FenCon XIII - September 23-25, 2016 |

Guests of Honor


Jim C. Hines Guest of Honor (Jim C. Hines) Jim C. Hines' first novel was Goblin Quest, the humorous tale of a nearsighted goblin runt and his pet fire-spider. Actor and author Wil Wheaton described the book as “too f***ing cool for words,” which is pretty much the Best Blurb Ever. After finishing the goblin trilogy, he went on to write the Princess series of fairy tale retellings, and is currently working on the Magic ex Libris books, a modern-day fantasy series about a magic-wielding librarian, a dryad, a secret society founded by Johannes Gutenberg, a flaming spider, and an enchanted convertible. He's also the author of the Fable Legends tie-in Blood of Heroes. His short fiction has appeared in more than 50 magazines and anthologies. Jim is an active blogger about topics ranging from sexism and harassment to zombie-themed Christmas carols, and won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2012. He has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Masters in English, and lives with his wife and two children in mid-Michigan.
Bill and Brenda Sutton Music Guests of Honor (Bandcamp) (Bed&Breakfast) No, its not a friendly, charming, room-for-hire in a cottage by the sea. Bed & Breakfast is the eclectic duo of Bill and Brenda Sutton from Danville, Indiana.These friendly, charming entertainers-for-hire specialize in Irish pub songs and unusual modern folk/acoustic music from songwriters like ChristineLavin, Jim Stafford, Steve Goodman, and Harry Chapin. The couple also performs a number of original songs. Bill is accomplished on guitar, mandolin, flute, penny whistle, and he’s working on the concertina and uilleann pipes. Brenda also plays guitar and studies the fiddle, but her forte is playing the bodhrán Irish frame drum beaten with tippers and brushes. Both Bill and Brenda are talented singer/songwriters with numerous credits and awards. The Suttons have been singing and playing together almost from the moment they first met. Bill and Brenda Sutton have been Music Guests of Honor at nearly every filkcon around the world and at plenty of other places too numerous tomention. The Suttons were inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame –2001. In 2014 they were Music Guests of Honor for Detcon1, the 2014 North American Science Fiction Convention.
Sara Felix Fen Guest of Honor (Sara Felix) Sara Felix is a Texas conrunner and artist living in Austin. She started working on conventions after working with Willie Siros at the Science Fiction and Mystery bookstore Adventures in Crime and Space. Since then she has worked many different sized conventions from ArmadilloCon, World Fantasy to WorldCons. While wearing her artist hat she makes jewelry and small clay robot sculptures that she sells at art shows. Always a fan of clay she was featured on Crafters Coast to Coast on HGTV a number of years ago where she crafted a flying pig.
Kristina Carroll Artist Guest of Honor (Kristina Carroll) (Facebook) Kristina Carroll is an illustrator and fine artist specializing in magical realism with a figurative focus. She is heavily influenced by the Symbolist movement and all manner of imaginative storytelling, both old and new. Kristina is especially drawn to mythology, archetypes, metamorphosis and how those themes can be translated into modern narratives. Kristina graduated from the School of Visual Arts in NYC and she has been recognized nationally for her work both in illustration and fine art. Some achievements include a Chesley Nomination, a Bronze medal from the Society of Illustrators L.A., inclusion in the Spectrum Fantastic Art annuals and being a finalist in the Art Renewal Center Salon. Clients include Wizards of the Coast, IDW and The Shelburne Museum. Her work has been exhibited in Museums and Galleries across the country. Kristina is also the force behind the popular Month of Love and Month of Fear art challenges that are now entering their fourth successful years. These challenges attract some of the top artists in the industry and allow them to push their art to new heights with inspiring themes and community support.
Michael S. Brotherton Science Guest of Honor (University of Wyoming) (Mike Brotherton) Mike Brotherton is a professor of astronomy at the University of Wyoming where he investigates the most luminous active galactic nuclei, the quasars. Powered by supermassive black holes, quasars outshine the galaxies within which they exist and shape the course of their evolution. He uses the Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Array in New Mexico, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and any other telescope that will grant him observing time. He is also the author of the science fiction novels Star Dragon (2003) and Spider Star (2008), both from Tor books, as well as a number of short stories. He is the founder of the NASA and National Science Foundation funded Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for Writers, which brings professional writers to Wyoming every summer in order to better educate and inspire their audiences.
Esther Friesner Toastmaster (Goodreads) (Princesses of Myth) Nebula Award winner Esther Friesner is the author of over 40 novels and almost 200 short stories. Educated at Vassar College and Yale University, where she received a Ph.D. in Spanish. She is also a poet, a playwright, and the editor of several anthologies. The best known of these is the Chicks in Chainmail series that she created and edits for Baen Books. The sixth book, Chicks and Balances, appeared in July 2015. Deception’s Pawn, the latest title in her popular Princesses of Myth series of Young Adult novels from Random House, was published in April 2015. Esther is married, a mother of two, grandmother of one, harbors cats, and lives in Connecticut. She has a fondness for bittersweet chocolate, graphic novels, manga, travel, and jewelry. There is no truth to the rumor that her family motto is “Oooooh, SHINY!” Her super-power is the ability to winnow her bookshelves without whining about it. Much.
Rachel Swirsky Special Workshop Guest (Rachel Swirsky) Rachel Swirsky was raised by a librarian and a computer programmer. Then, as now, they loved science fiction, and built themselves a special bookcase sized especially for science fiction paperbacks and magazines. Rachel grew up both writing and obsessed with Star Trek, so she turned to fan fiction as a teenager where she learned an enormous amount about how to write. In college, along with her writing degree, she studied anthropology which joined musical theater and fine art as a passionate interest. She holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers Workshop, and her work has been nominated for a number of awards, and twice won the Nebula Award, including for the recent "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love." She now owns five cats. They are all very cute and sweet, but she does not advise it.
Tiffany Franzoni Gaming Guest of Honor (Roll2Play) I believe gaming brings people together. With the huge resurgence of board games, dice games, and card games, many folks are taking breaks from video games and reconnecting with their friends, family, and/or co-workers over table top gaming. My goal with Roll2Play is to build a healthy and positive community around gaming. Anyone can see my passion with this goal with in the large and still growing community and the outreach programs that we do. I am very lucky to have a staff that shares this passion of gaming.
Mary Crowell Special Guest (Mary Crowell) (Patreon) Dr. Mary Crowell lives with her husband, Wesley, and their son, Simon, in Athens, Alabama. She teaches music at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama, and maintains a private studio too. (The doctorate is in music.) Mary performs by herself or as part of Three Weird Sisters (and other bands) at general science fiction conventions as well as filk conventions. (Three Weird Sisters were music guests at Fencon in 2008!) She is also the musical director of the swinging jazz band Play It With Moxie active in the greater Atlanta area. (Moxie is GAFilk’s house band.) In 2007 Mary released her first album Courting My Muse, recorded with Greg Robert. Mary Crowell's second solo album, Acolytes of the Machine & Other Gaming Stories (2012), is an unabashed love letter to the hobby of playing Dungeons & Dragons created by a singer/songwriter and folk/jazz piano composer who plays a Bard in Real Life. This second album is regularly played on Pandora Radio. Thanks to a successful Kickstarter, Mary is releasing her newest album, Scattering Seeds on the Pomegranate Tour, in November of 2016! Photo credit: Patricia Blood

Jim C. Hines

Guest of Honor

(Jim C. Hines) Jim C. Hines' first novel was Goblin Quest, the humorous tale of a nearsighted goblin runt and his pet fire-spider. Actor and author Wil Wheaton described the book as “too f***ing cool for words,” which is pretty much the Best Blurb Ever. After finishing the goblin trilogy, he went on to write the Princess series of fairy tale retellings, and is currently working on the Magic ex Libris books, a modern-day fantasy series about a magic-wielding librarian, a dryad, a secret society founded by Johannes Gutenberg, a flaming spider, and an enchanted convertible. He's also the author of the Fable Legends tie-in Blood of Heroes. His short fiction has appeared in more than 50 magazines and anthologies.

Jim is an active blogger about topics ranging from sexism and harassment to zombie-themed Christmas carols, and won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2012. He has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Masters in English, and lives with his wife and two children in mid-Michigan.

Bill and Brenda Sutton

Music Guests of Honor

(Bandcamp) (Bed&Breakfast) No, its not a friendly, charming, room-for-hire in a cottage by the sea. Bed & Breakfast is the eclectic duo of Bill and Brenda Sutton from Danville, Indiana.These friendly, charming entertainers-for-hire specialize in Irish pub songs and unusual modern folk/acoustic music from songwriters like ChristineLavin, Jim Stafford, Steve Goodman, and Harry Chapin. The couple also performs a number of original songs.

Bill is accomplished on guitar, mandolin, flute, penny whistle, and he’s working on the concertina and uilleann pipes. Brenda also plays guitar and studies the fiddle, but her forte is playing the bodhrán Irish frame drum beaten with tippers and brushes. Both Bill and Brenda are talented singer/songwriters with numerous credits and awards.

The Suttons have been singing and playing together almost from the moment they first met.

Bill and Brenda Sutton have been Music Guests of Honor at nearly every filkcon around the world and at plenty of other places too numerous tomention. The Suttons were inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame –2001. In 2014 they were Music Guests of Honor for Detcon1, the 2014 North American Science Fiction Convention.

Sara Felix

Fen Guest of Honor

(Sara Felix) Sara Felix is a Texas conrunner and artist living in Austin. She started working on conventions after working with Willie Siros at the Science Fiction and Mystery bookstore Adventures in Crime and Space. Since then she has worked many different sized conventions from ArmadilloCon, World Fantasy to WorldCons. While wearing her artist hat she makes jewelry and small clay robot sculptures that she sells at art shows. Always a fan of clay she was featured on Crafters Coast to Coast on HGTV a number of years ago where she crafted a flying pig.

Kristina Carroll

Artist Guest of Honor

(Kristina Carroll) (Facebook) Kristina Carroll is an illustrator and fine artist specializing in magical realism with a figurative focus. She is heavily influenced by the Symbolist movement and all manner of imaginative storytelling, both old and new. Kristina is especially drawn to mythology, archetypes, metamorphosis and how those themes can be translated into modern narratives.

Kristina graduated from the School of Visual Arts in NYC and she has been recognized nationally for her work both in illustration and fine art. Some achievements include a Chesley Nomination, a Bronze medal from the Society of Illustrators L.A., inclusion in the Spectrum Fantastic Art annuals and being a finalist in the Art Renewal Center Salon. Clients include Wizards of the Coast, IDW and The Shelburne Museum. Her work has been exhibited in Museums and Galleries across the country.

Kristina is also the force behind the popular Month of Love and Month of Fear art challenges that are now entering their fourth successful years. These challenges attract some of the top artists in the industry and allow them to push their art to new heights with inspiring themes and community support.

Michael S. Brotherton

Science Guest of Honor

(University of Wyoming) (Mike Brotherton) Mike Brotherton is a professor of astronomy at the University of Wyoming where he investigates the most luminous active galactic nuclei, the quasars. Powered by supermassive black holes, quasars outshine the galaxies within which they exist and shape the course of their evolution. He uses the Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Array in New Mexico, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and any other telescope that will grant him observing time. He is also the author of the science fiction novels Star Dragon (2003) and Spider Star (2008), both from Tor books, as well as a number of short stories. He is the founder of the NASA and National Science Foundation funded Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for Writers, which brings professional writers to Wyoming every summer in order to better educate and inspire their audiences.

Esther Friesner

Toastmaster

(Goodreads) (Princesses of Myth) Nebula Award winner Esther Friesner is the author of over 40 novels and almost 200 short stories. Educated at Vassar College and Yale University, where she received a Ph.D. in Spanish. She is also a poet, a playwright, and the editor of several anthologies. The best known of these is the Chicks in Chainmail series that she created and edits for Baen Books. The sixth book, Chicks and Balances, appeared in July 2015. Deception’s Pawn, the latest title in her popular Princesses of Myth series of Young Adult novels from Random House, was published in April 2015.

Esther is married, a mother of two, grandmother of one, harbors cats, and lives in Connecticut. She has a fondness for bittersweet chocolate, graphic novels, manga, travel, and jewelry. There is no truth to the rumor that her family motto is “Oooooh, SHINY!”

Her super-power is the ability to winnow her bookshelves without whining about it. Much.

Rachel Swirsky

Special Workshop Guest

(Rachel Swirsky) Rachel Swirsky was raised by a librarian and a computer programmer. Then, as now, they loved science fiction, and built themselves a special bookcase sized especially for science fiction paperbacks and magazines. Rachel grew up both writing and obsessed with Star Trek, so she turned to fan fiction as a teenager where she learned an enormous amount about how to write. In college, along with her writing degree, she studied anthropology which joined musical theater and fine art as a passionate interest. She holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers Workshop, and her work has been nominated for a number of awards, and twice won the Nebula Award, including for the recent "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love." She now owns five cats. They are all very cute and sweet, but she does not advise it.

Tiffany Franzoni

Gaming Guest of Honor

(Roll2Play) I believe gaming brings people together. With the huge resurgence of board games, dice games, and card games, many folks are taking breaks from video games and reconnecting with their friends, family, and/or co-workers over table top gaming. My goal with Roll2Play is to build a healthy and positive community around gaming. Anyone can see my passion with this goal with in the large and still growing community and the outreach programs that we do. I am very lucky to have a staff that shares this passion of gaming.

Mary Crowell

Special Guest

(Mary Crowell) (Patreon) Dr. Mary Crowell lives with her husband, Wesley, and their son, Simon, in Athens, Alabama. She teaches music at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama, and maintains a private studio too. (The doctorate is in music.)

Mary performs by herself or as part of Three Weird Sisters (and other bands) at general science fiction conventions as well as filk conventions. (Three Weird Sisters were music guests at Fencon in 2008!) She is also the musical director of the swinging jazz band Play It With Moxie active in the greater Atlanta area. (Moxie is GAFilk’s house band.)

In 2007 Mary released her first album Courting My Muse, recorded with Greg Robert. Mary Crowell's second solo album, Acolytes of the Machine & Other Gaming Stories (2012), is an unabashed love letter to the hobby of playing Dungeons & Dragons created by a singer/songwriter and folk/jazz piano composer who plays a Bard in Real Life. This second album is regularly played on Pandora Radio.

Thanks to a successful Kickstarter, Mary is releasing her newest album, Scattering Seeds on the Pomegranate Tour, in November of 2016!

Photo credit: Patricia Blood

Program Participants

Paul Abell (ARES Directorate) Dr. Paul Abell is the Chief Scientist for Small Body Exploration assigned to the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. His main areas of interest are physical characterization of near-Earth objects (NEOs), examination of NEOs for future robotic and human exploration, and identification of potential resources within the NEO population. Paul, his wife Amy Sisson, and their feline companions have lived in Houston, Texas since December 2003.
Rachael Acks (Rachael Acks) (Musa Publishing) (Facebook) (Twitter) Rachael Acks is a writer, geologist, and dapper AF. Ze’s written for Six to Start and been published in Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, and more. Rachael lives in Houston with zir two furry little bastards, where ze twirls zir mustache, watches movies, and bikes.
David Afsharirad (David Afsharirad) David Afsharirad is the editor of The Year's Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction anthology series. You can hear him from time to time on The Baen Free Radio Hour podcast, where he interviews authors about their work. His short stories have appeared in various print and online markets. He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and son.
C. Dean Andersson (Bloodsong! Helx3) (Wikipedia) (Facebook) (Twitter) C. Dean Andersson’s HelX3, available from Baen ebooks, contains expanded author’s cut editions of his heroic fantasy trilogy: Warrior Witch of Hel, Death Riders of Hel, and Werebeasts of Hel. He is preparing expanded editions of I am Dracula and Raw Pain Max. A new Hel novel in progress features Viking warriors and a K-Pop idol turned swordswoman. If you mention K-Pop to him, be prepared to discuss T-ARA and name your bias: Jiyeon? Hyomin? Eunjung? Soyeon? Qri? or Boram?
Kimm Antell (ChickGeek) (Facebook) (GooglePlus) Kimm Antell is a fan, artist, author, and geek. She is from Houston/Austin, but has recently been stuck in Arkansas. She currently has a crush on Josephus Miller although don't tell her husband or cats. They might get jealous.
Julie Barrett (Stately Barrett Manor) Julie is the current FenCon chair, which explains the gray hairs. When not spending her waking hours on FenCon, Julie works as a writer, photographer, and slave to cats.
Paul Barrett Amongst Paul's many pastimes, a favorite is creating, finding, and programming the sound effects for Generic Radio Workshop productions. As with the other GRW founders, he's done so many of these shows, he's no longer sure if this is reality, or if he's living in an episode of Dimension X. Another hobby is 3D printing - he'll be demonstrating all the ways this can go wrong.
Bland Lemon Denton and the Lemon-Aides A FenCon fixture, Bland Lemon Denton and the Lemon-Aides features Bradley "Bland Lemon" Denton on guitar, Caroline "Honey Badger Spector on bass, and Bot "Thumper" Yeagar on percussion.
Rick Boatright (1632) (Facebook) (Twitter) Rick Boatright is exactly the same age as Bill Gates. He’s also a software developer but nowhere near as wealthy. He's been on-line almost as long, starting with Uncle Henry's bar on Bix, the predecessor to Baen's Bar. Since 2001 he's been a writer, editor, and head Geek for Eric Flint's 1632 universe. He's the perpetrator of the "Weird Tech" lectures at the 1632 minicons and is, to his shame, creator of Dr. Phillipe Theophrastus Gribbleflotz, the world's greatest alchemist.
Karen Bogen (Facebook) Karen is a self-confessed knit-and-yarn-aholic. She spends as much time as she can get away with either knitting something, inventorying her yarn stash, or fondling yarn at any shop within driving range. Interesting? Depends on your point of view. She likes to cook and she enjoys reading forensic anthropology books. Occasionally at the same time. In January of 2012, she allowed herself to get talked into taking a full-time+ job. It's really eating into her knitting time.
Walt Boyes (Grantville Gazette) (Facebook) By day, Walt is an award-winning journalist, analyst, and authority on manufacturing and automation. He is a Fellow of several scientific organizations and member of the Association of Professional Futurists. At night, however, he transforms into the Bananaslug of Baen’s bar and writes science fiction, fantasy, and alternate history. He’s editor of the Grantville Gazette, a 1632 Editorial Board member, and writing and editing the 1632 Companion with his wife Joy Ward. Together, they also co-edit Ring of Fire Press.
Rachel Caine (Rachel Caine) NYT bestseller Rachel Caine writes way too much. Though her first love is SF/F, she also splits her time in the mystery, thriller, and YA genres. This year's releases include Midnight Bites (a Morganville Vampires short story collection), Red Hot Rain (a new Weather Warden novel), and Paper and Fire (second in the Great Library series). She's also tickled beyond delight to be included in Jonathan Maberry's upcoming anthologies, The X-Files: The Truth Is Out There and Aliens. Stay frosty!
David Carrico David Carrico's writing career began with short stories laid in the 1632 universe published in Grantville Gazette. He is the author with Eric Flint of 1636: The Devil's Opera. Eric Flint and David Carrico are also continuing the Jao Empire series which Flint began with the late K.D. Wentworth. The latest entry in the series is The Span of Empire out in September. Carrico lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
J. Kathleen Cheney (J. Kathleen Cheney) J. Kathleen Cheney taught mathematics ranging from 7th grade to Calculus, but gave it all up for a chance to write stories. Her novella "Iron Shoes" was a 2010 Nebula Award Finalist. Her novel, The Golden City was a Finalist for the 2014 Locus Awards (Best First Novel). Dreaming Death (Feb 2016) is the first in a new series, the Palace of Dreams Novels.
Dantzel Cherry (Dantzel Cherry) (Facebook) (Twitter) Dantzel Cherry teaches Pilates and raises her daughter by day. By night and naptime, she writes. Her baking hours follow no rhyme or reason. Her short stories have appeared in Fireside, InterGalactic Medicine Show, Galaxy's Edge, and other magazines and anthologies.
Rosemary Clement (Rosemary Clement) (Twitter) Rosemary Clement writes, under various names, supernatural mystery and adventure novels for youngish adults. Her books are on recommended reading lists and received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal. She drinks too much coffee, journals with a fountain pen, knits her own sweaters, and loves books with witty banter, romantic tension, dead bodies, and live ghosts. You can connect with her on Twitter or visit her webpage/blog.
R. Cat Conrad (Artists In Residence) R. Cat Conrad provided cover art for FenCon's first program, the dystopian painting ominously titled You're Next. His work encompasses many genres directed to the fine art and illustration collecting community, but Cat's most popular compositions are his space landscapes and whimsical dragon sketches. It should also be noted he's a trail-blazer in frontiers beyond space and fantasy. In addition to being an award-winning painter, he’s a Golden Age comic historian, collector/dealer, auctioneer, and recently, film actor.
Iver Cooper Iver Cooper is an active contributor to Eric Flint's 1632 shared universe, with more than 20 short stories and 40 articles published. Iver's braided story anthology 1636: Seas of Fortune, was published by Baen in 2014. 1636: Mandate of Heaven, co-authored with Eric Flint and dealing with Ming China, will be out in 2018. Iver is a patent attorney with Browdy & Neimark, Washington, DC., and also teaches swing and folk dancing. He is married with two children.
Darwin Prophet & Chronus Mirror (Darwin Prophet) Darwin Prophet and the Chronus Mirror: Thematic Travelers from the planet MI in the galaxy Solfege will take you on a sonic journey across a symphony of yestermorrows to the realm of Literary Rock in vibrant aural exhibitions. Paying homage to myth and science fiction in equal measure, Darwin Prophet blends ethereal groove & aesthetic charm with a touch of steam. Imagine Oscar Wilde, Kate Bush, Marc Bolan, and Douglas Adams having tea and jamming with Doctor Who!
Aaron de Orive (Aaron de Orive) (Facebook) (Twitter) Aaron de Orive was a writer/designer on several award-winning video game titles, including Metroid Prime 3, Star Wars Galaxies, Tabula Rasa, Anarchy Online, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. He co-authored the fantasy middle-grade novel Blade Singer with Martha Wells. As a tabletop role-playing game author and designer, Aaron created Shard: World of the False Dawn. He is currently at work on scifi, adventure, and horror audio dramas. He is also the founder and co-host of The Gentlemen Nerds podcast.
Sherri Dean (Facebook) (Twitter) Sherri "ConBarbie" Dean was born late AND backwards, which explains a lot. She does illustrations, stories, and editing for Yard Dog Press, recently the cover of Flush Fiction II. Sherri's latest are the weird western collection with Bill D. Allen Three Aces from Satan’s Hand and the horror anthology Death Is Only Skin Deep with Tim W. Burke and Allison Stein, available online. Sherri also goes by "Monkey Queen" and The Feisty Mistress of Fear.
John DeLaughter (WordHerd) John DeLaughter is a planetologist in Oklahoma City, OK. His science focuses on earthquakes, planets, and having more fun than is humanly possible. He’s been to all seven continents and has always met the nicest people. His more than 70 books, papers, and presentations cover topics ranging from seismic attribute analysis to what a young T. Rex should eat for lunch. He and Mel. White are the WordHerd. Visit him at their site!
Virginia DeMarce Virginia DeMarce began writing in Eric Flint's 1632 alternate history series in 2001. She has co-written three books (1634: The Ram Rebellion; 1634: The Bavarian Crisis; 1635: The Dreeson Incident), one solo (1635: The Tangled Web) and numerous stories in the Ring of Fire anthologies and The Grantville Gazette (paper and online). DeMarce is a retired historian with a specialty in early modern Europe (Ph.D., Stanford, 1967). Now widowed, her other activities include genealogy, gardening, and volunteering.
Charlayne Denney (Charlayne Denney) (Facebook) (Twitter) (Goodreads) Given Charlayne's habit of checking people for fangs and living in the dark, she discovered her own vampires and Lilly, Marcus, and the rest of the gang inhabiting her Fangs & Halos series. When not hanging with vampires, she's a WoW gnome mage, Rubyrose. Of course, all this stuff weirds out her kids and grandkids. She found her husband, Bruce, through a want-ad in the program book for ConTroll 93. She's attended, worked, and guested at Texas conventions since 1979.
Bradley Denton (Bradley Denton) (Bland Lemon Denton) Four Bradley Denton titles are in new formats for 2015: Novels Blackburn and Lunatics, plus story collection One Day Closer to Death, are now available as ebooks. And Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede is now an audiobook -- complete with cover art from FenCon Artist GoH Mitch Bentley. Meanwhile, Brad’s 2014 collection Sergeant Chip and Other Novellas is still in print, and he still manages the career of Bland Lemon Denton, the World’s Oldest (and Worst) Bluesman.
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 L. Donahue (Linda L. Donahue) Linda has degrees in computer science, Russian studies, Earth science education, and electrical engineering. Additionally, she teaches tai chi and belly dancing, can borrow moon rock samples, and is a certified commercial instrument pilot, advanced ground instructor, and SCUBA diver. Her latest short stories have appeared in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #25 and Chicks and Balances. Her novel, Jaguar Moon, is available from Yard Dog Press. She lives with her husband and pet rabbits, sugar gliders, and cats in Garland, Texas.
Dennis Donigan Dennis was introduced to Irish music (and Guinness) in the ‘80’s (several Irish Catholic wedding dances) and it was love at first “sight”. Greatly influenced by Tommy Makem & the Clancy Brothers to Gaelic Storm, Dennis enjoys performing (recently the Houston Celtic Festival) not only Celtic music, through his guitar, mandolin, bodhran, and harmonica, but a variety of folk, bluegrass, and country, and now as part of Donigan & Foye, filk music.
Donigan & Foye Imagine, if you will, a small redneck town in Texas...the favorite music of the area, Country.... a most unlikely place for a singer of Celtic music...and even more unlikely for two...but Dennis and Dene met one morning in Columbus and started talking... The rest is history... Donigan & Foye played their first gig on St. Patrick's Day 2014 and are performing this year at Fencon for the 3rd time.
P.N. Elrod (VampWriter.com) (Wikipedia) P.N. Elrod is best known for The Vampire Files, featuring Undead gumshoe Jack Fleming. She's edited a number of award-winning anthologies for St. Martin's with stories from the top paranormal and urban fantasy writers. This year she re-released the Files series as an ebook bundle and is pressing forward in her other career as a freelance editor. If you have a book to edit or need feedback on a work in progress, check out the editing page on her website.
Rhonda Eudaly (Rhonda Eudaly) Rhonda Eudaly lives in Arlington, Texas with her husband and two dogs. She's an author who hasn't met an industry she doesn't like - that's what happens with a Radio-TV-Film degree. She's only into two of the three "R"s - reading and writing...arithmetic is right out - like five in holy hand grenades. Her vices are ink (pen not skin), good coffee, and bad puns. Check out her website for publications and downloads.
Karen Evans (No Ship for Tranquebar) Karen Evans has been writing on the SF/F roller-coaster with her husband for almost 10 years. When not writing, she enjoys crocheting, embroidery, and other busy-hand activities so she can listen to the voices in her head. She lives in New Mexico with her husband, a dog, and a variable number of cats. She and her husband have several stories in the Grantville Gazette, and also a novella available on Amazon Ring of Fire Press called "No Ship for Tranquebar".
Kevin Evans Kevin Evans, with his wife, writes in the Ring of Fire story cycle. Their most recent work was a braided story set, published in the Grantville Gazette. Kevin helps restore large vintage steam locomotives, Gunsmiths, and has been a hot air balloon crewman for fifteen years.
Mark Finn (Mark Finn) (The Gentlemen Nerds) (Twitter) Mark Finn is an author, actor, essayist, pop culture critic, and movie reviewer. He is a nationally-recognized authority on the Texas author Robert E. Howard and has written extensively about him. For the past three years, Finn was named one of the top movie critics in Texas. He lives in North Texas, over an old movie theater that he owns and operates, along with his long-suffering wife, far too many books, and an affable pit bull named Sonya.
Michael Ashleigh Finn (LiveJournal) (The Gentlemen Nerds) (The Lobot Lounge) (Dirty Magick: LA) (Amazon) Mickey is 1/4 of the The Gentlemen Nerds podcast, as well as the editor and accidental co-producer. He is short story author expanding into novels, and a thematic consultant for Dynamite Entertainment on Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files. His latest Wormwood story, "All the Pretty Little Horses," is available in the anthology Dirty Magick: New Orleans (Lucky Mojo Press).
Melanie Fletcher (Melanie Fletcher) Melanie Fletcher likes to write, preferably for money. Her most recent publications as paranormal romance writer Nicola Cameron include Palace of Scoundrels and Do No Harm (Belaurient Press). She hopes to publish her AU novel A Most Malicious Murder (Edgar Allan Poe and Lewis Carroll fight crime!) in 2016, assuming she can find the time. Then again, who needs sleep? Interesting tidbit: she counts a gay porn star and an Anglican vicar among her friends.
Eric Flint (Eric Flint) Eric Flint's writing career began with the science fiction novel Mother of Demons. His alternate history novel 1632 has led to a longrunning series with over thirty novels and anthologies in print. He’s also written many other science fiction and fantasy novels. He resides in northwest Indiana with his wife Lucille.
Brad W. Foster (Brad W. Foster) (Jabberwocky Graphix) Brad W. Foster, international jet-setter and sometime dabbler in pen and ink, creates "strange little pictures” that have garnered 26 Hugo nominations and eight Best Fan Artist awards. Brad's art has been in over 2000 publications ranging from Amazing Stories to Highlights for Children, computer instruction books, children's picture books, coloring books, comic books, advertising posters, role-playing games, rug designs, card decks, tattoos, and more. He and the lovely Cindy travel the country to various conventions, festivals, and cat shows.
Dene Foye (Cath Album) As a teen, Dene began playing guitar and singing folk music, and for the last 15 years he has immersed himself in the wonders of Celtic music. He is currently one half of Donigan & Foye. In 2012 he was one of twelve Celtic performers on the Cath Benefit CD, benefiting Parkinson’s Disease research. After procrastinating for many years, Dene has finally finished a Celtic CD, entitled “For the Love of Haggis”.
Karl Gallagher Karl K. Gallagher is a systems engineer, currently performing data analysis for a major aerospace company. In the past he calculated trajectories for a commercial launch rocket start-up, operated satellites as a USAF officer, and selected orbits for government and commercial satellites. His novels Torchship and Torchship Pilot are working-class hard SF adventures, available on Amazon and Audible. Karl lives in Saginaw, TX with his family.
Mary Gearhart-Gray (4 Star Stories) Mary Gearhart-Gray is a free-lance technical editor. In 2011 she founded 4StarStories.com, a quarterly, online Science Fiction and Fantasy magazine, which she co-edits with her husband, David Gray. Her philosophy as an editor is that aspiring authors should have a user-friendly venue to showcase their work.
Generic Radio Workshop (Generic Radio Workshop) Generic Radio Workshop has been around longer than the Golden Age of Radio lasted -- a little over thirty years. They started with the Texas Broadcast Museum and have performed at festivals, conventions, and yes, on the radio. They use as much vintage equipment as possible for that "old time radio" feel. Plus, many of their sound effects devices are hand-built, following period designs. While they've made a few concessions to modern technology, their core practices follow radio's Golden Age.
David Gray (4 Star Stories) David L. Gray is the creator of the Buzz Blaster, Space Entrepreneur series of radio plays and writes science fiction short stories about warfare in the (not so near?) future Asteroid Belt and unsavory visitors from parallel universes. He is co-founder with his wife Mary Gearhart-Gray of the online Science Fiction/Fantasy publication 4StarStories, which publishes four times a year. In his spare time he works in the Aerospace industry writing instruction manuals for robots that assemble airplanes and feeds cats.
Teddy Harvia Teddy Harvia is an anagram of David Thayer. Teddy has drawn and contributed cartoons to fan publications since the mid-70s. Fans and friends have rewarded his efforts with a few Hugos for Best Fan Artist. He has cut back on cartooning recently to allow David to concentrate on writing SF poetry. In his professional life, he works as a technical writer for a big telecommunications company. With his wife Diana, six cats, and thousands of books, he lives in Dallas.
Bjorn Hasseler Bjorn found 1632 in a public library and saw it had a nifty cover and that rocketship logo. Then he found the 1632 conferences at Baen's Bar and discovered that fans were encouraged to write. He has now had twelve stories and a three-part serial published in the Grantville Gazette and one story published in Ring of Fire IV. Bjorn is the managing editor of the Grantville Gazette and an education coordinator for University of Maryland University College.
Gorg David Huff (WarSpell) (Gorg Huff) Gorg Huff has been a paratrooper, a cashier, a construction worker, a programmer, and a caregiver. He paints, sculpts, creates virtual objects. He's studied chaos theory, economics, history, and other stuff. He writes alternate history, space opera, fantasy and the occasional fact article. Examples of his writing can be found at the WarSpell website. 1637: The Volga Rules and The Alexander Inheritance are turned in and should be coming out sometime. A Steampunk Game is just about done.
Walter Hunt (Walter H. Hunt) (Facebook) Walter H. Hunt is a science fiction and historical fiction writer. His first published novel, The Dark Wing, originally appeared in 2001, and was favorably compared to Babylon 5 and Ender's Game. He has written four Dark Wing novels, as well as A Song in Stone, Elements of Mind, and the recently-published 1636: The Cardinal Virtues, the newest novel in the Ring of Fire universe. An active Freemason and baseball fan, he lives in Massachusetts with his wife and daughter.
Kristi Hutson (KHP at GooglePages) Born in Texas, but educated on both coasts, Hutson did time as a DoD contractor and now slings education at 6th graders. Hutson has been the LETS (Law Enforcement Teaching Students) liaison, a Krav Maga student and instructor, and a Texas Defensive Shooters club member. So far these facts remain mutually exclusive. Occasionally Hutson writes fiction instead of grading papers: "An Undercover Haunting" appears in the Strange Afterlives anthology, and the novella Bound by Ink is available at Amazon.
Kevin Ikenberry (Kevin Ikenberry) (Twitter) Kevin Ikenberry is a life-long space geek and retired Army space operations officer. A former manager of the world-renowned U.S. Space Camp program and an executive with two Challenger Learning Centers, Kevin has a broad background in informal space science education. He is the author of the acclaimed science fiction novel Sleeper Protocol and the popular military science fiction novel Runs In The Family. He is an Active Member of SFWA and an alumnus of the Superstars Writing Seminar.
Lee Killough (Lee Killough) (Coffee Shop Writers) Lee Killough became hooked on SF,fantasy, and mysteries at age eleven. The result, except for SF, her novels usually combine genres: mystery with the supernatural or urban fantasy. She shares her lakeside home with a Schnauzer and walls of books. Her older books are republishing as e-books, revised and updated since science has overrun the 70's fictional science. The latest is Spider Play, available at Amazon. Also see her original space opera Ancient Enemy at the Yard Dog Press table.
William Ledbetter (William Ledbetter) William Ledbetter lives near Dallas with his family and too many animals. His fiction is published in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, The Year’s Best Military SF and Space Opera, Baen.com, Escape Pod, Writers of the Future, Yard Dog Press, and many others. He is an editor at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and runs the annual Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest for Baen Books and the National Space Society.
Steve Liptak Steve Liptak is a retired pilot who has been involved in fantasy/SciFi and costuming for over 30 years. He has earned past awards from DragonCon, AllCon, and FenCon in costume competition. Over the last few years he has lectured at conventions such as AKon, SoonerCon, and FenCon. He enjoys working in metal, leather, and plastic vacuforming, and uses a kit-built 3D printer to speed prototyping. His lectures focus on lighting effects and prop fabrication.
Julia S. Mandala (Julia S. Mandala) Julia S. Mandala holds degrees in history and law. She is the editor of The Fantasy Writers Asylum, an imprint of Yard Dog Press, and is a scuba diver and belly dancer. She edited The Anthology From Hell: Humorous Tales from WAY Down Under. In addition to many short stories, her publications include the novels Blood Songs, Villains in Training, House of Doors, and The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse series (with Linda L. Donahue, Rhonda Eudaly and Dusty Rainbolt).
Marshall Ryan Maresca (Marshall Ryan Maresca) Marshall Ryan Maresca is a fantasy and science-fiction writer, as well as a playwright, living in South Austin with his wife and son. He is the author of the Maradaine Novels: The Thorn of Dentonhill, A Murder of Mages, The Alchemy of Chaos and the upcoming An Import of Intrigue. His work also appeared in Norton Anthology of Hint Fiction and Rick Klaw’s anthology Rayguns Over Texas. He also has had several short plays produced.
A. Lee Martinez (A. Lee Martinez) 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 10 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.
Kip McMurray Clifford R. McMurray (AKA “Kip”) is a space advocate, writer, singer, and science fiction devotee with extensive knowledge of the politics, history, and current progress of space exploration. A former National Space Society vice-president and Board of Directors member, he yearly publishes at least four space-related articles. Cliff attended both the first and last space shuttle launches, as well the last Apollo launch, and in the evenings can be found telling jokes at parties or singing along at a filk.
Margaret Middleton Filker Margaret Middleton is retired from 25 years of “designing piles of dirt and holes in the ground” for the Arkansas Highway Department. She now lives in Starkville MS, where she roots for the Mississippi State Bulldogs except when they play either the Arkansas Razorbacks or the Texas A&M Aggies. In between sporting events and science fiction conventions, she quilts and collects songs about aviation and the space program.
Michelle Muenzler (Michelle Muenzler) (Facebook) Michelle Muenzler, also known at local conventions as "The Cookie Lady", writes fiction both dark and strange to counterbalance the sweetness of her baking. Her fiction and poetry have been published in magazines such as StarLine, Daily Science Fiction, and Apex Magazine*, and she takes immense joy in crinkling words like little foil puppets.
Ethan Nahté (Ethan Nahté) (Facebook) (Live ‘N’ Loud) Ethan Nahté is an author, journalist, screenwriter, photographer and musician. He has also worked in TV/film and radio. He has nearly two-dozen stories and poems published in various anthologies and e-zines. His work spans horror, historical fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, and young adult. He recently finished his first novel and will be releasing his first collection Of Monsters & Madmen, eight previously published stories along with two new stories, complete with art and introductions for each tale.
Kathleen O'Brien (Vintage Fashion Explained) (Victorian Smoking Caps) Kathleen M. O'Brien began sewing at age 4, learning traditional techniques from her mother and grandmother. She collects and studies vintage clothing to decipher mysteries of drape and fit found in previous eras. Her costumes include both original designs and reproductions, utilizing many historical techniques. She enjoys sharing both these skills and her collection with others and has recently published her first e-book Victorian Smoking Caps. Check out her website at Vintage Fashion Explained. Photo ©2012, Carol Schiraldi
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 (Gloria Oliver) Expert party wallflower, Gloria Oliver can be a great asset during any multi language movie experience, able to translate some Spanish and Japanese when it's splattered without warning or subtitles at your screen. She also likes to dabble at movie reviews, which she posts on her blog every Friday. A small press author, her latest work is a gender swap fantasy novel entitled Jewel of the Gods. For sample chapters, free fiction, and more, please visit her website.
Stephen Patrick (Films) Stephen Patrick loves to tell stories. His fiction ranges from horror to historical and his most recent story “Hungry” is part of the Sins of the Seven anthology from Wicked East Press. As a compulsive film racer, he relishes the chaotic battle between creativity and the clock while making a movie from scratch in 48 hours. The Solera Visuals film "precycling" won second place in the Dallas 48 hour film race - auteur division.
Teresa Patterson (Event Horizon EBooks) (Facebook) Teresa Patterson’s work includes, The World of Shannara with Terry Brooks, The World of the Wheel of Time with Robert Jordan, No Quarter with Robert Asprin, Combat Corpsman with Navy SEAL Greg McPartlin, numerous short stories, and humorous history essays. Her newest work, with Navy SEAL Craig Marley, is No Lifeguard on Duty. When not writing she works as a balloon sculptor, kayak instructor, show horse trainer, and managing The Armory at DragonCon. She also loves to sing and entertain.
Trakena Prevost Trakena Prevost was born and raised in Texas, where everything IS bigger and the people are very friendly. She spends most of her time oscillating between obsessing over Korean dramas and writing down the fantastic tales rumbling around in her head. When not reading and writing, Trakena spends her time working in HR for an oil and gas company in Fort Worth and hanging out with family and friends - including the most adorable kid a girl could ask for.
Dusty Rainbolt (Dusty Rainbolt) Dusty Rainbolt swears she was raised by aliens after being abandoned on Earth by grays who abhorred the TransGalactic School System. She’s the author of the new Yard Dog Press paranormal mystery, Death Under the Crescent Moon, and coauthor of The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse series. Like to shop online? She’s the editor-in-chief of AdoptAShelter.com, a free shop-to-donate website that benefits animal charities. She’s written numerous books and thousands of articles on cat care, behavior, and animal hauntings.
Rie Sheridan Rose (Rie Sheridan Rose) (The Conn-Man Chronicles) Rie's short stories appear in numerous anthologies, including Nightmare Stalkers and Dream Walkers Vols. 1 and 2, Avast Ye Airships, The Grotesquerie, and In the Bloodstream as well as Yard Dog Press' A Bubba in Time Saves None. Mocha Memoirs has the short story collection RieTales. Online, she has appeared in Cease, Cows, Lorelei Signal, and Four Star Stories. She is also the author of seven novels, five poetry chapbooks, and lyrics for songs on several of Marc Gunn's CDs.
Selina Rosen (Selina Rosen) (Yard Dog Press) (Castle Farms) (Facebook) Selina Rosen’s short fiction has appeared in Sword and Sorceress, Turn the Other Chick, and Thieves’ World anthologies among others. Among her 25+ published novels are the Chains trilogy, Strange Robby, The Holmes & Storm Mysteries, Black Rage, and How I Spent the Apocalypse. She also has a non-fiction and several non-genres including The Pit. She also owns and runs Yard Dog Press.
Ken Ruffin (National Space Society of North Texas) A lifelong Trekkie, space enthusiast, and former Aerospace Engineering student, Ken was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the National Space Society (NSS). He’s also served five years as chapter president of NSS of North Texas: the 2014 and 2016 NSS Chapter of the Year! During local public events and monthly meetings, Ken presents "the latest and greatest information in space travel and space development" and advocates using technologies, energy, and materials from space to benefit humanity.
Patrice Sarath (Patrice Sarath) (Facebook) (Twitter) Patrice Sarath is an author and editor living in Austin, Texas. Her novels include the fantasy series Books of the Gordath (Gordath Wood, Red Gold Bridge, and The Crow God’s Girl) and the romance The Unexpected Miss Bennet. She has been published by Penguin and Robert Hale Ltd. Her short stories have appeared in Weird Tales, Black Gate, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and many other magazines and anthologies. Follow her at her website, Facebook, or on Twitter.
Shawn Scarber (Shawn Scarber) Shawn Scarber lives in North Texas. He’s written a number of short stories that have appeared in magazines, collections, and e-zines. He’s a Clarion West 2006 graduate and an active member of the Future Classics Speculative Fiction Writers. By day he's an application developer specializing in full stack JavaScript programming for the web. He has 18 years experience in application product development, management, delivery, and he's a certified SCRUM master. Sorry, but he won't fix your computer.
Adrian Simmons (Heroic Fantasy Quarterly) (Heroic Quarterly Fantasy Facebook) (Facebook) Adrian Simmons lives in Norman, Oklahoma. He has hoofed the Ouachita and Ozark Highlands trails, the England coast to coast trail, and the Camino de Santiago in Spain. His nonfiction has appeared in Black Gate and Strange Horizons. His fiction has popped up in James Gunn’s Ad Astra Magazine, Outposts of Beyond, Plasma Frequency and the anthologies Apotheosis and No Sh!t There I Was. In 2009 he founded the webzine Heroicfantasyquarterly.com and currently serves as 1/3 of its editorial staff.
Brad Sinor (Brad Sinor) (LiveJournal) Bradley Sinor has been writing for five-sixths of his life and has written many short stories, most of them in a variety of anthologies and three short story collections. He lives in Tulsa, OK with his wife (writer and copy-editor) Sue Sinor and four cats.
Sue Sinor Sue Sinor has several short stories and two chapbooks (Playing With Secrets and Bubba Fables) published by Yard Dog Press, as well as a story in Grantville Gazette 41 and one in the DAW anthology Rotten Relations, both written with husband Brad. They live in Tulsa, OK with four cats. You can find her on Facebook.
Amy Sisson (Amy Sisson) (LibraryThing) Amy Sisson is a writer, book reviewer, librarian, dedicated Trekkie, and crazy cat lady. Her recent publications include stories in the Podcastle and Glittership podcasts. She is on a quest to read All the Things, and started in January 2015 by reading at least one short story per day, which she blogs about on her website.
Seth Skorkowsky (Seth Skorkowsky) (Facebook) (Twitter) Raised in the swamps and pine forests of East Texas, Seth Skorkowsky gravitates to the darker sides of fantasy, preferring horror and pulp heroes over knights in shining armor. His debut urban fantasy novel, Dämoren, the first in his Valducan series, was published in 2014. Seth 's sword & sorcery series, Tales of the Black Raven, was released in 2015 with Mountain of Daggers. When not writing, Seth enjoys tabletop role-playing games and traveling the world with his wife.
Casey Sledge Casey has been filking for more than 25 years, both solo and as founder of the Celt/folk/filk band October Country. His songs have been performed by Ravens, Hawke Morrow, and Ghost of a Rose, and October Country was the Interfilk GoH at Conflikt 3 (Seattle) in 2010. He and Margaret Middleton are the only Filkers to be guests at every FenCon.
Libby A. Smith Libby A. Smith's story "Plunder in the Valley" appears in the anthology Avast, Ye Airships. She's previously been published by Caliber Comics, Hanthercraft Publications, Shanda Fantasy Art, 4StarStories, and several upcoming anthologies. Libby also adapted The Rainbow Bridge to poetry for cross-stitch designer Sue Hillis. Besides writing, she's an actress in Central Arkansas and in her free time works as an administrative assistant to support her creative habits. Libby lives in Little Rock with her three fat and sassy cats.
Caroline Spector (Caroline Spector) Caroline Spector has worked on numerous game modules, written three computer game hint books, three Shadowrun/Earthdawn novels, and is active in the Wild Cards universe. Her 2013 essay, “Power and Feminism in Westeros”, appeared in the collection Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, and her novella, “Lies My Mother Told Me,” was in the World Fantasy Award winning anthology Dangerous Women. She’s also in the latest Wild Cards braided mosaic novel, High Stakes.
Lyn Stahl (Metalhead Minis) Lyn Stahl is a Dallas-based artist and proprietor of Metalhead Minis. She'll be teaching miniatures workshops at FenCon.
Kathryn Sullivan (Kathryn Sullivan) (Facebook) Kathryn is the author of The Crystal Throne, Agents & Adepts, Talking to Trees, and picture book Michael & the Elf. A Chick who has dug Time Lords for many years, she has an essay in the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords and a review in Outside In. Her newest short story, “Search and Rescue”, is an expansion of “The Rescue” from FenCon's 2009 program book. Any birdlike beings only slightly resemble her cockatoo owner.
Shanna Swendson (Shanna Swendson) (Wikipedia) Shanna Swendson is best known as the author of the Enchanted, Inc. series from Ballantine Books, the YA steampunk fantasy Rebel Mechanics, 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) (Benefit CD for Parkinson's Research) Mel writes songs, short stories, essays, and assorted academic articles. Her short stories can be found in Yard Dog Press anthologies and her songs online, in filk circles, and on the CATH Benefit CD. For those desperately seeking an insomnia cure, her academic articles are also available online. Mel's newest project is a trivia/adventure board game called First: the Game of Knowledge and Discovery. The game is in final beta testing, headed for a Kickstarter launch the week of Fencon.
The Scrap Merchants (The Scrap Merchants) The Scrap Merchants is an amalgamation of acoustic/electric, rock fusion sound with political, social, and personal themes. Conjuring, capturing, and rediscovering the world we all live in, we draw inspiration from the noise around us, embracing life and addressing issues that affect all of us.
Tex Thompson (The Tex Files) (Children of the Drought) (DFW Writers Conference) Arianne "Tex" Thompson is a home-grown Texas success story. After earning a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s in literature, she channeled her passions into the Children of the Drought--an internationally-published epic fantasy Western series from Solaris. Now a writing instructor at SMU and editor for the DFW Writers Conference, Tex is blazing a trail through conferences, workshops, and fan conventions alike--as an endlessly energetic, relentlessly enthusiastic one-woman stampede. Find her online at The Tex Files!
Triskelion (Triskelion) Triskelion started as a group of friends who enjoyed playing music for fun, using MusiconFriday as their Yahoo group. Inspired by a love of Celtic music, Triskelion brings a variety of musical talent to the stage. Floyd Brigdon's background playing guitar for rock bands (and a begrudging country band or two) and as a singer/songwriter, Sarah Brigdon's as a church vocalist, and Leah Tharp's rhythm 12-string guitar and vocals blend together to bring a joyful and diverse blend of harmonies.
Katherine Turski Kathy Turski writes the way she looks--short and funny. She’s published in Flush Fiction, A Bubba in Time Saves None, and The Anthology From Hell with Yard Dog Press, and Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. Her humor essay, "My Inner Fat Girl", is in You & Me Magazine. Kathy lives in North Texas with her husband. She clerks for a local library and loves old movies, baking, and coming up with weird story ideas--mainly fueled with caffeine and chocolate.
Joy Ward (Facebook) Joy Ward has been writing and editing professionally for almost three decades. Her recent gigs include writing an interview column for Galaxy's Edge Magazine, co-managing Ring of Fire Press, editing the Dogs and Dragons anthology, short stories in other anthologies such as Hero’s Best Friend and Ring of Fire IV (with husband Walt Boyes), and paranormal books Interviews from the Ark and Wit and Wisdom from the Ark (with Missa Dixon). Visit her on Facebook for animal and writing tidbits.
Mel. White (Facebook) (Twitter) Known to her kids as "Indiana Mom", Mel. has gone back to school to become "Dr. Indiana Mom." She still works on fossils for the Museum of Nature and Science, and is now a volunteer educator at Trinity River Audubon Center as well as a Texas Master Naturalist. She's also a proud member of the Yard Dog Press gang, with a story in A Bubba in Time Saves None.

Paul Abell

(ARES Directorate) Dr. Paul Abell is the Chief Scientist for Small Body Exploration assigned to the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. His main areas of interest are physical characterization of near-Earth objects (NEOs), examination of NEOs for future robotic and human exploration, and identification of potential resources within the NEO population. Paul, his wife Amy Sisson, and their feline companions have lived in Houston, Texas since December 2003.

Rachael Acks

(Rachael Acks) (Musa Publishing) (Facebook) (Twitter) Rachael Acks is a writer, geologist, and dapper AF. Ze’s written for Six to Start and been published in Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, and more. Rachael lives in Houston with zir two furry little bastards, where ze twirls zir mustache, watches movies, and bikes.

David Afsharirad

(David Afsharirad) David Afsharirad is the editor of The Year's Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction anthology series. You can hear him from time to time on The Baen Free Radio Hour podcast, where he interviews authors about their work. His short stories have appeared in various print and online markets. He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and son.

C. Dean Andersson

(Bloodsong! Helx3) (Wikipedia) (Facebook) (Twitter) C. Dean Andersson’s HelX3, available from Baen ebooks, contains expanded author’s cut editions of his heroic fantasy trilogy: Warrior Witch of Hel, Death Riders of Hel, and Werebeasts of Hel. He is preparing expanded editions of I am Dracula and Raw Pain Max. A new Hel novel in progress features Viking warriors and a K-Pop idol turned swordswoman. If you mention K-Pop to him, be prepared to discuss T-ARA and name your bias: Jiyeon? Hyomin? Eunjung? Soyeon? Qri? or Boram?

Kimm Antell

(ChickGeek) (Facebook) (GooglePlus) Kimm Antell is a fan, artist, author, and geek. She is from Houston/Austin, but has recently been stuck in Arkansas. She currently has a crush on Josephus Miller although don't tell her husband or cats. They might get jealous.

Julie Barrett

(Stately Barrett Manor) Julie is the current FenCon chair, which explains the gray hairs. When not spending her waking hours on FenCon, Julie works as a writer, photographer, and slave to cats.

Paul Barrett

Amongst Paul's many pastimes, a favorite is creating, finding, and programming the sound effects for Generic Radio Workshop productions. As with the other GRW founders, he's done so many of these shows, he's no longer sure if this is reality, or if he's living in an episode of Dimension X. Another hobby is 3D printing - he'll be demonstrating all the ways this can go wrong.

Bland Lemon Denton and the Lemon-Aides

A FenCon fixture, Bland Lemon Denton and the Lemon-Aides features Bradley "Bland Lemon" Denton on guitar, Caroline "Honey Badger Spector on bass, and Bot "Thumper" Yeagar on percussion.

Rick Boatright

(1632) (Facebook) (Twitter) Rick Boatright is exactly the same age as Bill Gates. He’s also a software developer but nowhere near as wealthy.

He's been on-line almost as long, starting with Uncle Henry's bar on Bix, the predecessor to Baen's Bar.

Since 2001 he's been a writer, editor, and head Geek for Eric Flint's 1632 universe. He's the perpetrator of the "Weird Tech" lectures at the 1632 minicons and is, to his shame, creator of Dr. Phillipe Theophrastus Gribbleflotz, the world's greatest alchemist.

Karen Bogen

(Facebook) Karen is a self-confessed knit-and-yarn-aholic. She spends as much time as she can get away with either knitting something, inventorying her yarn stash, or fondling yarn at any shop within driving range. Interesting? Depends on your point of view. She likes to cook and she enjoys reading forensic anthropology books. Occasionally at the same time. In January of 2012, she allowed herself to get talked into taking a full-time+ job. It's really eating into her knitting time.

Walt Boyes

(Grantville Gazette) (Facebook) By day, Walt is an award-winning journalist, analyst, and authority on manufacturing and automation. He is a Fellow of several scientific organizations and member of the Association of Professional Futurists. At night, however, he transforms into the Bananaslug of Baen’s bar and writes science fiction, fantasy, and alternate history. He’s editor of the Grantville Gazette, a 1632 Editorial Board member, and writing and editing the 1632 Companion with his wife Joy Ward. Together, they also co-edit Ring of Fire Press.

Rachel Caine

(Rachel Caine) NYT bestseller Rachel Caine writes way too much. Though her first love is SF/F, she also splits her time in the mystery, thriller, and YA genres. This year's releases include Midnight Bites (a Morganville Vampires short story collection), Red Hot Rain (a new Weather Warden novel), and Paper and Fire (second in the Great Library series). She's also tickled beyond delight to be included in Jonathan Maberry's upcoming anthologies, The X-Files: The Truth Is Out There and Aliens. Stay frosty!

David Carrico

David Carrico's writing career began with short stories laid in the 1632 universe published in Grantville Gazette. He is the author with Eric Flint of 1636: The Devil's Opera. Eric Flint and David Carrico are also continuing the Jao Empire series which Flint began with the late K.D. Wentworth. The latest entry in the series is The Span of Empire out in September. Carrico lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

J. Kathleen Cheney

(J. Kathleen Cheney) J. Kathleen Cheney taught mathematics ranging from 7th grade to Calculus, but gave it all up for a chance to write stories. Her novella "Iron Shoes" was a 2010 Nebula Award Finalist. Her novel, The Golden City was a Finalist for the 2014 Locus Awards (Best First Novel). Dreaming Death (Feb 2016) is the first in a new series, the Palace of Dreams Novels.

Dantzel Cherry

(Dantzel Cherry) (Facebook) (Twitter) Dantzel Cherry teaches Pilates and raises her daughter by day. By night and naptime, she writes. Her baking hours follow no rhyme or reason. Her short stories have appeared in Fireside, InterGalactic Medicine Show, Galaxy's Edge, and other magazines and anthologies.

Rosemary Clement

(Rosemary Clement) (Twitter) Rosemary Clement writes, under various names, supernatural mystery and adventure novels for youngish adults. Her books are on recommended reading lists and received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal. She drinks too much coffee, journals with a fountain pen, knits her own sweaters, and loves books with witty banter, romantic tension, dead bodies, and live ghosts. You can connect with her on Twitter or visit her webpage/blog.

R. Cat Conrad

(Artists In Residence) R. Cat Conrad provided cover art for FenCon's first program, the dystopian painting ominously titled You're Next. His work encompasses many genres directed to the fine art and illustration collecting community, but Cat's most popular compositions are his space landscapes and whimsical dragon sketches. It should also be noted he's a trail-blazer in frontiers beyond space and fantasy. In addition to being an award-winning painter, he’s a Golden Age comic historian, collector/dealer, auctioneer, and recently, film actor.

Iver Cooper

Iver Cooper is an active contributor to Eric Flint's 1632 shared universe, with more than 20 short stories and 40 articles published. Iver's braided story anthology 1636: Seas of Fortune, was published by Baen in 2014. 1636: Mandate of Heaven, co-authored with Eric Flint and dealing with Ming China, will be out in 2018. Iver is a patent attorney with Browdy & Neimark, Washington, DC., and also teaches swing and folk dancing. He is married with two children.

Darwin Prophet & Chronus Mirror

(Darwin Prophet) Darwin Prophet and the Chronus Mirror: Thematic Travelers from the planet MI in the galaxy Solfege will take you on a sonic journey across a symphony of yestermorrows to the realm of Literary Rock in vibrant aural exhibitions. Paying homage to myth and science fiction in equal measure, Darwin Prophet blends ethereal groove & aesthetic charm with a touch of steam. Imagine Oscar Wilde, Kate Bush, Marc Bolan, and Douglas Adams having tea and jamming with Doctor Who!

Aaron de Orive

(Aaron de Orive) (Facebook) (Twitter) Aaron de Orive was a writer/designer on several award-winning video game titles, including Metroid Prime 3, Star Wars Galaxies, Tabula Rasa, Anarchy Online, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. He co-authored the fantasy middle-grade novel Blade Singer with Martha Wells. As a tabletop role-playing game author and designer, Aaron created Shard: World of the False Dawn. He is currently at work on scifi, adventure, and horror audio dramas. He is also the founder and co-host of The Gentlemen Nerds podcast.

Sherri Dean

(Facebook) (Twitter) Sherri "ConBarbie" Dean was born late AND backwards, which explains a lot. She does illustrations, stories, and editing for Yard Dog Press, recently the cover of Flush Fiction II. Sherri's latest are the weird western collection with Bill D. Allen Three Aces from Satan’s Hand and the horror anthology Death Is Only Skin Deep with Tim W. Burke and Allison Stein, available online. Sherri also goes by "Monkey Queen" and The Feisty Mistress of Fear.

John DeLaughter

(WordHerd) John DeLaughter is a planetologist in Oklahoma City, OK. His science focuses on earthquakes, planets, and having more fun than is humanly possible. He’s been to all seven continents and has always met the nicest people. His more than 70 books, papers, and presentations cover topics ranging from seismic attribute analysis to what a young T. Rex should eat for lunch. He and Mel. White are the WordHerd. Visit him at their site!

Virginia DeMarce

Virginia DeMarce began writing in Eric Flint's 1632 alternate history series in 2001. She has co-written three books (1634: The Ram Rebellion; 1634: The Bavarian Crisis; 1635: The Dreeson Incident), one solo (1635: The Tangled Web) and numerous stories in the Ring of Fire anthologies and The Grantville Gazette (paper and online). DeMarce is a retired historian with a specialty in early modern Europe (Ph.D., Stanford, 1967). Now widowed, her other activities include genealogy, gardening, and volunteering.

Charlayne Denney

(Charlayne Denney) (Facebook) (Twitter) (Goodreads) Given Charlayne's habit of checking people for fangs and living in the dark, she discovered her own vampires and Lilly, Marcus, and the rest of the gang inhabiting her Fangs & Halos series. When not hanging with vampires, she's a WoW gnome mage, Rubyrose. Of course, all this stuff weirds out her kids and grandkids. She found her husband, Bruce, through a want-ad in the program book for ConTroll 93. She's attended, worked, and guested at Texas conventions since 1979.

Bradley Denton

(Bradley Denton) (Bland Lemon Denton) Four Bradley Denton titles are in new formats for 2015: Novels Blackburn and Lunatics, plus story collection One Day Closer to Death, are now available as ebooks. And Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede is now an audiobook -- complete with cover art from FenCon Artist GoH Mitch Bentley. Meanwhile, Brad’s 2014 collection Sergeant Chip and Other Novellas is still in print, and he still manages the career of Bland Lemon Denton, the World’s Oldest (and Worst) Bluesman.

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 L. Donahue

(Linda L. Donahue) Linda has degrees in computer science, Russian studies, Earth science education, and electrical engineering. Additionally, she teaches tai chi and belly dancing, can borrow moon rock samples, and is a certified commercial instrument pilot, advanced ground instructor, and SCUBA diver. Her latest short stories have appeared in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #25 and Chicks and Balances. Her novel, Jaguar Moon, is available from Yard Dog Press. She lives with her husband and pet rabbits, sugar gliders, and cats in Garland, Texas.

Dennis Donigan

Dennis was introduced to Irish music (and Guinness) in the ‘80’s (several Irish Catholic wedding dances) and it was love at first “sight”. Greatly influenced by Tommy Makem & the Clancy Brothers to Gaelic Storm, Dennis enjoys performing (recently the Houston Celtic Festival) not only Celtic music, through his guitar, mandolin, bodhran, and harmonica, but a variety of folk, bluegrass, and country, and now as part of Donigan & Foye, filk music.

Donigan & Foye

Imagine, if you will, a small redneck town in Texas...the favorite music of the area, Country.... a most unlikely place for a singer of Celtic music...and even more unlikely for two...but Dennis and Dene met one morning in Columbus and started talking... The rest is history... Donigan & Foye played their first gig on St. Patrick's Day 2014 and are performing this year at Fencon for the 3rd time.

P.N. Elrod

(VampWriter.com) (Wikipedia) P.N. Elrod is best known for The Vampire Files, featuring Undead gumshoe Jack Fleming. She's edited a number of award-winning anthologies for St. Martin's with stories from the top paranormal and urban fantasy writers. This year she re-released the Files series as an ebook bundle and is pressing forward in her other career as a freelance editor. If you have a book to edit or need feedback on a work in progress, check out the editing page on her website.

Rhonda Eudaly

(Rhonda Eudaly) Rhonda Eudaly lives in Arlington, Texas with her husband and two dogs. She's an author who hasn't met an industry she doesn't like - that's what happens with a Radio-TV-Film degree. She's only into two of the three "R"s - reading and writing...arithmetic is right out - like five in holy hand grenades. Her vices are ink (pen not skin), good coffee, and bad puns. Check out her website for publications and downloads.

Karen Evans

(No Ship for Tranquebar) Karen Evans has been writing on the SF/F roller-coaster with her husband for almost 10 years. When not writing, she enjoys crocheting, embroidery, and other busy-hand activities so she can listen to the voices in her head. She lives in New Mexico with her husband, a dog, and a variable number of cats.

She and her husband have several stories in the Grantville Gazette, and also a novella available on Amazon Ring of Fire Press called "No Ship for Tranquebar".

Kevin Evans

Kevin Evans, with his wife, writes in the Ring of Fire story cycle. Their most recent work was a braided story set, published in the Grantville Gazette. Kevin helps restore large vintage steam locomotives, Gunsmiths, and has been a hot air balloon crewman for fifteen years.

Mark Finn

(Mark Finn) (The Gentlemen Nerds) (Twitter) Mark Finn is an author, actor, essayist, pop culture critic, and movie reviewer. He is a nationally-recognized authority on the Texas author Robert E. Howard and has written extensively about him. For the past three years, Finn was named one of the top movie critics in Texas. He lives in North Texas, over an old movie theater that he owns and operates, along with his long-suffering wife, far too many books, and an affable pit bull named Sonya.

Michael Ashleigh Finn

(LiveJournal) (The Gentlemen Nerds) (The Lobot Lounge) (Dirty Magick: LA) (Amazon) Mickey is 1/4 of the The Gentlemen Nerds podcast, as well as the editor and accidental co-producer. He is short story author expanding into novels, and a thematic consultant for Dynamite Entertainment on Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files.

His latest Wormwood story, "All the Pretty Little Horses," is available in the anthology Dirty Magick: New Orleans (Lucky Mojo Press).

Melanie Fletcher

(Melanie Fletcher) Melanie Fletcher likes to write, preferably for money. Her most recent publications as paranormal romance writer Nicola Cameron include Palace of Scoundrels and Do No Harm (Belaurient Press). She hopes to publish her AU novel A Most Malicious Murder (Edgar Allan Poe and Lewis Carroll fight crime!) in 2016, assuming she can find the time. Then again, who needs sleep? Interesting tidbit: she counts a gay porn star and an Anglican vicar among her friends.

Eric Flint

(Eric Flint) Eric Flint's writing career began with the science fiction novel Mother of Demons. His alternate history novel 1632 has led to a longrunning series with over thirty novels and anthologies in print. He’s also written many other science fiction and fantasy novels. He resides in northwest Indiana with his wife Lucille.

Brad W. Foster

(Brad W. Foster) (Jabberwocky Graphix) Brad W. Foster, international jet-setter and sometime dabbler in pen and ink, creates "strange little pictures” that have garnered 26 Hugo nominations and eight Best Fan Artist awards. Brad's art has been in over 2000 publications ranging from Amazing Stories to Highlights for Children, computer instruction books, children's picture books, coloring books, comic books, advertising posters, role-playing games, rug designs, card decks, tattoos, and more. He and the lovely Cindy travel the country to various conventions, festivals, and cat shows.

Dene Foye

(Cath Album) As a teen, Dene began playing guitar and singing folk music, and for the last 15 years he has immersed himself in the wonders of Celtic music. He is currently one half of Donigan & Foye.

In 2012 he was one of twelve Celtic performers on the Cath Benefit CD, benefiting Parkinson’s Disease research.

After procrastinating for many years, Dene has finally finished a Celtic CD, entitled “For the Love of Haggis”.

Karl Gallagher

Karl K. Gallagher is a systems engineer, currently performing data analysis for a major aerospace company. In the past he calculated trajectories for a commercial launch rocket start-up, operated satellites as a USAF officer, and selected orbits for government and commercial satellites. His novels Torchship and Torchship Pilot are working-class hard SF adventures, available on Amazon and Audible. Karl lives in Saginaw, TX with his family.

Mary Gearhart-Gray

(4 Star Stories) Mary Gearhart-Gray is a free-lance technical editor. In 2011 she founded 4StarStories.com, a quarterly, online Science Fiction and Fantasy magazine, which she co-edits with her husband, David Gray. Her philosophy as an editor is that aspiring authors should have a user-friendly venue to showcase their work.

Generic Radio Workshop

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

David Gray

(4 Star Stories) David L. Gray is the creator of the Buzz Blaster, Space Entrepreneur series of radio plays and writes science fiction short stories about warfare in the (not so near?) future Asteroid Belt and unsavory visitors from parallel universes. He is co-founder with his wife Mary Gearhart-Gray of the online Science Fiction/Fantasy publication 4StarStories, which publishes four times a year. In his spare time he works in the Aerospace industry writing instruction manuals for robots that assemble airplanes and feeds cats.

Teddy Harvia

Teddy Harvia is an anagram of David Thayer. Teddy has drawn and contributed cartoons to fan publications since the mid-70s. Fans and friends have rewarded his efforts with a few Hugos for Best Fan Artist. He has cut back on cartooning recently to allow David to concentrate on writing SF poetry. In his professional life, he works as a technical writer for a big telecommunications company. With his wife Diana, six cats, and thousands of books, he lives in Dallas.

Bjorn Hasseler

Bjorn found 1632 in a public library and saw it had a nifty cover and that rocketship logo. Then he found the 1632 conferences at Baen's Bar and discovered that fans were encouraged to write. He has now had twelve stories and a three-part serial published in the Grantville Gazette and one story published in Ring of Fire IV. Bjorn is the managing editor of the Grantville Gazette and an education coordinator for University of Maryland University College.

Gorg David Huff

(WarSpell) (Gorg Huff) Gorg Huff has been a paratrooper, a cashier, a construction worker, a programmer, and a caregiver. He paints, sculpts, creates virtual objects. He's studied chaos theory, economics, history, and other stuff. He writes alternate history, space opera, fantasy and the occasional fact article. Examples of his writing can be found at the WarSpell website. 1637: The Volga Rules and The Alexander Inheritance are turned in and should be coming out sometime. A Steampunk Game is just about done.

Walter Hunt

(Walter H. Hunt) (Facebook) Walter H. Hunt is a science fiction and historical fiction writer. His first published novel, The Dark Wing, originally appeared in 2001, and was favorably compared to Babylon 5 and Ender's Game.

He has written four Dark Wing novels, as well as A Song in Stone, Elements of Mind, and the recently-published 1636: The Cardinal Virtues, the newest novel in the Ring of Fire universe.

An active Freemason and baseball fan, he lives in Massachusetts with his wife and daughter.

Kristi Hutson

(KHP at GooglePages) Born in Texas, but educated on both coasts, Hutson did time as a DoD contractor and now slings education at 6th graders. Hutson has been the LETS (Law Enforcement Teaching Students) liaison, a Krav Maga student and instructor, and a Texas Defensive Shooters club member. So far these facts remain mutually exclusive. Occasionally Hutson writes fiction instead of grading papers: "An Undercover Haunting" appears in the Strange Afterlives anthology, and the novella Bound by Ink is available at Amazon.

Kevin Ikenberry

(Kevin Ikenberry) (Twitter) Kevin Ikenberry is a life-long space geek and retired Army space operations officer. A former manager of the world-renowned U.S. Space Camp program and an executive with two Challenger Learning Centers, Kevin has a broad background in informal space science education. He is the author of the acclaimed science fiction novel Sleeper Protocol and the popular military science fiction novel Runs In The Family. He is an Active Member of SFWA and an alumnus of the Superstars Writing Seminar.

Lee Killough

(Lee Killough) (Coffee Shop Writers) Lee Killough became hooked on SF,fantasy, and mysteries at age eleven. The result, except for SF, her novels usually combine genres: mystery with the supernatural or urban fantasy. She shares her lakeside home with a Schnauzer and walls of books. Her older books are republishing as e-books, revised and updated since science has overrun the 70's fictional science. The latest is Spider Play, available at Amazon. Also see her original space opera Ancient Enemy at the Yard Dog Press table.

William Ledbetter

(William Ledbetter) William Ledbetter lives near Dallas with his family and too many animals. His fiction is published in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, The Year’s Best Military SF and Space Opera, Baen.com, Escape Pod, Writers of the Future, Yard Dog Press, and many others. He is an editor at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and runs the annual Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest for Baen Books and the National Space Society.

Steve Liptak

Steve Liptak is a retired pilot who has been involved in fantasy/SciFi and costuming for over 30 years. He has earned past awards from DragonCon, AllCon, and FenCon in costume competition. Over the last few years he has lectured at conventions such as AKon, SoonerCon, and FenCon. He enjoys working in metal, leather, and plastic vacuforming, and uses a kit-built 3D printer to speed prototyping. His lectures focus on lighting effects and prop fabrication.

Julia S. Mandala

(Julia S. Mandala) Julia S. Mandala holds degrees in history and law. She is the editor of The Fantasy Writers Asylum, an imprint of Yard Dog Press, and is a scuba diver and belly dancer. She edited The Anthology From Hell: Humorous Tales from WAY Down Under. In addition to many short stories, her publications include the novels Blood Songs, Villains in Training, House of Doors, and The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse series (with Linda L. Donahue, Rhonda Eudaly and Dusty Rainbolt).

Marshall Ryan Maresca

(Marshall Ryan Maresca) Marshall Ryan Maresca is a fantasy and science-fiction writer, as well as a playwright, living in South Austin with his wife and son. He is the author of the Maradaine Novels: The Thorn of Dentonhill, A Murder of Mages, The Alchemy of Chaos and the upcoming An Import of Intrigue. His work also appeared in Norton Anthology of Hint Fiction and Rick Klaw’s anthology Rayguns Over Texas. He also has had several short plays produced.

A. Lee Martinez

(A. Lee Martinez) 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 10 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.

Kip McMurray

Clifford R. McMurray (AKA “Kip”) is a space advocate, writer, singer, and science fiction devotee with extensive knowledge of the politics, history, and current progress of space exploration. A former National Space Society vice-president and Board of Directors member, he yearly publishes at least four space-related articles. Cliff attended both the first and last space shuttle launches, as well the last Apollo launch, and in the evenings can be found telling jokes at parties or singing along at a filk.

Margaret Middleton

Filker Margaret Middleton is retired from 25 years of “designing piles of dirt and holes in the ground” for the Arkansas Highway Department. She now lives in Starkville MS, where she roots for the Mississippi State Bulldogs except when they play either the Arkansas Razorbacks or the Texas A&M Aggies. In between sporting events and science fiction conventions, she quilts and collects songs about aviation and the space program.

Michelle Muenzler

(Michelle Muenzler) (Facebook) Michelle Muenzler, also known at local conventions as "The Cookie Lady", writes fiction both dark and strange to counterbalance the sweetness of her baking. Her fiction and poetry have been published in magazines such as Star*Line, Daily Science Fiction, and Apex Magazine, and she takes immense joy in crinkling words like little foil puppets.

Ethan Nahté

(Ethan Nahté) (Facebook) (Live ‘N’ Loud) Ethan Nahté is an author, journalist, screenwriter, photographer and musician. He has also worked in TV/film and radio. He has nearly two-dozen stories and poems published in various anthologies and e-zines. His work spans horror, historical fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, and young adult. He recently finished his first novel and will be releasing his first collection Of Monsters & Madmen, eight previously published stories along with two new stories, complete with art and introductions for each tale.

Kathleen O'Brien

(Vintage Fashion Explained) (Victorian Smoking Caps) Kathleen M. O'Brien began sewing at age 4, learning traditional techniques from her mother and grandmother. She collects and studies vintage clothing to decipher mysteries of drape and fit found in previous eras. Her costumes include both original designs and reproductions, utilizing many historical techniques. She enjoys sharing both these skills and her collection with others and has recently published her first e-book Victorian Smoking Caps. Check out her website at Vintage Fashion Explained.

Photo ©2012, Carol Schiraldi

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

(Gloria Oliver) Expert party wallflower, Gloria Oliver can be a great asset during any multi language movie experience, able to translate some Spanish and Japanese when it's splattered without warning or subtitles at your screen. She also likes to dabble at movie reviews, which she posts on her blog every Friday.

A small press author, her latest work is a gender swap fantasy novel entitled Jewel of the Gods. For sample chapters, free fiction, and more, please visit her website.

Stephen Patrick

(Films) Stephen Patrick loves to tell stories. His fiction ranges from horror to historical and his most recent story “Hungry” is part of the Sins of the Seven anthology from Wicked East Press.

As a compulsive film racer, he relishes the chaotic battle between creativity and the clock while making a movie from scratch in 48 hours. The Solera Visuals film "precycling" won second place in the Dallas 48 hour film race - auteur division.

Teresa Patterson

(Event Horizon EBooks) (Facebook) Teresa Patterson’s work includes, The World of Shannara with Terry Brooks, The World of the Wheel of Time with Robert Jordan, No Quarter with Robert Asprin, Combat Corpsman with Navy SEAL Greg McPartlin, numerous short stories, and humorous history essays. Her newest work, with Navy SEAL Craig Marley, is No Lifeguard on Duty. When not writing she works as a balloon sculptor, kayak instructor, show horse trainer, and managing The Armory at DragonCon. She also loves to sing and entertain.

Trakena Prevost

Trakena Prevost was born and raised in Texas, where everything IS bigger and the people are very friendly. She spends most of her time oscillating between obsessing over Korean dramas and writing down the fantastic tales rumbling around in her head. When not reading and writing, Trakena spends her time working in HR for an oil and gas company in Fort Worth and hanging out with family and friends - including the most adorable kid a girl could ask for.

Dusty Rainbolt

(Dusty Rainbolt) Dusty Rainbolt swears she was raised by aliens after being abandoned on Earth by grays who abhorred the TransGalactic School System. She’s the author of the new Yard Dog Press paranormal mystery, Death Under the Crescent Moon, and coauthor of The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse series. Like to shop online? She’s the editor-in-chief of AdoptAShelter.com, a free shop-to-donate website that benefits animal charities. She’s written numerous books and thousands of articles on cat care, behavior, and animal hauntings.

Rie Sheridan Rose

(Rie Sheridan Rose) (The Conn-Man Chronicles) Rie's short stories appear in numerous anthologies, including Nightmare Stalkers and Dream Walkers Vols. 1 and 2, Avast Ye Airships, The Grotesquerie, and In the Bloodstream as well as Yard Dog Press' A Bubba in Time Saves None. Mocha Memoirs has the short story collection RieTales. Online, she has appeared in Cease, Cows, Lorelei Signal, and Four Star Stories. She is also the author of seven novels, five poetry chapbooks, and lyrics for songs on several of Marc Gunn's CDs.

Selina Rosen

(Selina Rosen) (Yard Dog Press) (Castle Farms) (Facebook) Selina Rosen’s short fiction has appeared in Sword and Sorceress, Turn the Other Chick, and Thieves’ World anthologies among others.

Among her 25+ published novels are the Chains trilogy, Strange Robby, The Holmes & Storm Mysteries, Black Rage, and How I Spent the Apocalypse. She also has a non-fiction and several non-genres including The Pit.

She also owns and runs Yard Dog Press.

Ken Ruffin

(National Space Society of North Texas) A lifelong Trekkie, space enthusiast, and former Aerospace Engineering student, Ken was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the National Space Society (NSS). He’s also served five years as chapter president of NSS of North Texas: the 2014 and 2016 NSS Chapter of the Year! During local public events and monthly meetings, Ken presents "the latest and greatest information in space travel and space development" and advocates using technologies, energy, and materials from space to benefit humanity.

Patrice Sarath

(Patrice Sarath) (Facebook) (Twitter) Patrice Sarath is an author and editor living in Austin, Texas. Her novels include the fantasy series Books of the Gordath (Gordath Wood, Red Gold Bridge, and The Crow God’s Girl) and the romance The Unexpected Miss Bennet. She has been published by Penguin and Robert Hale Ltd. Her short stories have appeared in Weird Tales, Black Gate, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and many other magazines and anthologies. Follow her at her website, Facebook, or on Twitter.

Shawn Scarber

(Shawn Scarber) Shawn Scarber lives in North Texas. He’s written a number of short stories that have appeared in magazines, collections, and e-zines. He’s a Clarion West 2006 graduate and an active member of the Future Classics Speculative Fiction Writers. By day he's an application developer specializing in full stack JavaScript programming for the web. He has 18 years experience in application product development, management, delivery, and he's a certified SCRUM master. Sorry, but he won't fix your computer.

Adrian Simmons

(Heroic Fantasy Quarterly) (Heroic Quarterly Fantasy Facebook) (Facebook) Adrian Simmons lives in Norman, Oklahoma. He has hoofed the Ouachita and Ozark Highlands trails, the England coast to coast trail, and the Camino de Santiago in Spain. His nonfiction has appeared in Black Gate and Strange Horizons. His fiction has popped up in James Gunn’s Ad Astra Magazine, Outposts of Beyond, Plasma Frequency and the anthologies Apotheosis and No Sh!t There I Was. In 2009 he founded the webzine Heroicfantasyquarterly.com and currently serves as 1/3 of its editorial staff.

Brad Sinor

(Brad Sinor) (LiveJournal) Bradley Sinor has been writing for five-sixths of his life and has written many short stories, most of them in a variety of anthologies and three short story collections. He lives in Tulsa, OK with his wife (writer and copy-editor) Sue Sinor and four cats.

Sue Sinor

Sue Sinor has several short stories and two chapbooks (Playing With Secrets and Bubba Fables) published by Yard Dog Press, as well as a story in Grantville Gazette 41 and one in the DAW anthology Rotten Relations, both written with husband Brad. They live in Tulsa, OK with four cats. You can find her on Facebook.

Amy Sisson

(Amy Sisson) (LibraryThing) Amy Sisson is a writer, book reviewer, librarian, dedicated Trekkie, and crazy cat lady. Her recent publications include stories in the Podcastle and Glittership podcasts. She is on a quest to read All the Things, and started in January 2015 by reading at least one short story per day, which she blogs about on her website.

Seth Skorkowsky

(Seth Skorkowsky) (Facebook) (Twitter) Raised in the swamps and pine forests of East Texas, Seth Skorkowsky gravitates to the darker sides of fantasy, preferring horror and pulp heroes over knights in shining armor.

His debut urban fantasy novel, Dämoren, the first in his Valducan series, was published in 2014. Seth 's sword & sorcery series, Tales of the Black Raven, was released in 2015 with Mountain of Daggers.

When not writing, Seth enjoys tabletop role-playing games and traveling the world with his wife.

Casey Sledge

Casey has been filking for more than 25 years, both solo and as founder of the Celt/folk/filk band October Country.

His songs have been performed by Ravens, Hawke Morrow, and Ghost of a Rose, and October Country was the Interfilk GoH at Conflikt 3 (Seattle) in 2010. He and Margaret Middleton are the only Filkers to be guests at every FenCon.

Libby A. Smith

Libby A. Smith's story "Plunder in the Valley" appears in the anthology Avast, Ye Airships. She's previously been published by Caliber Comics, Hanthercraft Publications, Shanda Fantasy Art, 4StarStories, and several upcoming anthologies. Libby also adapted The Rainbow Bridge to poetry for cross-stitch designer Sue Hillis. Besides writing, she's an actress in Central Arkansas and in her free time works as an administrative assistant to support her creative habits. Libby lives in Little Rock with her three fat and sassy cats.

Caroline Spector

(Caroline Spector) Caroline Spector has worked on numerous game modules, written three computer game hint books, three Shadowrun/Earthdawn novels, and is active in the Wild Cards universe. Her 2013 essay, “Power and Feminism in Westeros”, appeared in the collection Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, and her novella, “Lies My Mother Told Me,” was in the World Fantasy Award winning anthology Dangerous Women. She’s also in the latest Wild Cards braided mosaic novel, High Stakes.

Lyn Stahl

(Metalhead Minis) Lyn Stahl is a Dallas-based artist and proprietor of Metalhead Minis. She'll be teaching miniatures workshops at FenCon.

Kathryn Sullivan

(Kathryn Sullivan) (Facebook) Kathryn is the author of The Crystal Throne, Agents & Adepts, Talking to Trees, and picture book Michael & the Elf. A Chick who has dug Time Lords for many years, she has an essay in the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords and a review in Outside In. Her newest short story, “Search and Rescue”, is an expansion of “The Rescue” from FenCon's 2009 program book. Any birdlike beings only slightly resemble her cockatoo owner.

Shanna Swendson

(Shanna Swendson) (Wikipedia) Shanna Swendson is best known as the author of the Enchanted, Inc. series from Ballantine Books, the YA steampunk fantasy Rebel Mechanics, 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) (Benefit CD for Parkinson's Research) Mel writes songs, short stories, essays, and assorted academic articles. Her short stories can be found in Yard Dog Press anthologies and her songs online, in filk circles, and on the CATH Benefit CD. For those desperately seeking an insomnia cure, her academic articles are also available online. Mel's newest project is a trivia/adventure board game called First: the Game of Knowledge and Discovery. The game is in final beta testing, headed for a Kickstarter launch the week of Fencon.

The Scrap Merchants

(The Scrap Merchants) The Scrap Merchants is an amalgamation of acoustic/electric, rock fusion sound with political, social, and personal themes. Conjuring, capturing, and rediscovering the world we all live in, we draw inspiration from the noise around us, embracing life and addressing issues that affect all of us.

Tex Thompson

(The Tex Files) (Children of the Drought) (DFW Writers Conference) Arianne "Tex" Thompson is a home-grown Texas success story. After earning a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s in literature, she channeled her passions into the Children of the Drought--an internationally-published epic fantasy Western series from Solaris. Now a writing instructor at SMU and editor for the DFW Writers Conference, Tex is blazing a trail through conferences, workshops, and fan conventions alike--as an endlessly energetic, relentlessly enthusiastic one-woman stampede. Find her online at The Tex Files!

Triskelion

(Triskelion) Triskelion started as a group of friends who enjoyed playing music for fun, using MusiconFriday as their Yahoo group. Inspired by a love of Celtic music, Triskelion brings a variety of musical talent to the stage. Floyd Brigdon's background playing guitar for rock bands (and a begrudging country band or two) and as a singer/songwriter, Sarah Brigdon's as a church vocalist, and Leah Tharp's rhythm 12-string guitar and vocals blend together to bring a joyful and diverse blend of harmonies.

Katherine Turski

Kathy Turski writes the way she looks--short and funny. She’s published in Flush Fiction, A Bubba in Time Saves None, and The Anthology From Hell with Yard Dog Press, and Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. Her humor essay, "My Inner Fat Girl", is in You & Me Magazine.

Kathy lives in North Texas with her husband. She clerks for a local library and loves old movies, baking, and coming up with weird story ideas--mainly fueled with caffeine and chocolate.

Joy Ward

(Facebook) Joy Ward has been writing and editing professionally for almost three decades. Her recent gigs include writing an interview column for Galaxy's Edge Magazine, co-managing Ring of Fire Press, editing the Dogs and Dragons anthology, short stories in other anthologies such as Hero’s Best Friend and Ring of Fire IV (with husband Walt Boyes), and paranormal books Interviews from the Ark and Wit and Wisdom from the Ark (with Missa Dixon). Visit her on Facebook for animal and writing tidbits.

Mel. White

(Facebook) (Twitter) Known to her kids as "Indiana Mom", Mel. has gone back to school to become "Dr. Indiana Mom." She still works on fossils for the Museum of Nature and Science, and is now a volunteer educator at Trinity River Audubon Center as well as a Texas Master Naturalist. She's also a proud member of the Yard Dog Press gang, with a story in A Bubba in Time Saves None.

The following regret they are unable to attend FenCon this year:
Paul Black
Lillian Stewart Carl
Peri Charlifu
Charles E Gannon
Rocky Kelley
Tracy S. Morris
Rob Rogers
Sabine Starr

Our program participant slots for this year are full. If you are interested in being a participant next year, please read our program participant guidelines before contacting us. We hope it will answer most of your questions. Thanks.