Guests of Honor
CONvergence guests of honor are chosen very carefully. Sure, we want our guests to attend panels and share knowledge in their areas of expertise with us. In addition to that, we also want them to have fun! Guests of Honor are also highly encouraged to experience all the other activities that the convention has to offer. Over the convention weekend, CONvergence guests of honor are highly encouraged to go to room parties, to mingle with the crowd, and to get to know us as much as we get to know them.
We're proud to announce the following Guests of Honor for 2008:
- Trace Beaulieu - Puppeteer, Writer and Actor from Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Cinematic Titanic
- Robert Meyer Burnett - Filmmaker, director of Free Enterprise, and producer of DVD extras
- Christian Colquhoun - Prop-builder and physical effects artist whose projects include Galaxy Quest, Van Helsing, and Firefly.
- Larry Dixon - Co-author of Mage Wars and Dariens Tale series, author of many short stories and game material and fantasy artist.
- Daren Dochterman - Designer and illustrator for over 35 feature films, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture Special Edition.
- Mark Evanier - Television and Comic Book Writer.
- Kenneth Hite - Role-playing game designer for GURPS, the Star Trek role playing game, and beyond.
- Dr. James Kakalios - U of M physics professor, author of The Physics of Superheroes.
- Harry Knowles - Creator of Aint-It-Cool-News.com.
- Jay Knowles - Creator of Harry Knowles (and contributor to AICN).
- John Kovalic - Cartoonist and Game designer: Dork Tower, Dr. Blink, Out of the Box Games.
- Mercedes Lackey - Author of many popular novels, including the Valdemar and Bardic Voices series and folk music lyricist.
- Bridget Landry - Engineer on the teams of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars Pathfinder project, the Cassini Mission to Saturn, and other space missions.
- Peter Mayhew - The actor who played the beloved Chewbacca in the original Star Wars Trilogy and in Episode III.
- Andrew Probert - Production Designer for Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and Airwolf.
- Vincent Truitner - Animation and CGI artist.
- David Weber - Author of the Honor Harrington series and other military science-fiction.
- Len Wein - Writer for comics and animation, creator of Swamp Thing, Nightcrawler & Wolverine.
- Greg Weisman - Creator of Disney’s Gargoyles and supervising producer of The Spectacular Spider-Man for 2008.
- Wally Wingert - Voice Actor
- Marv Wolfman - Writer for comics and animation, creator of Blade, Bullseye & The New Teen Titans.
- Bernie Wrightson - Comic Book Artist/Illustrator
Past guests of honor include:
2007
- Lois McMaster Bujold - Science Fiction and Fantasy Author
- Emily Hagins - Young Filmmaker
- Bernie Wrightson - Comic Book Artist and Illustrator
- Brian Keene - Horror Author
- Wally Wingert - Voice Actor
- John Kovalic - Dork Tower, Out of the Box Games
2006
- J.G. Hertzler - Actor appearing as seven characters in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise.
- Robert O'Reilly - Actor in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Starred in original productions of The Martian Chronicals and Farenheit 451.
- Bridget Landry - Engineer on the teams of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars Pathfinder project, the Cassini Mission to Saturn, and other space missions.
- Eric Flint - Author. Works include Mother of Demons, the Assanti Shards series, the Belisarius series, and many others.
- David Weber - Author of the popular Honor Harrington novels, as well as Oath of Swords, The War God's Own, and many more.
- Greg Weisman - Writer for animated films and television series, including Gargyoles, Hercules, Men in Black, The Batman, and several others.
- Miles Teves - Hollywood conceptual artist for Robocop, Total Recall, Batman, Blade, Galaxy Quest, Men in Black, and countless others.
- Kenneth Hite - Role-playing game designer for GURPS, the Star Trek role playing game, and beyond.
2006 Guest of Honor Appearance Schedule is immortalized here.
2005
- Len Wein - Writer for comics and animation, creator of Swamp Thing, Nightcrawler & Wolverine
- Dr. Jim Kakalios - U of M physics professor, author of an upcoming book on the science of superheroes
- Mercedes Lackey - Author of many popular novels, including the Valdemar and Bardic Voices series and folk music lyricist
- Larry Dixon - Co-author of Mage Wars and Dariens Tale series, author of many short stories and game material and fantasy artist
- Marv Wolfman - Writer for comics and animation, creator of Blade, Bullseye & The New Teen Titans
- Harry and Jay Knowles - Ain't-It-Cool-News
2004
- Denise Garner - Romantic fantasy artist
- David Gerrold - Science fiction/fantasy author of many books
- Larry Niven - Author of the Ringworld book series
- Vincent Truitner - Animation and CGI artist
- Christian Colquhoun - Physical effects artist
- Crist Ballas - Physical effects artist
2003
- Michael Sheard - Actor in Star Wars, Last Crusade, and many other projects
- Andrew Probert - Production Designer for Star Trek
- Eric Flint - Author and editor of many great books
- John Kovalic - Dork Tower and Dork Storm Press, way cool stuff
- Katherine Kurtz - Famous author of the Deryni trilogies and stories
2002
- Diane Duane - Popular author of books and television
- Peter Morwood - Science Fiction and Fantasy author
- Mark Altman - Co-creator of Free Enterprise and "Trekspert"
- Robert Meyer Burnett - Co-creator of Free Enterprise and director
- Nene Thomas - Popular award-winning fantasy artist
- Daren Dochterman - Designer and illustrator for over 35 feature films
- Adam 'Mojo' Lebowitz - author and former lead animation supervisor for Foundation Imaging
2001
- Harry Knowles - Movie Critic and Web Entrepreneur
- Peter Mayhew - Chewbacca in Star Wars
- Michael Sheard - British SF movie and television actor
- Eleanor Arnason - Award-winning Author
- Crist Ballas - Movie Makeup Artist
- Jay Knowles - Web Entrepreneur
- C.H. Morgan - Science Fiction and Fantasy Artist
2000
- Neil Gaiman - Author of books, comics and film
- Peg Kerr - Award-winning Author
- Regina Pancake - Hollywood prop creator
- Ruth Thompson - Fantasy Artist
- Keith Topping - Author of Doctor Who novels and more
- Cast and Crew of Go To Hell!
1999
- Forrest J Ackerman - SF historian and collector
- Pam Keesey - Author of Vamps! and other fiction
- Harry Knowles - of Aint-It-Cool-News
- Jay Knowles - of Aint-It-Cool-News
- Gordon Purcell - Comic book artist
- Gary Russell - Producer of the Doctor Who audio series