Odyssey '03 Graduates

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Class of '96

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Class of '98

Class of '99

Class of '00

Class of '01

Class of '02

Class of '03:

Wes Alderson

Philip Arena

Roger Bagwell

John Bowker

Kim Gillett

Alec Hutson

Natalia Lincoln

Laurie Marhoefer

Diana Price

Paco Ruiz

Ron Sering

Hannah Strom-Martin

Jessica Thomas

Sarah Totton

Michail Velichansky

Class of '04

Class of '05

Class of '06

Class of '07

Odyssey '03 Graduates

The Class of '03
"A High-Octane Triumph of the Human Spirit"

Back Row From left:	Michail Velichansky, Alec Hutson, Natalia Lincoln, John Bowker, Hannah Strom-Martin, Roger Bagwell, Jessica Thomas, Wes Alderson, Sarah Totton and Ron Sering
Front Row From left:	Paco Ruiz, Philip Arena, Kim Gillett, Jeanne Cavelos. Not pictured: Diana Price

Memorable Quotes from the '03 Class

"They sounded like they were from Jersey or something."
--Sarah Totton

"A duck is too goofy for a vampire story."
--Hannah Strom-Martin

"I think the number 24 lacked motivation."
--Jeanne Cavelos

"You can make your prose less voluptuous."
--Ron Sering

"My experience of lesbians is very limited."
--Paco Ruiz

"Jordan can't describe anything without the words steel, ice, fire, and honey."
--Philip Arena

"I found myself filling in details from my own central props department."
--Natalia Lincoln

"I think 'Three-Bump' is more of a girl's name."
--Kim Gillett

"What about his anatomy said dark power seat in the north?"
--Philip Arena

"This is kind of like The Breakfast Club except we're all Anthony Michael Hall."
--Diana Price

"Keep the funk level as high as you can."
--Roger Bagwell

"A modular pseudonovel collection."
--Wes Alderson

"Reptillian passion center..."
--Jeanne Cavelos

"Faulknerian man-children."
--Alec Hutson

"I really didn't like Jantin, mostly because he sweated a lot."
--Paco Ruiz

"And now we form the Circle of Carnage..."
--Diana Price

"Seem like he was running around too much without taking the time to be an asshole."
--Hannah Strom-Martin

"I didn't get the flower's motivation."
--Paco Ruiz

"It still has the same problem, though, Mike. Flowers can't talk!"
--Philip Arena

"You can get away with whatever you can get away with."
--John Crowley

"The tension is forced."
--Philip Arena

"Being in Asia really burns out your weirdness filter."
--John Bowker

"That's the most creative use of a cucumber I've ever seen."
--Hannah Strom-Martin

"I kept thinking this was like if Raymond Chandler had been a science geek."
--Diana Price

"You seem to have comma issues."
--Laurie Marhoefer

"My verb is feeble."
--Jeanne Cavelos

"I want you to crack my chest open and rip out my heart."
--Sarah Totton

"Mike is cancelled."
--Philip Arena

"I don't want to stink up your story, but . . ."
--Roland J. Green

"People are always wearing ears on their belts in fantasy."
--Hannah Strom-Martin

Comments about Odyssey

Wes Alderson

"Odyssey is the flower garden from which the best future writers of science fiction and fantasy will sprout, prosper, and achieve full bloom."

Philip Arena

"If you're looking to be anointed, go elsewhere. If you're willing to tear it all down and start over, you will be happy you did."

Roger Bagwell

"Absolutely improved my writing and sent me in the right direction."

Natalia Lincoln

"Jeanne Cavelos is an amazing, tireless critiquer and lecturer who really put the whole craft together for me. Her incisive and clear commentary illuminated the darker areas of my knowledge--I feel that she has helped me take my writing ahead by several years in the six weeks of the workshop. I would highly recommend Odyssey to any genre writer who wants to break out of the promising' category into the 'published' category."

Laurie Marhoefer

"Before I came to Odyssey, I thought I knew what I was doing. I didn't. Run, do not walk, to Jeanne's workshop. Jeanne's knowledge of the craft of writing is extensive, and her attention to student work is enormous--she writes two to three single-spaced pages on every story. Having an experienced editor's eye on your work for six weeks is invaluable."

Diana Price

"Not only did Jeanne Cavelos give me the tools to improve my craft, but the entire Odyssey experience renewed my commitment to--and enjoyment of--the art of writing, itself."

Paco Ruiz

"I liked this so much that I think I'm going to copy it somewhere. Only a notch below having your personal devil whispering in your ear about what you need to improve your writing. I came in wondering whether (and half wishing that) this was going to be my writing's death, and I leave with the disturbing knowledge that the writing muse is going to keep on walking my house's corridors every night, forever and ever. I'm cursed. My only unfulfilled wish is not having been given an opportunity to bond with Jeanne's iguana."

Ron Sering

"I came in here thinking I knew how to write, but it soon became clear that I had a lot to learn. Jeanne's canny knowledge of the fiction process and her editor's eye were extremely educational. Now I have the whole tool set. What I do with it is up to me."

Jessica Thomas

"Come to Odyssey and you will sweat and bleed and cry and rip yourself inside out. But you will meet people here who share your passion and your pain, who strive as earnestly as you strive, and with whom you will no longer need to journey toward that elusive goal alone."

Michail Velichansky

"Intense, frustrating, agonizing--this is not a vacation. This is not a fun time. This is years of struggle crammed into six weeks, and it shows. When you leave, you will have gone through the fire: charred, barely standing, and a better writer."

More Photos
(click to enlarge)

Phil and Mike in happier days, before they were cancelled.	Alec, the Emilio Estevez of "The Breakfast Club."	Corporal Punishment, Odyssey-style
The very cool and talented Melissa Scott. Buy her books.		Literary Maverick John Crowley
Mike and Natalia on the lookout for pirates. YAARRRR!!!		Jessica Thomas, Natalia Lincoln and Jeanne Cavelos at the cookout for Roland Green
John Bowker and Hannah Strom-Martin	The Official Mascot of Odyssey 03?	Jessica Thomas
Wes Alderson	Alec Hutson	Sarah Totton
Roger gets moral support from his wife at the Odyssey slam.	It was meant to be a simple class exercise, but turned into an obsession...	Ron Sering
Kim Gillett	Hannah and Ron	Hannah trying to beg her way out of the slam.
Sarah at the Odyssey slam	The Two Faces of Jeanne	Roger Bagwell
	An UNofficial Group pic	John Bowker
Phil	The Odyssey Curse	Sarah and Kevin Gold
Natalia, a member of the infamous "Murderers' Row," flees the scene of the crime.	Women with Moxie	.
	Natalia's hands show the effects of the dreaded "Odyssey Palsy"-- an inability to stop typing, even when away from the computer.	Paco "Man of a Thousand Pseudonyms" Ruiz

John Bowker and Jessica Thomas?	Legend has it that each year, the Manchester Witch paints the courtyard trees with the initials of those Odyssey students doomed to an agonizing death. Is this who painted the trees, or was it just the morons in the townhouses in the background that had loud parties till 3 AM every night?	Kim Gillett or Kevin Gold?

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Updated Feb 28, 2005
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