LEGACY — What Happens When Your Works Live On Well Beyond Your Lifetime
Lawrence C. Connolly & Karen Heuler, (authors)
Christine Cohen & Vaughne Hansen (agents)
Saturday, September 19, 2026
Time: 11 AM – 12:30 PM
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
Not every writer is a household name. But every published author — from Charles Dickens to Stephen King to your neighbor Harriet — shares a common bond: your published works will live on centuries after you have left this realm. What does it mean to have an everlasting legacy? And how do you safeguard your works for eons?
The discussion will cover the ethereal sentiment of knowing that your works are forever. That you won’t be here when/if they suddenly become a TV series, a film, or popular again after ‘disappearing’ for a few decades. Some works slip into the subconscious of the public mind, some disappear for decades, centuries, and others never leave the spotlight. How does it feel to know that the book you wrote in the 1980s may be a zeitgeist of pop culture forty years later? (Examples: H.G. Welles’ works are continuously filmed as series and feature films. George R.R. Martin’s GAME OF THRONES books, first published in 1996, became a hit series on HBO in 2011, which phenomenon sold millions more copies than the first print-runs. Alice Hoffman’s PRACTICAL MAGIC, first published in 1995, was filmed in 1998 to moderate reviews. Over the years, it became considered a cult classic and is getting a brand new sequel this autumn 2026. )
The second part of this discussion will be the tools needed to protect your works; set up a literary estate; safeguard your copyrights, etc.
Lawrence C. Connolly
Lawrence C. Connolly’s books include the collections This Way to Egress whose eponymous tale of psychological horror was adapted for the Mick Garris film Nightmare Cinema; and the Bram-Stoker-nominated Voices, which features Connolly’s best stories from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Twilight Zone, Year’s Best Horror, and other top magazines and anthologies of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. A third collection, Visions, was praised by Publishers Weekly for featuring an eclectic mix of “entertaining and satisfying” science fiction.
His novels include the eco-thrillers Veins , Vipers, and Vortex. World Fantasy Award winner T. E. D. Klein called Veins “a crime thriller as intense and fast-moving as a Tarantino movie.” His new novel, Minute-Men: Execute & Run, is a globetrotting adventure from Caezik Science Fiction that combines elements of military science fiction, gaming, and medical suspense to deliver a thrilling reinvention of the superhero genre. It’s based on a concept developed by his brother Christopher Connolly.
He is also the writer of Mystery Theatre, a podcast produced by Prime Stage Theatre, who premiered his adaptation of Frankenstein in 2022. His latest commission, a play based on the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe, premiered in November 2025. His latest story, “Embers,” appears in the September/October issue of Asimov’s Magazine.
Karen Heuler
Karen Heuler’s stories have appeared in over 150 literary and speculative magazines. Her newest novel is The Splendid City (Angry Robot Books), a political satire with a ridiculous cat and a state seceding from the U.S., and her latest story collection is A Slice of the Dark from Fairwood Press. Her stories have appeared in Asimov’s, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Reactor, et al. She has received an O. Henry award, been a finalist for the Iowa short fiction award, the Bellwether award, the Shirley Jackson award for short fiction (twice), and others. She lives on a lake in a forest, but there’s sadly no magical animals.
Christine Cohen, agent
Christine has been with the Kidd Agency for 28 years. She has handled deals for domestic publication, foreign/translation, and film. She’s watched novels become bestsellers, then fade away from the spotlight, and then get resurrected with new life. She finds legacy in the arts fascinating. Christine grew up in Lackawaxen PA and has lived in Milford for decades. She is the “keeper of the flame” at the Kidd House, Arrowhead, which you can follow on facebook.
Vaughne Hansen, agent
Vaughne has been with the Virginia Kidd Agency for 38 years. She has handled contracts and rights for works spanning the last hundred years, and has experience with legacy — she authored a how-to guide on how to safeguard your literary estate for your heirs. Over the years she has worked with authors Anne McCaffrey, Gene Wolfe, and Alan Dean Foster. Vaughne is a lifelong resident of Pike County and Matamoras, PA.