In the chilly dawn of 1994, Barbara Hill (after leaving Jim Gunn's robust but sparse SF nest in Lawrence, Kansas) became restless and went in search of other Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers in the Kansas City area.

Her first search didn't turn up much, but Barbara was determined. She decided that if she couldn't find them, she would create them. She opened a class for SF/F writers through Kansas City's Communiversity program and discovered, to her delight, that trying to create writers was the best way to find writers. Three talented and tenacious souls (Mike Higgins, Jake Jacobs and Allison Stein) remained at the end of the course, and they, along with Barbara, became the foundation for NobleFusion.

The group adopted a modified version of the Milford Model for work-shopping manuscripts and began to meet almost weekly. Soon thereafter a colleague of Barbara's from her graduate days, Daniel Schwabauer, FINALLY came back to the ranks of "frequent" fiction writers and completed the compliment of regulars in Kansas City.

All such groups cry out to have a name, and Barbara and company repeatedly struggled with what to call themselves. All name related conversations dissolved into chaos resembling an impromptu Monty Python sketch, so the group became, by default, Those Who Shall Remain Nameless. The Nameless met regularly over the next two years, adding and subtracting applicants and latching on to few others who came and went along the way. Then things changed.

Barbara's day-job took to her to the east coast in early 1996, leaving the rest of the group to continue while Barbara started anew her search for talented and tenacious writers. It was then that the decision was made to get serious about learning the industry and attend the major SF/F conventions. The need for a better name to hang their star on became critical, and the collective was dubbed NobleFusion in honor of our penchant for writing across the boundaries of fantasy ("Noble") and science fiction ("Fusion"). The name choice was also a nod to the institution that gave us a place for many of our early meetings, Barnes & Noble.

We've now settled into two distinct groups that we call "Courts". The Midwestern Court still meets in Kansas City and has grown to include Mary Chambers, Mike Flagg, and Rachael Mayo. The Eastern Court is led by Barbara (who now lives in New York City) and includes Lawrence M. Schoen, Tim Burke (both in Philadelphia, PA) and Cathy Petrini who lives in Washington, DC.

We hope that others will take our workshop guidelines and their desire to write quality stories and start their own NobleFusion groups. Drop us a line and we'll be glad to help.