Dateline: 05-31-2009

Authors and creative professionals at CONvergence

Ever year, in addition to our guests of honor we are fortunate to have many talented people join us at CONvergence to be on panels, perform, and otherwise be a part of the convention.

The following is a list of attending professionals from SF-related fields who are expected to be in attendance at CONvergence 2009. Many of them are on panels or will be doing readings or signings during the weekend. Keep an eye out in the listing in this publication and posted around the convention for these talented people.

Is there a name that should be on this list and isn’t? It’s because we didn’t know that person was coming or what they did, so make sure we know better in 2010!

Robert Alberti: Author
Bob Alberti is an author and Internet pioneer. His two volume work Mitlanyal is a guide to the religions of M. A. R. Barker's Tekumel gleaned from over twenty years in the Professor's gaming group. He co-authored the Internet Gopher protocol (featured in xkcd comics) and during the 1980s ran a BBS called Gambit.

Genevieve Alberti: Author, artist
Genevieve Alberti is a writer, student and artist whose work has been featured in the Uptown Press newspaper and the Uptown Art Fair, and on the cover of a published poetry collection. Despite coming from a long line of nerds, she has been described as "surprisingly effervescent."

Joel Arnold: Author
Joel Arnold's writing has been accepted for publication in over fifty venues, including Weird Tales, Chizine and Cemetery Dance. His collection of sci-fi/horror, Bedtime Stories for the Apocalypse, was recently released by Sam's Dot Publishing.

Dana Baird: Author, artist
Dana is a St. Paul visual artist and the author of two young adult fantasy novels: The Spell Keeper and Veil of Whispers. More information can be found on her website.

Jerrod Balzer: Publisher, editor
Jerrod Balzer is the author of two film novelizations, William Winckler's Frankenstein Vs. The Creature from Blood Cove and Double-D Avenger, and has a horror serial called Fear the Woods coming out this year along with a novella titled Zombie Bastard. He also wrote a winning essay that placed his wife, Robin, into the Dark Horse comic, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, #10. http://jerrodbalzer.wordpress.com/.

Ruth Berman: Author
Ruth Berman's work has appeared in many science fiction, general, and literary magazines and anthologies. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~d-lena/RuthBermanPage.html

Cynthia Booth: Theater, writing
Cynthia Booth is a published poet and playwright headquartered out of Hibbing, MN, and was recently the head editor of the Terminal: The Play world premiere performance commemorative poetry edition chapbook.

Roy C. Booth: Author, playwright
Roy C. Booth is a published author, poet, scriptwriter headquartered out of Bemidji, MN with 47 plays published with 600+ productions in 23 countries to date. His more recent projects include collaborating with GoH Brian Keene on a stage adaption of Terminal and the release of his latest book, Theater of the Macabre, which will be officially launched by Skullvines Press at CONvergence. http://www.roycbooth.com/

Eve Cain: Author
Eve Cain, is an author of erotic speculative fiction. Her first story was published in an anthology entitled Beyond Desire.

Rob Callahan: Author
"Rob Callahan is 30% maniac creativity, 25% frantic weirdness, 10% noir-on-acid, 70% linguistic acrobatics, and 26% brilliant bubbles of strangeness. And his writing is pretty interesting, too." http://www.robcallahan.com/

Matthew Lee Davis: Author
http://www.myspace.com/373396881

Jose Manuel Figueroa: Martial artist, actor
Jose Figueroa is the owner and operator of Dark Raven Studios a Martial art school in St. Paul , MN. He's also a film producer/action director of dark raven productions specializing in Hong Kong -style action.

Louis Frank: Comics creator
Louis Frank is an artist known for his anthropomorphic work as well as his work in the super hero, science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. He has illustrated a number of tabletop role-playing game books and several board games. http://www.visi.com/~wom-bat/

Terry A. Garey: Author, poet
Terry A. Garey is a Rhysling winner and a member of Lady Poetesses From Hell. She's the author of The Joy of Home Winemaking.

Shannon Gibney: Playwright, actor
http://shannongibney.wordpress.com/

Andre Guirard: Author
Andre is an author of radio scripts, puppet shows, and short stories, as well as a great deal of non-fiction. He's working on his second novel (the first is not yet sold, but he's still hopeful). http://home.comcast.net/~aguirard/

J.T. Hampton: Author

S.D. Hintz: Author, publisher
S.D. Hintz is the Editor in Chief of Skullvines Press. His upcoming genre publications for 2009 include: Charnel Harbor (novelette - Lyrical Press), The Starvelings (short story - The Devil's Food anthology), Haven (short story - Terror Tales 4 w/ Neil Gaiman, etc.), The Wicked Womb (flash fiction - Twisted Twins Daily Chills Calendar), and Aspects of a Rose (poem - Death in Common) http://sdhintz.home.att.net/

Jeannie Holmes: Author
Jeannie Holmes is a Mississippi native currently living in Mobile, Alabama and holds both Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in English. Her debut novel, Crimson Swan, a supernatural suspense thriller is the first in the Alexandra Sabian series and will be published by Bantam Dell in early 2010. http://www.jeannieholmes.com/

Christopher Jones: Comic Book Creator
In addition to being the creator of the CONvergence mascot Connie, Chris is an artist for DC and Marvel Comics, having drawn comics featuring Batman, Spider-man and Justice League. He is also the co-creator of Dr. Blink Superhero Shrink with past CONvergence Guest of Honor John Kovalic. http://www.christopherjonesart.com

Melissa Kaercher: Comic Book Colorist and Letter
Melissa is the colorist and letterer for Dr. Blink Superhero Shrink, and has colored other comics including Femme Noir, and comic style artwork for Captstone Press, Green Ronin, and Max Allan Collins’ A Killing in Comics. http://www.tinlizardproductions.com/

Michael Levy: Author, critic
Michael Levy teaches science fiction and children’s literature at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. He’s written several books and hundreds of articles and book reviews on these subjects.

Tim Lieder: Author
Tim Lieder owns Dybbuk Press, an independent publishing company, through which he's published God Laughs When You Die by Michael Boatman and Teddy Bear Cannibal Massacre. His upcoming projects include This Other Eden by Michael Hemmingson and the multi-author short story collection She Nailed a Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror.

Sandra Lindow: Poet, editor
Sandra Lindow is an award winning poet, a critic and an editor. She teaches part-time at the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Stout. http://www.wfop.org/poets/lindowsa.html

Bob Lipski: Comics creator
Bob Lipski is the creator and cartoonist of the comic book "Uptown Girl". Begun in 2003, Lipski recently ended the series with issue 75 to focus on "Uptown Girl" graphic novels and original children's books. http://www.uptowngirlcomic.com/

Catherine Lundoff: Author; poet; editor
Catherine Lundoff is a writer, editor and sporadic bon vivant who produces a Smörgåsbord of fiction.

Rebecca Marjesdatter: Author; poet
Rebecca Marjesdatter is the poetry editor of Tales of the Unanticipated and a member of the performance group Lady Poetesses from Hell.

Elise Mathesen: Author, editor
Elise Matthesen lives surrounded by beads, metal, words, music, and people she loves. She has a jewelry business, a hearing impairment, fibromyalgia, arthritis, attitude, ingenuity, numerous publication credits, and many pairs of pliers. http://mango.lioness.net/elise/elise.html

Mark McLaughlin: Author, Poet
Known as the clown prince of horror, Mark McLaughlin's fiction, nonfiction and poetry have appeared in more than 1,000 magazines, websites, newspapers and anthologies. Mark McLaughlin is a Bram Stoker Award Winner for his 2002 poetry collection, The Gossamer Eye. He received Bram Stoker Award nominations in 2003 for Professor LaGungo's Exotic Artifacts & Assorted Mystic Collectibles and in 2004 for Men Are From Hell Women Are From The Galaxy Of Death. Mark McLaughlin has two Bram Stoker Award nominations this year, including his first novel Monster Behind the Wheel and Attack of the Two-Headed Poetry Monster both co-written with friend Michael McCarty. http://www.mmfnp.org/

Jennifer Menken: Puppeteer, writer
I'm the public collections manager for the Bell Museum of Natural History's Touch and See Room, also known as "The curator of dead things. On the flip-side I do fantasy art and support one freaked-out puppeteer husband."

Michael Merriam: Author
Michael Merriam writes urban fantasy, space opera, and supernatural horror, with over 50 short fiction sales to his credit. He lives in Hopkins, MN with his wife and an ordained cat. http://www.michaelmerriam.net/

Lyda Morehouse: Author
Lyda Morehouse is the award-winning science fiction writer alter ego of best selling romance author Tate Hallaway. http://www.lydamorehouse.com/

Hilary Moon Murphy: Author
Hilary Moon Murphy's work has appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Tales of the Unanticipated, PodCastle, and the anthology New Writers of Science Fiction. She also runs MinnSpec -- Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers - a networking organization for local writers that can be found at http://www.meetup.com/mnspec.

Sean M. Murphy: Author
Sean M. Murphy is a writer of speculative fiction and a member of the Wyrdsmiths, a Twin Cities-based writers' group. He is particularly fond of spiritually driven SF, retellings of myths and fairy tales, alternate histories, and complex fantasy-though his single greatest joy is a story told well and lovingly, with deliberate, compelling language. Sean lives in Saint Paul, MN. http://www.seanmmurphy.com/

Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers: Author/ activist
An American biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) working with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). He is a public critic of intelligent design (ID) and of the creationist movement in general and is an activist in the American creation-evolution controversy. He is the author of the science blog Pharyngula.

Shad Petosky: Comics, animation
Together with Zander Cannon and Kevin Cannon, Shad formed the comic art studio Big Time Attic in the fall of 2004. In January 2007 Petosky, along with Vincent "King Mini" Stall and the employees of Big Time Attic, formed a multi-media studio called Puny Entertainment. They have created video games for Cartoon Network and are creating animation for the television show Yo Gabba Gabba! http://www.punyentertainment.com/

Joseph Scrimshaw: Playwright; comic; actor
Joseph Scrimshaw is a critically acclaimed actor, writer and producer of comedic theater and film. His work (which has appeared in the Twin Cities, New York, Chicago, the UK, Bulgaria and more) as been called "clever and inventive" by the Star Tribune, "fresh and exuberant" by NewYorkTheater.com, and "hilarious with a whiff of danger" by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. http://josephscrimshaw.com/

Gordon Smuder: Puppeteer, writer
"Gordon Smuder: Accomplished special effects professional, cantankerous puppeteer, collector of things and punker of steam." http://www.puppetforge.com/

Adam Stemple: Author; musician
Adam Stemple is a writer, musician, and poker player who has won awards in all three fields. Look for him online at www.adamstemple.com.

Bill Stiteler: Playwright, actor
Bill Stiteler is a local playwright and filmmaker. In 2008 he directed his first film, THACO, which premiered at CONvergence. http://www.williamstiteler.com/

Kathryn Sullivan: Author
Kathryn Sullivan writes young adult fantasy and science fiction. She is fond of talking horses, gryphons, talking trees and birdlike aliens as well as strong female characters. http://kathrynsullivan.com/

Lynne Thomas: Author, editor, archivist
Lynne M. Thomas is the Head of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL. She is the co-author of Special Collections 2.0, a book about web 2.0 technologies and special collections in libraries with Beth Whittaker of Ohio State University, and the co-editor with Tara O'Shea of Chicks Dig Time Lords, forthcoming from Mad Norwegian Press in fall 2009.

Michael D. Thomas: Author
Michael D. Thomas is an Associate Editor and writer for Mad Norwegian Press, a small press that focuses on cult television guidebooks. He is currently co-writing Fluid Links: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who Novels and Audios.

Tim Uren: Actor, comediian
10,000 Comic Books was the name of Tim’s solo performance as part of the 2004 Minnesota Fringe Festival. It’s true, he really does own more than 10,000 comics. Since then Tim has presented several shows at the Fringe: Michigan Disasters, H.P. Lovecraft's The Rats in the Walls, and Robert Anton Wilson's Masks of the Illuminati. He has also appeared in Shut Your Joke Hole as well as 2007’s top-selling Fringe show, Macbeth’s Awesome Scottish Castle Party. http://www.10000comicbooks.com/.

Joan Marie Verba: Author
Joan Marie Verba is the author of the novels Action Alert! and Countdown to Action! and the nonfiction books Boldly Writing and Voyager: Exploring the Outer Planets, as well as numerous short stories and articles. She is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. http://www.sff.net/people/joan.marie.verba/

Daniel Wallace: Author
Daniel Wallace is the author of more than a dozen books, including the DC Comics Encyclopedia, the Marvel Comics Encyclopedia, The Art of Superman Returns, and the New York Times-bestselliing Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters. His latest book, Star Wars: The Essential Atlas, will be released in August.

Anna Waltz: Author
Anna Waltz was a script writer for EverQuest II, where she wrote quest favorites like "Rat Smashing Fun," along with the NPC monologues of Queen Antonia Bayle. As a local writer, she is best known for her book, "Swedish Lutheran Vampires of Brainerd." Her fanfiction (written under various assumed names) has been floating around the Internet since 1997.

Jason Wittman: Author
Jason D. Wittman has published in SCIFI.COM, Baen's Universe, and Greatest Uncommon Denominator Magazine. He also has two games published by Steve Jackson games. http://www.sff.net/people/jasondwittman/

Stephanie Zvan: Author
Stephanie Zvan edits and contributes to QuicheMoraine.com and hosts the Atheists Talk podcast. In her spare time(!), she writes science fiction and fantasy. http://stephanie.zvan.net/