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CRAIG FARIS  

Creative Writing & Publishing Bio 

 

Craig Faris is a thirty-one -time award-winning author of fiction and plays, including four Best of Issue awards in the 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003 editions of the South Carolina Writers Workshop anthology. He has been published seventeen times. Five of his short stories have won the South Carolina Carrie McCray Literary Regional Award for Best Short Fiction, and his novel, The Spectrum Conspiracy  won the 2016 Gold Metal for Best Suspense Novel in the Readers Favorite International Book  Awards. It also won Best Suspense Novel in the 2016  Beverly Hill's International Book Awards. It won Best First Novel Manuscript in the 2010 Carrie McCray Literary Regional Award, was one of Seven finalist in the 2014 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion International Awards, and was a shortlist finalist in the William Faulkner/Wisdom Pirates Alley International competition in 2012, 2010 and a semifinalist in 2011. 

Craig served on the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Writers Workshop from 2000 until 2006 and served as co-chair for the 10th annual and 16th annual SCWW Writers Conferences. He also served as Vice-President of the Southeast chapter of the Mystery Writers of America from 2000 until 2005. He has taught creative writing as an adjunct professor at Winthrop University, teaches digital graphic design at York Technical College, and designs professional book covers for his publisher. His graphic design works have won three national and regional design awards, the printing industry's PICA awards, and the Scholastic Arts Gold Key Award.  

His writing career began in 1998 when he completed his first novel trilogy, a 226,800-word unpublished sc-fi thriller. His second thriller, entitled, The Spectrum Conspiracy, was published by Bella Rosa Books in 2013. The novel has since received over 92% five-star combined reviews on Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, Books-A-Millon.com and GoodReads.com. Ted Tally, the Academy Award winning screenwriter of The Silence of the Lambs, called it, “A wild, white-knuckle ride, pedal to the metal right from page one, never letting up. A very impressive novel in ambition and scope, with intricate plotting, relentless pacing, action-filled, with technical and procedural details that bring real authenticity to the story.  Bravo for writing this outstanding thriller!” 

Craig lives in Rock Hill, SC with his wife, Deena. They have two grown children, Katie and Charlie. 

Published credits

Echoes from the Ether, Best of Issue, 1999 Horizons, Anthology Collection, (juried regional competition) 

Dawn’s Last Gleaming, Best of Issue, 2000 Horizons, Anthology Collection  

Last Run to Broad River, Honorable Mention, 2001 Horizons, Anthology Collection 

Chaney’s Gold, Best of Issue, 2002 Horizons, Anthology Collection 

Through a Perilous Plight, Honorable Mention, 2002 Horizons, Anthology Collection 

Broken Anvil, Best of Issue/Plays, 2003 Catfish Stew, Anthology Collection (juried regional competition) 

Cinders in the Attic, Honorable Mention, 2003 Catfish Stew, Anthology Collection 

Guatemala, Third Place, 2004 Catfish Stew, Anthology Collection 

A Catfish Stew, Third Place/Plays, 2004 Catfish Stew, Anthology Collection 

Drowning the Agent,  Article, April 2002, The Quill, Published by the South Carolina Writers Workshop 

Reprinted June 2002, The Scarlett Letter, Mystery Writers of America 

Reprinted Oct. 2003, The Midwest Chapter, Mystery Writers of America 

The First Book, Article, June 2003, The Quill, Published by the South Carolina Writers Workshop  

The Wrong Way to Get Published, Article, April 2003, The Scarlett Letter, Mystery Writers of America 

Silent Assault, 2005 Catfish Stew, Anthology Collection 

Big Daze, 2005 Catfish Stew, Anthology Collection 

 

Additional Literary Awards

Silent Assault, 1999 Carrie McCray Literary Award for Best Short Fiction (State-wide juried competition) 

Souls of the Abyss, 2000 Carrie McCray Literary Award for Best Short Fiction  

A Pretty Good Year, 2000 Carrie McCray Literary Award for Best Nonfiction/Essay  

Chaney’s Gold, 2001 Carrie McCray Literary Award for Best Short Fiction 

A Special Place in Hell, 2011 Carrie McCray Literary Award, 3rd Place Nonfiction 

Den of Rhyme, 2014 Finalist, William Faulkner/William Wisdom Short Story Competition, 2012 Semifinalist  

House of Ruth, 2005 Carrie McCray Literary Award for Best Short Story 

Fourth Place, (out of 11,800 entries) 80th Annual Writers Digest Competition 2011 

Honorable Mention, (28th place out of 19,500 entries) 76th Annual Writers Digest Competition 2007 

Shortlist Finalist, William Faulkner/William Wisdom Pirates Alley Competition 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 

Second Place, York County Arts Council’s Literary Competition 2014 

The Spectrum Conspiracy, 2010 Carrie McCray Literary Award for Best First Chapter in a Novel 

2010 Shortlist Finalist, William Faulkner/William Wisdom Pirates Alley Competition 

2011 Semifinalist, William Faulkner/William Wisdom Pirates Alley Competition 

2012 Shortlist Finalist, William Faulkner/William Wisdom Pirates Alley Competition 

2012 Semifinalist, Killer Nashville Claymore Thriller Competition (11th place) 

2012 Book trailer, 2nd Place, MARSocial International book trailer competition. 

2014 Finalist, Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards, a contest with over 1,000 entries from major authors  

2016 Best Suspense Novel, 4th annual Beverly Hills International Book Awards 

2016 Gold Metal for Best Suspense Novel, Readers Favorite International Book Awards 

 

 

 


 

" Here, in this literary forsaken den, we had gathered, spilling out our hearts and emotions onto twenty pound bond in double-spaced black ink, always in an attempt to move closer to the edge of the publishing abyss. Those of us who made it worked our poems and prose onto a hook as one might an earthworm and flung it as far as we could into the swirling maelstrom of unpublished manuscripts. Some only got a nibble; some a bite, but in landing our catch, each of us was careful that the literary trophy bass we longed for wasn’t a bottom feeding carp."

Excerpt from Den of Rhyme
Craig Faris
, © 2011

 

THE SPECTRUM CONSPIRACY
Author: Craig Faris
Trade Paperback Original
ISBN 978-1-62268-017-7 print
ISBN 978-1-62268-018-4 ebook
LCCN 2012954785
6"x 9" Trade Paperback; 372pp; Retail $17.95US

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