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when he completed his first novel trilogy, a 226,800-word unpublished sc-fi thriller.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
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