgates for a Barbarian boom that lasted into the early 1980s. However, the sword and sorcery revival had been simmering under the radar since around 1960, when Cele Goldsmith began publishing sword and sorcery in the pages of Fantastic and John Carnell did the same in the UK in Science Fantasy. Fritz Leiber returned to Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, new writers like Michael Moorcock, Lin Carter, Joanna Russ and Roger Zelazny entered the genre and the fanzine Amra provided a place for fans and writers of the still nameless genre to get together. This panel will explore how the 1960s sword and sorcery boom came to be and how it continues to influence the fantasy genre until this day.

Moderator: Cora Buhlert: Buhlert is a Hugo Award-winning author based in Bremen, Germany. She holds an MA degree in English from the University of Bremen. Buhlert has published a wide array of stories, articles, and poetry in various international magazines. Her literary works span multiple genres, including pulp-style thrillers, space opera series, and the Thurvok and Kurval sword and sorcery series. Buhlert won the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer and the 2021 Space Cowboy Award. She also works as a professional translator and has experience teaching English and German as a foreign language. 

Panelists: Cora Buhlert, Paul Weimer, Brian Collins, and Kris Vyas-Myall.



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SpiralCon 3 Panel #3: The Appeal of Contemporary S&S

Saturday, July 27th, 2024. 11:00a - 11:50a EST

Moderator: Sean CW Korsgaard is a United States Army veteran, an award-winning photojournalist, and a freelance reporter with articles published in titles such as The New York Times, VFW Magazine, and Analog. He served as an assistant editor and media relations manager at Baen Books until 2023 and is recognized for his contributions to science fiction and fantasy, including co-editing the anthology Worlds Long Lost. His most recent project orbits his love of sword and sorcery fiction as he is founding a new magazine, Battleborn. Korsgaard holds a degree in mass communications and history from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Panelists: Matt Holder, Cora Buhlert, and Dr. John "Cal" Baldari




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TriAPA Mailing #11

Spiral Tower Press has established an 'Amateur Press Association,' TRIAPA, and its tenth mailing is now available. We extend our sincere thanks to our excellent contributors. If you are interested in submitting a zine for TRIAPA #12 please send a 2-page zine (maximum) to spiraltowerpress@gmail.com with the subject of "TriAPA: [zine name]". We invite and encourage all fans of sword and sorcery, cosmic horror, and space opera to submit.

You can read more about TRIAPA HERE.

2024

CONGRATULATIONS to all the TriAPA contributors. We have been publishing the TriAPA for a whole year now (skipped 1 month). So raise your Swords, Rayguns and Tenticles in celebration!
You can download the eleventh mailing here: TRIAPA Mailing #11

You can download the tenth mailing here: TRIAPA Mailing #10

You can download the ninth mailing here: TRIAPA Mailing #9

You can download the eighth mailing here: TRIAPA Mailing #8

You can download the seventh mailing here: TRIAPA Mailing #7

You can download the sixth mailing here: TRIAPA Mailing #6

2023

You can download the fifth mailing here: TRIAPA Mailing #5

You can download the fourth mailing here: TRIAPA Mailing #4

You can download the third mailing here: TRIAPA Mailing #3

You can download the second mailing here: TRIAPA Mailing #2

You can download the first mailing here: TRIAPA Mailing #1
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