FenCon VII Archive - Guest and Program Participants - Spider Robinson - Maya Bohnhoff - John Picacio - Joe R. Lansdale

A Fan-Operated Science Fiction and Fantasy Literary and Filk Convention in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area

Guest of Honor: Spider and Jeanne Robinson

(SpiderRobinson.com) (StarDanceMovie.com)
Since he began writing professionally in 1972, Spider Robinson has won 3 Hugo Awards, a Nebula Award, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and numerous other international and regional honors. Most of his 35 books are still in print, in 10 languages. His short work has appeared in magazines from OMNI, Analog, Xhurnal Izobretatl i Rationalizator (Moscow), and in numerous anthologies. His most recent novel is VERY HARD CHOICES [Tor hc/pb]. The newsgroup alt.callahans and its offshoots, inspired by Spider's Callahan's Place series, were the largest non-porn network in cyberspace for nearly a decade.

Spider was joyously married for over 35 years to Jeanne Robinson, a Boston-born writer, choreographer, former Modern dancer, and teacher of dance and the Alexander Technique; she studied at the Boston Conservatory, the Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey and Erick Hawkins schools, Nikolais/Louis Dance Theatre Lab, Toronto Dance Theatre, and the American Dance Festival. She also studied under Hawkins principal dancer Beverly Brown, and performed with Beverly Brown Dancensemble, at the 1981 Riverside Dance Festival in New York.

The Robinsons collaborated on the Hugo-, Nebula- and Locus-winning STARDANCE TRILOGY [hc omnibus by Baen, ‘06], which created the concept and basic principles of zero-gravity dance. Jeanne had just made NASA’s list for a Space Shuttle seat, to try out zero-G dance in practice—when the Challenger Tragedy on Jan. 28, 1986 ended the Civilian In Space program. She died on May 30, 2010, after a long battle against biliary cancer. Jeanne, while now present only in spirit, remains our honored guest.

Music Guest of Honor: Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff

(Mystic Fig Studios) and Maya met in 1979 when they were both members of the rock band Talisman. While performing in smoke filled bars, Maya perfected her hauntingly lovely vocals and Jeff began his career as a guitarist, songwriter, producer and recording engineer. They married and became co-creators of three children, Alex, Kristine, and Amanda. In the intervening years, Maya has become a versatile author, best known for her science fiction and fantasy works. She also writes magical realism, nonfiction and music. Jeff works for a major international music software company. In 1995 they discovered filk fandom and filk fandom hasn't been quite the same since. It's a little-known fact that Jeff was an extra in the crowd scene on the beach in Jaws.

The Bohnhoffs have two CD's worth of parodies of classic rock songs, "Retro Rocket Science," and "Aliens Ate my Homework." They also have an album of original music, "Manhattan Sleeps," filled with lush melodies and haunting lyrics. They have been honored twice with Pegasus awards, which honor filk authors and performers. If you have dismissed filking as not your cup of tea, you owe it to yourself to give it one more try. If this couple can't convince you there is something to filking, no one can.

(Photo Credit: Beckett Gladney)

Artist Guest of Honor: John Picacio

(John Picacio) (Twitter) (Facebook) John Picacio is a World Fantasy Award-winning illustrator of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. His artwork is noted for its diversity and range, often combining traditional drawing and painting with digital finishes, as well as exploring methods such as hand-made assemblages. His artwork has illustrated the covers of books by Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Dan Simmons, Joe R. Lansdale, Jeffrey Ford, Frederik Pohl, James Tiptree, Jr., Mark Chadbourn, and many more. He has produced cover artwork for franchises such as STAR TREK and the X-MEN. His accolades also include the Locus Award, four Chesley Awards, and two International Horror Guild Awards, all in the Artist category. His illustrations have often been featured in the pages of SPECTRUM: THE BEST IN CONTEMPORARY FANTASTIC ART.

Nominated six consecutive years for the Hugo in the Best Professional Artist category (2005-2010), he recently illustrated covers for Del Rey's new editions of Michael Moorcock's legendary fantasy icon ELRIC. Picacio is currently illustrating a forthcoming calendar for George R. R. Martin's A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE. He and his wife Traci live in San Antonio, TX.

Fen Guest of Honor: Kevin Roche and Andrew Trembley

Kevin has been making costumes since he was 8 (and has the photographic evidence to prove it!). He was honored with the International Costumers Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Kevin and his partner Andy Trembley set out in 2002 to bring Costume-Con back to California, and ~900 hundred costumers showed up at Costume-Con 26 in April 2008 to join the fun. In his secret identity as a research scientist at IBM's Almaden Research Center, he's hard at work wrangling giant robot vacuum chambers and electrons in the growing field of spintronics. Last October, he and co-editor Jason Schachat launched an the online publication: Yipe! The Costume Fanzine of Record, which can be downloaded for free monthly from www.yipezine.com

Andy is a Geek, freak, reader, essayist, costumer, critic, media-junkie, biker, pervert, party-queen, troublemaker, FAN.

Toastmaster: Joe R. Lansdale

(JoeRLansdale.com)
Joe R. Lansdale is best known as the author of The Bottoms, and Bubba Hotep, which was made into a film of the same name. He has written over thirty novels and four hundred short pieces, including short stories, articles, essays, reviews, columns and introductions and afterwards to books. He has written teleplays for Batman the Animated Series, and Superman the Animated Series, as well as a large number of comic books scripts, including Jonah Hex, The Lone Ranger, Conan, The Fantastic Four and others. He even had his own comic book line, By Bizarre Hands at Dark Horse and Avatar Press. He has won numerous awards, including the Edgar, Seven Bram Stokers, and the British Fantasy award. His latest novel is Vanilla ride.

Special Guest: Jessica Wade Jessica Wade is an editor at Penguin Group (USA). She edits science fiction and fantasy for Ace and Roc, as well as various and sundry types of fiction for New American Library. She is also the author of a number of test prep books. She’s a New Jersey native and a New York City resident.

Jessica is delighted to be running this year's Writers' Workshop

Science Guest of Honor: John Randall

(Zyvex Labs)(John Randall)(Matricism) Dr. John Randall calls himself a "card-carrying nanotech nerd." With over 30 years in the business, we'd say he's earned his card. As VP of Zyvex Labs, he has helped bring a number of nanotech products to market - including carbon nanotube enhanced composites and nanoprobing instruments. As a world-class nanofabricator, he's committed to realizing atomically precise manufacturing.

In addition to his many scientific and engineering accomplishments, John has a Third Degree Black Belt in Judo, he is an amateur Alto Saxophonist, wrote a play “Mary Mason and the case of the lying witness” produced by Dallas Children’s Theater, and developed in collaboration with Christian Seidler a robotic painting system for the production of pointillist paintings.

Friday and Saturday only.

Special Guest: Robert J. Sawyer

(Robert J. Sawyer) Robert J. Sawyer is the author of over 20 novels, and is the recipient of the Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell awards, among many others. His current novel, Wake, is a Hugo nominee for Best Novel. The ABC TV series Flash Forward was based on his novel of the same name. Sawyer joins us Sunday only.

We would like to express our appreciation to the University Of Texas at Dallas for bringing him in as part of their lecture series in September and for sharing him with FenCon.

Confirmed Confirmed Program Participants for 2010:

Paul Abell:

(ARES Directorate) Dr. Paul Abell is the Lead Scientist for Planetary Small Bodies assigned to the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He was a telemetry officer for the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft Near-Infrared Spectrometer team and is a science team member on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa near-Earth asteroid sample-return mission. Paul was also a member of the Hayabusa contingency recovery team and participated in the successful recovery of the spacecraft‘s sample return capsule, which returned to Woomera, Australia in June 2010. Paul, his wife Amy Sisson, and their feline companions have lived in Houston, Texas since December 2003.

David Lee Anderson:

(David Lee Anderson) David Lee Anderson is a science fiction and fantasy illustrator. He's shown paintings at more than 440 convention art shows since 1980. He's worked for TOR Books, BAEN Books, Tomorrow SF Magazine, Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, Mayfair Games, Bethesda Softworks, Yard Dog Books and independent publishers and record labels. David Lee is known for his science fiction and space paintings. Several of his paintings will be used in the opening credits for "Gentlemen Broncos" from Fox Searchlight Pictures in October 2009, directed by Jared Hess, the creator of "Napoleon Dynamite."

C. Dean Andersson:

(C. Dean Andersson) C. Dean Andersson is an internationally published novelist, best known in heroic fantasy for the Bloodsong Trilogy, WARRIOR WITCH, WARRIOR REBEL, and WARRIOR BEAST, and in Horror for I AM DRACULA, RAW PAIN MAX, and FIEND. He is interviewed in Michael McCarty's upcoming MASTERS OF IMAGINATION, sharing the pages with Ray Bradbury, John Carpenter, and others. Degreed in astrophysics and art, he confides that the Meaning of Life is, "Be Good to Cats and Hope Sekhmet has Mercy on you." (Sekhmet told him to say that.) Voilá!

Lou Antonelli:

(Lou Antonelli's blog) (Wikipedia) Lou Antonelli has had 43 stories published in the past six years in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia in place such as Asimov's Science Fiction, Jim Baen's Universe, Dark Recesses and Andromeda Spaceways In-flight Magazine. He has had nine honorable mentions in "The Year's Best Science Fiction" (St. Martin's Press, Gardner Dozois, ed.). His Texas-themed reprint collection “Fantastic Texas” is forthcoming from Wilder Publications. He lives in Mount Pleasant, with his wife, Patricia (Randolph), and is managing editor of the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune.)

Michele Bardsley:

(Michele Bardsley) Nationally bestselling author Michele Bardsley is best known for her vampire mom series set in the fictional town of Broken Heart, Oklahoma--and her obsession with all things chocolate. She writes novels for Signet Eclipse because it’s much more fun than housework, and yeah, she still hopes the dish fairies will arrive to scrub the plates in the sink. She lives in Texas with her son, where they are slaves to their numerous pets.

Bedlam Bards:

The Bedlam Bards are a duo that specializes in vigorous performances of traditional music at festivals and conventions around the country. Their members include Hawke on guitar, bodhran , bones, pennywhistle, and voice; and Cedric on fiddle, mandola, and voice. Together, they have released four albums: Take Out the Trash, Furious Fancies, and On the Drift, which features songs about "Firefly" and "Serenity." Their most recent album, Barnyard Bedlam: A Cock and Bull Story, was recorded live at the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival at considerable risk to life, limb, and morality.The Bedlam Bards return to FenCon as part of Lone Star Shindig 2010.

Paul Black:

(Paul Black Books) (Wikipedia) Paul Black is a professional writer, graphic designer, and branding specialist with more that 25 years of experience in corporate communications. His firm's work has been recognized by many major national and international design publications for its design excellence. Also an accomplished author, Black has independently published a trio of books (The Tels, Soulware, and Nexus Point) that garnered several awards, including 2005 Book of the Year (for genre fiction) from Writer's Digest Magazine, gold and silver medals from Foreword Magazine, and multiple appearances as a finalist in the Independent Publishers Book Awards and the New York Book Festival.

Pat Blair:

(Pat Blair) A native of Tyler, Texas, P.L. Blair is author of the “Portals” books, a fantasy/detective series set in the Corpus Christi area. Book 4, Sister Hoods, is now available. She spends most of her year in Rockport, with two of her sisters and a menagerie that includes two basset hounds, a longhaired dachshund and three cats. Blair worked as a reporter for newspapers for nearly 30 years – including just over 20 years in Sheridan, Wyo. – before writing her first novel, Shadow Path. Book 5 in the series, A Plague of Leprechauns, is due out this fall. All are published by Studio See, a small company in Sheridan.

Karen Bogen:

K.B. Bogen has a head for technology, a knack for humor, and a taste for the macabre. A native Texan, she holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Engineering from UT Arlington, as well as several health and nutrition certifications. Her favorite form of communication is humor, preferring to make people laugh rather than cry, though she is not above causing the occasional shiver in her audience. A full-time wife and mother, part-time copyeditor and writer, Karen is “jacq of all trades.” She plays domestic when she has to, knits compulsively, and reads forensic anthropology textbooks for fun.

Maggie Bonham:

(ShadowHelm.netM.H. (Maggie) Bonham is an award-winning author of 31 books including Lachlei, The King’s Champion, Serpent Singer and Other Stories, Prophecy of Swords, Runestone of Teiwas and editor of the WolfSongs I Anthology. Her work has appeared in Tales of the Talisman, WolfSongs I, Four Bubbas of the Apocalypse, Sonic Fiction, Houston We’ve Got Bubbas, The Best of the Bubbas of the Apocalypse, Flush Fiction, Small Bites, among others.)

Brazen Bellies:

Brazen Bellies is an Improvisational Tribal Style belly dance troupe that honors the beauty, mind and spirit of all women. With 8 years of collective American Tribal Style and Tribal Fusion belly dance experience, Kelly Hart and Danielle Reboli founded Brazen Bellies in the Fall of 2007. They celebrate women through diversity in bodies, color, and generations. They express themselves through their dance. Troupe members Kelly Hart, Tess Haranda, Stu Kirgis, and Elena Todd will be performing at the FenCon Cabaret.

James Burk:

THE james k. burk is the party animal alter ego of James K. Burk the writer. Perhaps the best-known title by Burk was a short story, "The Trailer Park Vampire Meets the Bubba Yumbie," which appeared in both THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF BUBBA and THE BEST OF THE BUBBAS OF THE APOCALYPSE. I'm not sure much about Burk is interesting but he was, at one time, a Sunday gunman, helping put on gunfights in an amusement park. He usually played either the villain or the village idiot. This is called type-casting.

Rachel Caine:

(RachelCaine.com) (Wikipedia) Rachel Caine is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Morganville Vampires series (Glass Houses, The Dead Girls’ Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, Carpe Corpus, Fade Out, Kiss of Death, Ghost Town). She is also the author of the bestselling Weather Warden series (Ill Wind, Heat Stroke, Chill Factor, Windfall, Firestorm, Thin Air, Gale Force, Cape Storm, Total Eclipse), as well as the Outcast Season series, set in the universe of the Weather Warden novels (Undone, Unknown). She’s written more than 30 novels to date, with 8 coming out in 2010 and 2011.

She and her husband, fantasy artist R. Cat Conrad, live in Fort Worth, Texas with their iguanas, Popeye and Darwin.

Lillian Stewart Carl:

(LillianStewartCarl.com)
Lillian Stewart Carl hopes she's best known for mixing and matching genres in novels and short stories, but she might well be known for having red hair -- it's hard to say. She's only had the Lord of the Rings tattoo for a couple of years, so it and the story behind it haven't quite reached everyone's ears. Then there's her tai chi study, with one instructor who emphasizes the calming health benefits and another who emphasizes the "tear your opponent's throat out" benefits. She more inclined toward the former, really she is. Details of her writing, if not exactly the tattoo and the tai chi, are at her web site.

Saturday only.

J. Kathleen Cheney:

(JKathleenCheney.com) J. Kathleen Cheney has been a teacher, a retail buyer, and a grocery jack-of-all-trades, among other things...none of which prepared her to work with camels. She spent a week in the Outback dealing with (and smelling like) camels, and has decided she prefers horses. She's a member of both SFWA and RWA, which should give some hint about her writing. Her short fiction has covered all the bases--Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror and Paranormal Romance--and has appeared in such venues as Fantasy Magazine, Writers of the Future, Jim Baen's Universe, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Who knows? Someday perhaps there will even be Steampunk.

Rosemary Clement-Moore:

(Rosemary Clement-Moore) Rosemary Clement-Moore is the author of award-winning supernatural mystery novels for young (and not so young) adults. Her books range from snarky and funny (the Maggie Quinn: Girl versus Evil series) to spooky and romantic (The Splendor Falls). A recovering thespian, she loves dogs, history, Jane Austen, archeology, Rock Band, Gilbert and Sullivan, BBC America, Science Fiction movies, and working in her pajamas.

R. Cat Conrad:

(ArtistsInResidence.com) Cat arrives from Arlington – that’s Texas, not the national cemetery, although his puns can be deadly and have reportedly jeopardized his allotted nine lives. His background includes a degree in fine arts from the University of Science and Arts in Oklahoma. From there, Cat learned just how far an art degree would take him ... across town and into a 10-year stint with an UnFortunate 500 company ... as an industrial chemist.

Prolonged exposure to hazardous materials did little to improve Cat’s humor, but it did convince him that he wasn’t making a better living through chemistry. In 1991 he moved on to greener pastures – in preference to becoming a permanent part of the "underground" movement!

Currently, in addition to being an award-winning painter and cunning linguist, Cat is making broad strokes as a popular speaker and auctioneer, and continues to gain prominence as a fan entertainer. He has been a featured auctioneer at almost a hundred conventions throughout the Southwest, including the famed five and a half hour marathon auction of WorldCon 51.

Tony Daniel:

Tony Daniel is the author of four science fiction books, the latest of which is Superluminal, as well as an award-winning short story collection, The Robot’s Twilight Companion. He was a Hugo finalist in 1996 for his short story “Life on the Moon,” which also won the Asimov’s Reader’s Choice Award. Daniel’s short stories have been much anthologized and have been collected in multiple year’s best compilations. Daniel has a strong interest in drama and screenwriting, and has co-written the screenplays for a couple of horror movies, one of which, “Flu Birds,” appears regularly on the SyFy Channel’s Saturday night monster flick line-up. During the early 2000s, Daniel was the writer and director of numerous radio plays and audio dramas for SCI-FI.COM’s Seeing Ear Theatre. Daniel is currently working on his next science fiction novel and is a lecturer in creative writing and the literature of science fiction at the University of Texas at Dallas. Born in Alabama, Daniel lives in Allen, Texas with his wife and two children.

Brad Denton:

(Bradley Denton) (Alive and Well) Bradley Denton's first professional story appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1984, and since then he's published five novels and a few dozen more short stories. His novels include Blackburn, Lunatics, and Laughin' Boy, and some of his stories have been collected in the World-Fantasy-Award-Winning volumes A Conflagration Artist and The Calvin Coolidge Home for Dead Comedians. His novella "Sergeant Chip" won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award in 2005, and his John W. Campbell Memorial Award-winning novel Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede is about to be made into a film starring Jon ("Napoleon Dynamite") Heder.

Chris Donahue:

Chris Donahue is an electrical engineer living in the Dallas area with his wife and fellow-author, Linda. A former member of a Joe Bob Briggs' Drive In Review committee, he served the public by counting rolling heads, types of Fu and exposed breasts in committee films. Outside of that, he has been a Navy Avionics tech, brewer and writes sci-fi, military fiction, horror, humor and combinations of those themes.

Linda Donahue:

(LindaLDonahue.com) An air-force brat, Linda grew up traveling and has lived in exotic places such as Okinawa and South Dakota. She has degrees in computer science, Russian studies, a Masters in Earth science education and a minor in electrical engineering. As well, she’s a certified commercial instrument pilot, advanced ground instructor, and a SCUBA diver. Linda is also certified by NASA to borrow moon rock samples. This means, she’s been a hazard by space, sea, air or land, at one time or another. When she’s not writing, she teaches tai chi and belly dance classes. Linda’s short stories have appeared in many anthologies, including “Strip Mauled” and “Fangs for the Mammories.” Her novel, “Jaguar Moon” is available from Yard Dog Press, along with “The 4 Redheads in Apocalypse Now!” She is married to Chris Donahue. They live in Garland, Texas and have lop-earred rabbits, sugar gliders and cats for pets.

Carole Nelson Douglas:

(Official Site) (Wikipedia) Carole Nelson Douglas, award-winning author of 55 novels in multiple genres, including bestselling high fantasy, now writes the Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator, urban fantasy series and the long-running “epic” Midnight Louie, PI, cat sleuth mystery series. Both series are set in drastically different versions of Las Vegas, contemporary surreal and paranormally post-apocalyptic. Midnight Louie’s Cat in an Ultramarine Scheme is just out and Delilah’s Silver Zombie arrives Nov. 30.

Carole was the first author to write a series about a female character from the Sherlock Holmes Canon with Good Night, Mr. Holmes, featuring Irene Alder as the series protagonist. Louie, Delilah and Irene short stories appear in such recent collections as Dana Stabenow’s Unusual Suspects, Ellen Datlow’s Tails of Wonder and Imagination, The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2, Carol Serling’s Twilight Zone 50 anniversary collection, and Sex, Lies, and Private Eyes. Coming stories are in Chicks Kick Butt, P. N. Elrod’s Hex Symbol, and More Tales of Zorro for a change of pace.

Saturday Only

P.N. Elrod:

(VampWriter.com) (Wikipedia) P.N. Elrod is best known for her Vampire Files urban fantasy series, featuring undead gumshoe Jack Fleming. She's edited a number of award-winning anthologies for St. Martin's with stories from the top writers in the paranormal and urban fantasy genres. Her most recent release is Dark and Stormy Knights, and she is working on a new steampunk series.

Rhonda Eudaly:

(RhondaEudaly.com) Rhonda Eudaly lives in Arlington, Texas where she's worked in offices, banking, radio, and education to support her writing. She's married with a step dog and a rapidly growing rubber duck collection. She likes to spend time with friends and family, movies, and reading. Her two passions are writing and music. Rhonda has fiction and non-fiction stories published in anthologies, magazines, and websites. Check out her website for her latest publications and downloads.

Randy Farran:

Randy Farran was born in Kansas, but was abandoned in the wild as a small child and raised by the local fauna. He might have gone down in history like Mowgli or Tarzan had the local fauna been wolves or apes, but the aforementioned wilderness was Turkey Mountain, Tulsa, where the local fauna is raccoons. This explains his tendencies to dig through trash cans and wash his food before eating it. In his late teens, he discovered SF fandom, where such behaviors hardly raise an eyebrow, and has been deeply involved (read; mired) in it ever since. He currently resides in Tulsa with his wife Barbara and two cartoon dogs and has resigned himself to the fact that he will likely go down in history as "that guy who wrote THE DRAGON SONG and drew a lot of penguins", but he figures that it could be worse; history might forget about the penguins.

Michael Ashleigh Finn:

(Live Journal) (Twitter) (Coyote Reviews)
Michael Ashleigh Finn is a short story author trying his hand at novel writing. In addition, he's a a freelance thematic consultant, currently working for Dynamite Entertainment on the Hugo-nominated Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files. He is also a moderator for www.jimbutcheronline.com, and was chief editor for the Backspace and CHUDStories internet anthologies. He also took first and third place in Fencon's first short story contest, being told afterward that "We had to make up new rules because of you." He's oddly proud of that fact.

Melanie Miller Fletcher:

(Melanie Fletcher) (Don't Quit Your Day Job) Through no fault of her own, Melanie Fletcher has been sucked into the AH vortex and is finishing up an AH mystery starring Edgar Allan Poe and Lewis Carroll (it's a long story). When not writing or perusing her brand-new library of forensics guides, she quilts, knits, makes the occasional room box, and endures comic abuse from her sister and best friend on Don't Quit Your Day Job: The Podcast.

Brad W. Foster:

(Jabberwocky Graphix) Brad W. Foster is fascinated by robots, both toy and otherwise, to an almost uncomfortable degree. Beyond that personal quirk he creates artworks with pen and ink, or more recently with digital dots. If you're a publisher he'd be happy to create some for you. If you're not a publisher, you can just give him money directly and he'll sell you a zine or print of his work. How much easier could it be? You can check out several decades of a misspent life at his web site.

Christopher Fulbright:

(Christopher Fulbright) Christopher Fulbright's writing has received honorable mentions in The Years Best Fantasy and Horror and Best Horror of the Year with stories published in many venues, including the Shirley Jackson-award nominated anthology Bound for Evil. His novella, The Bone Tree, is slated to appear from Bad Moon Books late this year, and his short story "The Soulgrinder" will be in the anthology Ancient Shadows, coming soon from Elder Signs Press. He also writes with his wife Angeline Hawkes. Their latest collaborations include a novella, Black Mercy Falls, scheduled to appear in a limited edition late this year from Bloodletting Press, and a horror novel, Scavenger, scheduled to appear in trade paperback from Elder Signs Press in 2011.

Generic Radio Workshop:

(Generic Radio Workshop) The Generic Radio Workshop has been around longer than the Golden Age of Radio lasted -- a little over twenty years. They started with the Texas Broadcast Museum (later the National Museum of Communications) and have performed at festivals, conventions, and yes, on the radio. They use as much vintage equipment as they can lay their hands on for that "old time radio" look and feel. Plus, many of their sound effects devices are hand-built, following period designs. While they have made a few concessions to modern technology, at the core they follow the practices of radio's Golden Age

Ghost of a Rose:

(My Space) Meeting in a filkcircle at ApolloCon 2007, by the end of the evening Dene & Sundara were talking about singing as a performing duo...and Ghost of a Rose was born. This year marks the 4th year they’ve played at Fencon. They have also performed at SCA events, Coffeehouses, in concert at Apollocon, Pagan celebrations, Celtic festivals, were the music guests at Comicpalooza, and were the Musical Guests of Honor at ConJour 2 (where they met Cellist, William Boatman who they invited to fill out the roster after he sat in at a couple performances),. They are going to Toronto in April 2011 as the Interfilk Guests at FilKOntario.

David Gray:

David L. Gray is the creator of the Buzz Blaster, Space Entrepreneur series of radio plays, which have been read and performed at Dallas-area and other science fiction conventions. He also writes science fiction short stories, mostly about warfare in the (not so near?) future Asteroid Belt and unsavory visitors from parallel universes. He is currently writing a Young Adult novel about growing up in Memphis, Tennessee in the early 1950's. In his spare time he writes instruction manuals for robots that assemble airplanes in the Aerospace industry and feeds cats.

Marc Gunn:

(www.marcgunn.com) Cats. Irish music. Sci Fi. Drinking songs. Nowhere else but from the bizarre imagination of Marc Gunn would those four elements be so neatly integrated. Called “The Godfather of Celtic Music Online”, Marc Gunn is a champion of the Celtic MP3. He has given away over ten million MP3s through his music and podcasts since he began his Celtic music career in 1999. Marc Gunn plays acoustic folk music rooted in the American Celtic song tradition. His musical instrument of choice-the autoharp-make him stand out as unique in the Celtic musical community. His award-winning Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is one of the most-popular music podcasts on iTunes. His latest CD "Kilted For Her Pleasure" highlights his unique Kilted Celtic Comedy music.

Beverly A. Hale:

(BevHale.com) Beverly Hale collects things: people, books, curses in various languages, cookbooks, dictionaries, experiences, etc. She has skied in Colorado (she wasn't good at it), snorkled in Hawaii, swum with dolphins in the Bahamas, climbed a mountain in Austria and a climbing wall in Utah, milked a goat in Arkansas, mushed sled dogs in Alaska, hiked in the rain forest in Puerto Rico, and soon will travel to Barbados. In her spare time she writes. Vist her web site or Facebook, LiveJournal, Myspace, Goodreads and Twitter under bevhale.

Teddy Harvia:

Teddy Harvia is an anagram of David Thayer. Teddy has been drawing and contributing cartoons to fan publications since the mid-70s. Fans have reciprocating by giving him the Hugo for Best Fan Artist. He has semi-retired from his avocation to allow David to concentrating on novel writing. He cochaired a bid to hold the World SF Convention in Cancun but lost to Toronto. He is currently working on the second draft of a galactic war romance. Until he can find a publisher, he works for a living as a technical writer with a telecommunications company. With his wife Diana, six cats, and thousands of books, he lives in Dallas.

Candace "Candy" Havens:

(CandaceHavens.com) Candace "Candy" Havens is a best selling and award-winning author. Her novels include "Charmed & Dangerous", "Charmed & Ready", "Charmed & Deadly", "Like A Charm," "The Demon King and I" "Dragons Prefer Blondes," "Take Me If You Dare" and the upcoming "She Who Dares, Wins." She is a two-time RITA, Write Touch Reader and Holt Medallion finalist. She is also the winner of the Barbara Wilson award.

Candy is a nationally syndicated entertainment columnist for FYI Television. A veteran journalist she has interviewed just about everyone in Hollywood from George Clooney and Orlando Bloom to Nicole Kidman and Kate Beckinsale. You can hear Candy weekly on 96.3 KSCS in the Dallas Fort Worth Area. Her popular online Writer's Workshop has more than 1600 students and provides free classes to professional and aspiring writers.

Angeline Hawkes:

(Angeline Hawkes) Angeline Hawkes is a horror/fantasy writer who likes to wear black, but on occasion will branch out into shades of brown. Her collection, The Commandments, was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. New fiction slated for 2010-11 publication includes horror collection, Inferno: Tales of Hell and Horror from Dark Regions Press, Out of the Garden and Other Tales of the Barbarian Kabar of El Hazzar, from Bad Moon Books; and with husband and FenCon guest, Christopher Fulbright, Black Mercy Falls from Bloodletting Books, and Scavenger, coming from Elder Signs Press. Angeline has a big marble altar in a sacred Yew grove situated in her backyard reserved for people who fail to pronounce her name correctly.

Kevin Hosey:

(Kevin Hosey) (Cliffhanger Books) Kevin Hosey is an author and editor. His short stories have appeared in the Star Trek Strange New Worlds anthologies from Simon and Schuster, and on the website 365tomorrows.com. This September, his VERY short story (25 words), Cure, will appear in the book Hint Fiction from publisher W.W. Norton. Currently he is finishing his latest draft on a horror novel, and co-editing Paramourtal, a collection of paranormal romance tales, for Cliffhanger Books.

Besides writing speculative fiction, Kevin also enjoys creating weird illustrated humor. Several of his cartoons have appeared in calendars, books, newspapers, and magazines, including Starlog.

Sarah A. Hoyt:

Sarah A. Hoyt was born in Portugal through no fault of her own (she suspects a giant drunken spree in dispatch) a mistake she corrected as soon as possible (22). She now lives in Colorado, though she comes to Dallas often enough that she should start listing it as home away from home. In between these dislocations, she has written seventeen novels in SF/F, mystery and historical fiction. (No, she's not as old as it sounds, she just has no life.) Her latest novels are Darkship Thieves (SF) and No Will Than His (the story of Henry VIII's 5th Queen) and also French Polished Murder, under the pen name Elise Hyatt. She's also published over 100 short stories in magazines such as Analog, Asimov's, Amazing, Absolute Magnitude, Weird Tales and Dreams of Decadence as well as a lot of anthologies. In her copious spare time, she manages to play wife to her husband and mother to two teen sons and slave to a clowder of cats of varying size. In a portion of that copious spare time, she likes to draw. She dreams of running away of and spending two weeks in a natural history museum, decadently drawing dinosaurs. At the current time-to-work ratio that's scheduled for 2049, should she live that long.

Rocky Kelley:

(Rocky Kelley) (Ashen Gray) Rocky Kelley is an award winning artist whose paintings have appeared in magazines, galleries, conventions, and even the David Letterman Show. Rocky received the Director’s Award at the 2006 World Fantasy Art Show. Kelley’s works include: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Pre-Raphaelite, Surrealism, and more. His Dark Fantasy works are created under the pseudonym of “Ashen Gray” and he is the founder of the Dark Rose Alliance. Current projects include illustrating graphic novels.

Bart Kemper:

Bart is a consulting mechanical engineer, writer, SFWA member, photographer, and combat veteran living in Baton Rouge. He owns his own engineering firm with work ranging from petrochemical to deep sea diving to aerospace to manufacturing to defense to forensics. His military work has taken him to Europe, Asia, and Iraq. Enjoys demolitions, large caliber devices, living on the bayou, and the quiet moment as a hurricane eye passes by. Mostly harmless.

William Ledbetter:

(WilliamLedbetter.com) Most people probably don't recall the exact incident leading them to become an avid reader or aspiring writer, William Ledbetter remembers both. In an effort to interest him in books with more substance than Mad and Cracked magazines, his sixth grade English teacher kept him after school once just to talk about his interests. Afterward she handed him a book she thought he would like and he hasn't stopped reading since. Then when his 11th grade Literature teacher read his writing assignment, a science fiction short story, aloud to the class, several the kids said "that is so cool!" He was hooked and hasn't stopped trying to get that reaction from readers ever since. Good teachers do make a difference.

Stina Leicht:

Here’s the bio: Stina Leicht is a fantasy writer and lives in central Texas with her husband, Dane. When she was small she wanted to grow up to be like Vincent Price. Unfortunately, there are no basements in Texas -- thus, making it difficult to wall up anyone alive under the house. In addition, her cat has refused to dye his fur black. Alas, she'll have to resign herself to going quietly mad while wearing a smoking jacket. Too bad Texas is hot, she doesn't smoke and therefore, doesn't own a smoking jacket. Her novel Of Blood and Honey is scheduled to be released in February 2011 through Night Shade Books.

Julia S. Mandala:

(JuliaSMandala.com) Julia S. Mandala is a reformed lawyer who does penance by writing fantasy and science fiction. Her novel, House of Doors (part of Double Dog #5) and The Four Redheads: Apocalypse Now!, coauthored with Linda L. Donahue, Rhonda Eudaly and Dusty Rainbolt, are available from Yard Dog Press. Her works appear in Fangs for the Mammaries (October 2010) and Witch Way to the Mall, both edited by Esther Friesner, and in The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse, Dracula's Lawyer, A Stitch in Time Saves None, International House of Bubbas, Houston, We've Got Bubbas and Flush Fiction (all from Yard Dog Press). She holds degrees in history from Kansas State University and law from Tulane University. She is a copy editor, scuba diver, underwater photographer and belly dancer.

A. Lee Martinez:

(ALeeMartinez.com) (Wikipedia) A. Lee Martinez is best known for his sparkling wit, incredible good looks, and his ability to endlessly debate the Superman VS. Batman dilemma. (Correct answer: Tarzan) Also, he's written 7 fantasy novels and managed to get paid for it. If you would like to read random thoughts from him, you can go to his website, or check him out on Twitter or Facebook. (Photo by Scott Edelman.)

Margaret Middleton:

Margaret is a quintessential Baby Boomer, a Valparaiso alumna, and a 20-year veteran of the Arkansas Highway Department. She and her husband Morris have one daughter, Sharon Amanda. Oh, and she's been a filker for more than thirty years and a convention-going SF fan for a wee bit longer than that. In fact, Margaret is a 1997 inductee into the Filk Hall of Fame.

Tracy S. Morris:

(Tracy S. Morris) Tracy is the author of the Tranquility books. Her latest, Bride of Tranquility is a murder mystery set in a haunted hotel during a renaissance wedding. When she isn't writing fantasy and science fiction stories, Tracy is a freelance writer and photographer. In the process of completing assignments, Tracy has photographed two former presidents, taken a ride in a hot air balloon, been dragged behind a speeding boat in freezing rain, and has ridden on the back of a mule into the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Michelle Muenzler:

(LiveJournal) Michelle Muenzler's goal in life is to bring forth the bunny apocalypse and bury the earth with furry-soft goodness. When not working toward this goal, she experiments on her husband with new recipes and builds blockades around her NetBook to protect it from her cats. Her latest short story, "All Tales Must End", can be found in Belong: Interstellar Immigration Stories from Ticonderoga Press. For more information on how you can help with the bunny apocalypse or any other furry-soft apocalypse of your choice, visit her website.

Ethan Nahté:

(Live 'N' Loud) Ethan Nahté is one of the newest members of Yard Dog Press & in their latest book, A Bubba In Time Saves None. He is also a writer for PopSyndicate.com and the Speculative Fiction writer for Dallas Examiner.com. When not busy teaching or writing he works in the TV/video/film industry and is currently producing a two-part documentary on author Robert E. Howard.

October Country:

October Country is a Celtic-influenced folk and filk band consisting of Casey Sledge on vocals & rhythm guitar and Shaddow Walter on lead. They have played pubs, coffeehouses, benefits and cons in the DFW area since 2001, including FenCon, Trinity Hall, and Hawkwood Fair. Also, they were Interfilk GoH at Seattle's Conflikt 3, in January 2010.

Gloria Oliver:

(GloriaOliver.com) Gloria Oliver, slave to her feline masters, lives in Texas. She is the author of four fantasy novels and numerous short stories. For sample chapters and other info please visit her website. She's a member of both EPIC and Broad Universe though has yet to work her way into the top list of Cat Slaves R Us.

Stephen Patrick:

Stephen Patrick is a freelance writer living in the Dallas, TX area with my wife and daughter. His short stories have been published in several genres, including horror, sci fi and mystery. He is a four time winner of the Rowlett, TX Short Story Competition and was named an Arkansas Traveller in 2007 after being selected as the winner of the special prize category at the Arkansas Writer Conference. He has recently transitioned to screenplays and film racing, writing and starring in two short films “Acceptance” and “The Traveller” for the Dallas-based Elephant and Castle productions.

Teresa Patterson:

Teresa Patterson co authored the World of Robert Jordan's the Wheel of Time with Robert Jordan , and The World of Shannara with Terry Brooks. She has also written various fantasy stories, non-fiction articles, and ghost written a military adventure. Her newest collaboration No Quarter, written with the late Robert Asprin and Eric Del Carlo, is a murder mystery set in the streets of New Orleans' infamous French Quarter. In 2004 she was awarded the Chesley Award by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists for service to artists. She currently lives in Texas with an ever-changing family of cats and raccoons.

Julie Pollard:

Julie has been a middle school science teacher for 9 years and has a degree in Geology. She served as the Education Officer on the deep sea science ship JOIDES Resolution for Expedition 317 from November of 2009 to Jan of 2010.

Dusty Rainbolt:

(Dusty Rainbolt) Dusty Rainbolt is the author of the Ghost Cats: Human Encounters with Feline Spirits (Lyons Press), which won the Cat Writers' Association 2008 Muse Medallion. She’s also the co-author (with three other redheads) of The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse and the recently released, Apocalypse Now (both Yard Dog Press). Author of numerous books on cat care and behavior, as well as veteran cat rescuer, she merged her love of cats (and other animals) and her interest in the unexplainable to write Ghost Cats. She's also the author of Kittens for Dummies (John Wiley & Sons), Cat Wrangling Made Easy (Lyons Press) and the humorous science fiction novels All the Marbles (YDP.) She's the product editor for the Tufts' University publication, Catnip, and she's a regular contributor to Cat Fancy and other magazines and websites. She has conducted seminars about ghost hunting at numerous conventions.

Rob Rogers:

(Blog) Rob Rogers is the author of Devil's Cape, a superhero thriller set in Louisiana. Devil's Cape was a Pop Matters pick, and was also named the HeroPress book of the year for 2008. His short story "The Adventure of the Pirates of Devil's Cape" is in the anthology The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Rob lives in Richardson, Texas, where he is working on his next novel.

Rie Sheridan Rose:

(riewriter.com) Rie is a poet and novelist with 5 poetry collections and 4 novels under her belt, as well as 3 short story collections and pieces in several anthologies. She writes mostly fantasy, but dabbles in science fiction, light horror and romance.

Adrian Simmons:

(Heroic Fantasy Quarterly) Adrian Simmons writes, reads, hikes, teaches taekwondo, and bears a heavy regulatory burden in Central Oklahoma. He is famous on the internet (in a good way), has hoofed the Ouachita Trail, the Ozark Highland trail, and the northern England coast to coast trail. His fiction, essays, and interviews litter the internet like so many empty skittles packages. He has plans for great things. Plans. He is 1/3 the editorial team at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.

Brad Sinor:

(Brad Sinor) (LiveJournal) Bradley H. Sinor has seen his short stories published in numerous science fiction, fantasy and horror anthologies such as The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Tales of the Shadowmen vol. 6 Grand Guignol, Ring of Fire 2 and The Grantville Gazette. Three collections of his short fiction have been released by Yard Dog Press, Dark and Stormy Nights, In the Shadows, and Playing With Secrets (along with stories by his wife Sue Sinor.) His newest collection of stories Echoes From the Darkness is from Arctic Wolf Press. His non-fiction work has appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies.

Sue Sinor:

Susan P. (Sue) Sinor has been involved in Tulsa's local conventions for over twenty years. She has also been involved in Tulsa's local community theatre for over twenty years. She's been keeping pretty busy. She is most known for writing for Yard Dog Press, with stories in the chapbook "Playing With Secrets" and anthologies International House Of Bubbas, Houston, We've Got Bubbas, and A Bubba In Time Saves None. Currently, she hopes to have sold a Sasquatch story and have finished a shape shifter story. Wish her luck.

Casey Sledge:

Casey has been filking since before he knew what it was. That was 20 years ago and he's still doing it. His songs have been sung by Ravens, Hawke of the Bedlam Bards, and played (during sound check) at a Worldcon. He is the singer/songwriter half of the Celtic/folk/filk band October Country in the DFW area. Casey's band, October Country, was Interfilk's Guest of Honor at Seatlle's "Confilkt 3" in January 2010.

Libby A. Smith :

Libby A. Smith (formerly Smith Singleton) first started attending conventions in 1982 as a 17-year-old intent on being a published writer. Her stories have appeared in Caliber Comic's Negative Burn and Dominique: Protect and Serve, Hanthercraft Publications' "Tandra" and "Dragonroc" universe comics and website, and Shanda Fantasy Art's Atomic Mouse. She is also a two-time winner of the Little Rock Free Press' Literary Contest. She also adapted The Rainbow Bridge story to poetry form for counted cross stitch designer Sue Hillis' design "The Story of the Rainbow Bridge." Besides writing, she is also a stage actor in the Little Rock area, including two times with The Weekend Theater productions of "The Rocky Horror Show." By day, she is an administrative assistant for the state of Arkansas. She lives in Little Rock with her three cats where she's a member of the Central Arkansas Speculative Fiction Writers Group

Tom Smith:

(Tom Smith Online) Tom is multiple Pegasus Award winning filker and a member of the Filk Hall of fame. He has several albums out and is an active member of the Funny Music Project (FuMP). He was our Music GOH at FenCon IV and had such a good time he promised he would come back soon. One year away was all he could handle.

Caroline Spector:

(Caroline Spector) (Blog) Caroline Spector was an Associate Editor for Amazing Magazine. She also edited many role-playing game modules and wrote three computer game hint books. Then she decided to branch out and write fiction. Her novels Scars, Little Treasures, and Worlds Without End have appeared in French and German, and Scars and Worlds Without End are available in English. Her story "Metagames" appeared in the latest Wild Cards book, Inside Straight, edited by George R.R. Martin. Her story "Woulda Coulda, Shoulda" will be in Busted Flush due out in December. She is currently working on Suicide Kings, the braided mosaic novel that rounds out this trilogy of Wild Cards books. She lives in Texas with her husband, noted game designer, Warren Spector.

Starcruisers:

(Starcruisers) Starcruisers has been together for three and a half years. We are interested in science fiction, space and futuristic themes. We promote peace, non-violence, healthy lifestyles, tolerance and concern for the environment. We write original music, emphasizing our goal for a positive future. The current members of Starcruisers are Gabriel Barham on bass and backing vocals, Joe Gusman on drums and backing vocals, Steve Starcher on guitar, keyboard, and backing vocals, and David Lee Anderson, guitar and lead vocals, and keyboard on the recordings.

Kathryn Sullivan:

(KathrynSullivan.com) Kathryn writes young adult fantasy and science fiction. Her first book, The Crystal Throne, won the 2002 EPPIE for best Fantasy, and her second, Agents & Adepts, won the 2003 Dream Realm Award for Best Anthology. The sequel, Talking to Trees, was released in January 2006, also by Amber Quill Press. Her short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. Kathryn lives in Winona, Minnesota, where the river bluffs double as cliffsides on alien planets or the deep mysterious forests in a magical world. She is not, however, an astronaut. She is owned by two birds, a Moluccan cockatoo and a Jenday conure. She is a proud member if EPIC and Broad Universe.

Frank Summers:

(Frank Summers) Frank Summers writes speculative fiction and lives in the Dallas area. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of print and eBook anthologies. His most recent publishing credit is "Buffalo Bubba's Wild West Show" which appears in A Stitch in Time Saves None from Yard Dog Press.

Frank enjoys spending time with his wife, two daughters and four dogs. He is also a performing songwriter, and has been an IT professional for thirty years.

Shanna Swendson:

(ShannaSwendson.com) (Wikipedia) Shanna Swendson is best known as the author of the Enchanted, Inc. series from Ballantine Books and a variety of geeky pop-culture essays published by BenBella Books. She can occasionally be lured out of her writing cave by movies, promises of Doctor Who episodes, conventions or new books calling to her from the library or bookstore. Or tea or chocolate (or tea and chocolate, but not chocolate tea).

Mel Tatum:

Mel Tatum is a writer of essays, short stories, and songs. Her short stories can be found in various Yard Dog Press anthologies. She's also the author of an essay entitled Vampire Executioners: Trying the System, which can be found in BenBella Books' anthology Ardeur, which focuses on Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. At FenCon V, Mel met Dene Foye in a filk circle, and they met again at the North Texas Irish Fest the next March, and again in the filk circle at FenCon VI. It was shortly after that they decided to try collaborating on songwriting, with Mel writing lyrics and Dene composing music. The collaboration clearly worked, because they wrote 16 songs over the next seven months!

Katherine Turski:

Katherine Turski lives in North Texas with her husband and a small, governing body of furry animals. By day she clerks for a local library. When she has any free time, she enjoys reading, old movies, and baking, and writing--all aided with infusions of caffeine and chocolate.

Kathy's humor work has appeared in Abilities Magazine, Canada, and with Yard Dog Press in "Flush Fiction", "A Stitch in Time Saves None", and her new chapbook, "It's the Great Bumpkin, Cletus Brown",( with some truly great artwork by Sherri Dean). She's attended FenCon many times, and is thrilled to be here this time as a guest.

Jaye Wells:

(Jaye Wells) After several years as an editor and freelance writer, Jaye Wells finally decided to leave the facts behind and make up her own reality. Her overactive imagination and life-long fascination with the arcane and freakish blended nicely with this new career path. Her most recent release is The Mage in Black, the second book in her popular Sabina Kane urban fantasy series (published by Orbit).

Mel. White:

(Twitter) Known to her kids as "Indiana Mom", anthropologist Mel. White is a writer, artist, comic book creator, poet, storyteller, playwright, rocket-and-robot enthusiast -- and a fossil preparator. An avid gamer with a lamentable habit of filking, she has committed a number of musical atrocities about the World of Warcraft in addition to a few other ditties that keep the werewolves awake at night. Her graphic novel series (co-created by Robert Asprin), DUNCAN AND MALLORY, is web published at the Radio Comix. She can be found on Twitter, lurking under the name of "Foxraven"... because all the really good names were already taken.

The following regret that they are unable to attend FenCon this year:

Ginjer Buchanan

Charlee Jacob

Alan J. Porter

Nina Romberg

Steven E. Wedel

Skyler White

Craig Wolf

Our roster for 2010 is full. If you are interested in being a program participant at FenCon VIII, please send us an email. Include a brief biography and, if possible, a current photo. Thanks.

Text and images Copyright 2003-2010 by Dallas Future Society, Dallas, Texas.
FenCon is a production of the Dallas Future Society, a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to the advancement of science, literature, and music for the future of all mankind. This material is published by the Dallas Future Society in furtherance of its literary and educational purposes. The opinions expressed are those of the editors and contributors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Dallas Future Society, its Officers, or Directors.
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