Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction Program is pleased to welcome award-winning author David Morrell. Morrell will give a presentation titled “Rambo and Me: A Novelist Looks at His Craft,” on Saturday, June 26, 2010, at 7 p.m. at Seton Hill University. The presentation, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Cecilian Hall on Seton Hill University’s hilltop campus in Greensburg, Pa. For more information, call 724-830-4600.

Morrell earned both his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in American literature from Pennsylvania State University. It was at the University that Morrell met fiction writer William Tenn who taught him the basics of fiction writing. The result of Morrell’s work was “First Blood,” a novel published in 1972 about a returned Vietnam veteran, Rambo, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who comes into conflict with a small-town police chief and fights his own version of the Vietnam War.

“First Blood” was published while Morrell was a professor in the English department at the University of Iowa. He taught at the University while simultaneously writing other novels.

With 18 million copies in print, Morrell’s work has been translated into 26 languages. His fiction novels include: “First Blood,” “Testament,” “Last Reveille,” “The Totem,” “Blood Oath,” The Hundred-Year Christmas,” “The Brotherhood of the Rose,” “The Fraternity of the Stone,” “Rambo (First Blood Part II),” “The League of Night and Fog,” “Rambo III,” “The Fifth Profession,” “The Covenant of the Flame,” “Assumed Identity,” “Desperate Measures,” “The Totem (Complete and Unaltered),” “Extreme Denial,” “Double Image,” “Black Evening,” “Burnt Sienna,” “Long Lost,” “The Protector,” “Nightscape,” “Creepers,” “Scavenger” and “The Spy Who Came for Christmas.”

Morrell serves as co-president of the International Thriller Writers organization.
Seton Hill’s unique Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction program teaches students to write marketable novels in popular genres like mystery, romance, science fiction, horror and fantasy. Additional specialties include literature for children and adolescents, and cross-genre blends like romantic suspense or young adult mysteries. Students attend two week-long, on-campus residencies each year to master the core elements of fiction writing and effective marketing and to gain inspiration from faculty mentors and special guests, all published authors in genre fiction. Established authors mentor students one-on-one as they work toward completing a market-ready manuscript from home. Readings, classes and online discussion about the history, trends and techniques of genre fiction add depth to the student's experience. For more information about the Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill, visit http://fiction.setonhill.edu or contact Seton Hill’s Office of Graduate and Adult Studies at 724-838-4209.