OZtoberFest 2013: Full Schedule Announced!

Paul Miles Schneider | The Official Site Posted on by 2
OZtoberFest - September 27-29, 2013. Wamego, Kansas.

OZtoberFest – September 27-29, 2013. Wamego, Kansas.

Come one, come all to Wamego, Kansas, home of the Oz Museum, the Oz Winery, Toto’s Tacoz, the historic Columbian Theatre, and much more! This year’s schedule of events is shaping up to be loads of fun, and I couldn’t be more pleased and proud to be a part of it.

For those of you unfamiliar with this festival, it’s in its ninth year now, and it isn’t just for fans of Oz alone. In addition to the Oz-themed attractions that bring people to Wamego from all over the nation, this year’s event features added activities designed to appeal to local residents of all ages. Think of it as a street fair, a county fair, an arts & crafts show, and an Octoberfest-style community party, with something for everyone.

Festival fun in Wamego, Kansas!

Festival fun in Wamego, Kansas!

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Festival Hours:

Saturday, September 28, 2013: 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Ongoing activities and attractions: inflatables, petting zoo, silent auction, Oz characters roaming around, craft vendors, food vendors, authors (at various times inside OZ Museum), information booth, observe art & writing competition entries, memorial for Margret Pellegrini, TOMS shoe company, Tallgrass Beer Garden – 10:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

On the Entertainment Stage:

  • 11:30 a.m. – Wicked Witch Look-Alike Contest
  • 12:00 p.m. – Jessica Furney
  • 12:30 p.m. – Witch Cackle Contest
  • 1:00 p.m. – Manhattan High School Pops Choir
  • 1:30 p.m. – Miss Kansas Wheelchair Speaks and introduces next act
  • 2:00 p.m. – Wamego High School Jazz Band
  • 2:30 p.m. – Dorothy Look-Alike Contest
  • 3:00 p.m. – Of Sirens
  • 4:00 p.m. – Dorothy Callin’ Contest

Sunday, September 29, 2013: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Ongoing activities and attractions: inflatables, petting zoo, silent auction, Oz characters roaming around, craft vendors, food vendors, authors (at various times inside OZ Museum), information booth, observe art & writing competition entries, memorial for Margret Pellegrini, Tallgrass Beer Garden – 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

On the Entertainment Stage:

  • 12:30 p.m. – Wicked Witch Look-Alike
  • 1:00 p.m. – Hannah Conroy-Philbrook
  • 1:30 p.m. – Dorothy Callin’ Contest
  • 2:00 p.m. – Little Shop of Horrors Scenes/Songs
  • 2:30 p.m. – Dorothy Look-Alike
  • 3:00 p.m. – Miss Kansas Teen

Location:

Wamego, Kansas – From Lawrence, KS: 1 hr. 6 min. (71 miles). From Topeka, KS: 43 min. (43 miles). From Kansas City, MO: 1 hr. 37 min. (108 miles). From Manhattan, KS: 21 min. (15.6 miles).

Clare and Robert Baum, great-grandson of L. Frank Baum in Wamego, KS.

Clare and Robert Baum, great-grandson of L. Frank Baum in Wamego, KS.

Special Guest Appearances:

This year’s special guests (besides me!) include Emmy-winning Oz and Garland historian, renowned author, and event host John Fricke, MGM Munchkin-by-marriage Myrna Swenson, two of L. Frank Baum’s great-grandsons: Roger S. Baum, author of “Dorothy of Oz” (soon to be adapted as a 3D animated film featuring the voices of Lea Michele, Patrick Stewart, and Kelsey Grammer), Robert Baum and his wife Clare Baum (reenacting moments from L. Frank Baum’s life, in costume, for children and adults alike), JohnPaul Cafiero, a Franciscan Friar whose family owns thousands of Oz artifacts (books, toys, dolls, games, etc. exhibited at the Oz Museum), and accomplished jazz singer Betti O, who will be performing an evening of Harold Arlen tunes for a Friday fundraiser that kicks off the weekend, with the Bill Harshbarger Jazz Ensemble.

Friday, September 27, 2013:

Over the Rainbow: Betti O Sings the Music of Harold Arlen – All OZtoberFest special guests will be in attendance for this event, which begins with wine, beer, and appetizers at 6:00 p.m., a buffet dinner at 7:15, and the concert at 8:00 p.m.

The Peddicord Playhouse in the Columbian Theatre.

The Peddicord Playhouse in the Columbian Theatre.

Saturday, September 28, 2013:

  • 6:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Yellow Brick Road Bike Ride
  • 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. – One Wicked Run
  • 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – John Fricke 3D Movie (Little Theatre in Oz Museum)
  • 10:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. – Tallgrass Beer Garden
  • 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Paul Miles Schneider Book Presentation: “The Genesis of Silver Shoes, A Creative Writing Backstory” (Wamego Public Library)
  • 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Robert Baum & Clare Baum (Little Theatre in Oz Museum)
  • 11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. – KSU Mock Trial (Oz-themed) (Peddicord Playhouse in Columbian Theatre)
  • 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. – Roger S. Baum Book Presentation (Little Theatre in Oz Museum)
  • 1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. – KSU Mock Trial (Oz-themed, continuous) (Peddicord Playhouse in Columbian Theatre)
  • 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Q&A hosted by John Fricke, with Myrna Swenson, Paul Miles Schneider, and JohnPaul Cafiero (Little Theatre in Oz Museum)
  • 3:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. – KSU Mock Trial (Oz-themed, continuous) (Peddicord Playhouse in Columbian Theatre)
  • 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – John Fricke Press Interview Presentation (Little Theatre in Oz Museum)
  • 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. – Paul Miles Schneider Book Presentation: “Envisioning Oz For Today’s World” (Little Theatre in Oz Museum)
  • 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – Cook Out (Swogger Gallery in Columbian Theatre)
  • 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. – Pott County Posse (Peddicord Playhouse in Columbian Theatre)

Signings for the special guests will be going on all day in the Oz Museum, scheduled around the events listed above.

Sunday, September 29, 2013:

  • 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Paul Miles Schneider Book Presentation: “An Early Audience With the Wicked Witch of the West: Paul’s Pen Pal Margaret Hamilton” (Little Theatre in Oz Museum)
  • 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Tallgrass Beer Garden
  • 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. – John Fricke Book Presentation (Little Theatre in Oz Museum)
  • 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Paul Miles Schneider Book Presentation: “Discovering the Magic Recipe For The Powder of Life, The Challenges of Writing a Sequel” (Little Theatre in Oz Museum)
  • 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. – Q&A & Signing with John Fricke, Myrna Swenson, Paul Miles Schneider, JohnPaul Cafiero, Roger S. Baum, Robert Baum, and Clare Baum) (Little Theatre in Oz Museum)

Signings for the special guests will be going on all day in the Oz Museum, scheduled around the events listed above.

More information can be found by visiting either the OZtoberFest website or their Facebook page.

Hope to see you all there! Come say hello and enjoy the fun!

“Oztoberfest” in Wamego, Kansas – September 27-29, 2013!

Paul Miles Schneider | The Official Site Posted on by  

Oztoberfest Logo

I’ll have more details about this in the weeks ahead, but I will be a guest at this year’s Oztoberfest in Wamego, Kansas, running from September 27-29, 2013! Just an hour and ten minutes from where I live.  Emmy-winning Oz historian John Fricke will be attending, and two of L. Frank Baum’s great-grandsons: author Roger Baum and Robert Baum! I’ll be selling and signing copies of my books and very likely will be giving a talk or two while I’m there. More info to come soon, including the specifics about a bicycle race (Miss Gulch style) a beer garden party, a singer and band featuring Harold Arlen tunes, and much more! This really should be a great event this year!

Mark your calendars now: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 27-29, 2013.

Hope to see you there!

The Next Step: “Lights, Camera … Action!” Adapting “Silver Shoes” For the Big (or Small) Screen

Paul Miles Schneider | The Official Site Posted on by 2

If there’s one comment I’ve heard most from people who’ve read Silver Shoes, it’s “This would make a great movie.” Well, I’ve taken your inspirational thought to heart.

"Silver Shoes" screenplay, first draft.

“Silver Shoes” screenplay, first draft.

I’ve always wanted to take a stab at it myself and see what happens: to attempt to turn a page of narrative description into visual images, minimize dialogue, and propel the story in a brand new medium.

It’s already an action-adventure/suspense/fantasy tale (a lot of “slashes” there) and fairly lean when it comes to page length. I write “cinematically,” or so I’ve been told by people who do that sort of thing for a living. I don’t feel like I’m starting out with “unadaptable” material, in other words. It’s good to go.

Although I was  encouraged, I was still ill-equipped. I’d never written a screenplay before, despite growing up in a household with a father who was a filmmaker and a mother who was an actress. I read scripts almost from the time I learned to read anything at all. I began acting in my father’s films when I was barely five years old. Still, the craft of screenwriting from a writer’s perspective was foreign to me, and an essential next step.

So I retreated to a private “boot camp” for several  months. I absorbed, studied, experimented, read, emulated, mutated, and pondered. I have returned from the mountains and now have a first draft completed. I couldn’t be happier with it. I’ve learned how, visually, an emotional glance between two characters can replace half a page of conversation. How “showing” what happens is always better than “telling.” How economizing five sentences of spoken dialogue into one keeps things fresh, focused, and moving along.

Fortunately, Silver Shoes was already a mix of character-driven scenes and action-driven visuals. In both cases, deciding what was most important to the story and finding the essence of each scene proved to be challenging but also rewarding.

I’m not finished yet. Are we ever in life? This is a work in progress, as am I. In the weeks ahead, I plan to pursue ‘the next step” with this screenplay. Let people read it, comment on it, tell me what works and what doesn’t. And see where things go. Good, bad, or indifferent, I feel certain a new adventure is about to begin.

SILVER SHOES and THE POWDER OF LIFE now available in a combined, revised edition on Amazon!

Paul Miles Schneider | The Official Site Posted on by 2
"The Complete, Incomplete Adventures of Donald Gardner and the Silver Shoes." Available now.

“The Complete, Incomplete Adventures of Donald Gardner and the Silver Shoes.” Available now.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

Telling the tale. That’s what is most important to me. And that is why I decided to offer these two serialized novels in a combined edition at an “attractive price,” as they used to say in vintage advertisements. I’ve also gussied them up a bit—smoothing out language, correcting minor errors, and even embellishing the prose here and there in my never-ending quest to make them as good as I possibly can, given my abilities as a mere mortal and self-published author.

These are the definitive editions of “Silver Shoes” and its sequel “The Powder of Life.” Call this the “director’s cut” of a double feature, if you will. And if you already own the first editions of each book, I am by no means advocating that you buy this new and improved printing. But if you haven’t yet taken the journey with Donald Gardner, or if you prefer things “new and improved,” this is the ideal mode.

I actually took my cue from Lewis Carroll, who elected to have his two Wonderland novels published in a combined edition shortly after they were written. I’m proud of these stories, and that’s why I am compelled to share them with as many people as possible. “Silver Shoes” was first published in 2009 and was recognized as a Kansas Notable Book in 2010 by the Kansas Center for the Book and the State Library of Kansas. Its sequel, “The Powder of Life” was published last year in 2012.

I offer them both to you now and hope you enjoy the ride!

Best always,
Paul Miles Schneider

The Complete, Incomplete Adventures … in PAPERBACK (CLICK HERE). Edit: now out of print.

A nice display for signed copies of “Silver Shoes” at the Mystery & Imagination Bookshop in Glendale, CA!

Paul Miles Schneider | The Official Site Posted on by  
Mystery & Imagination Bookshop in Glendale, CA.

Mystery & Imagination Bookshop in Glendale, CA.

A good friend from Los Angeles posted this for me yesterday on Facebook. He was doing a show at the Mystery & Imagination Bookshop in Glendale, CA, and ran across this display of “Silver Shoes” with signed copies. Totally made my day! A fellow cast member from his show, Alex McCabe, is in the photo here.

Anybody in the L.A. area looking for autographed copies of “Silver Shoes” from a terrific, local, brick-and-mortar bookstore, this is definitely the place!