| Guest of Honor Artist Guest of Honor Regional Guests Regional guests subject to change.Current as of 11 February 2002 A look at last year's guests of honor. If you have ideas about who you would like to see attending AggieCon, or if you think you would make a good guest, please contact Beth Bader, the Guest Relations Officer. guest biographies A regular contributor to Interzone, Britain's premiere magazine of speculative fiction, Jayme Lynn Blaschke has succesfully maintained his obscurity despite publication in magazines such as Eidolon, The Leading Edge, and Black Gate. His stories have also appeared in Writers of the Future and The Ant-Men of Tibet anthologies. The proud owner of several half-finished novels laying around in various stages of decay, Blaschke can often be spotted lurking around Texas SF conventions wearing a variety of colorful vests. He maintains his own website at www.exoticdeer.com/jayme.html and also the comics website www.greenarrowfansite.com. Originally from Taiwan but at heart a Texas, Tippi Blevins has written stories and poems which have been published in dozens of magazines and anthologies. Tippi is currently working on more stories, book-length projects, and is co-writing a four-issue comic book miniseries to be published by Top Cow Productions. She als has a book of vampire fiction coming out in the near future from DNA Productions. Darlene Bolesny Darlene Bolesny believes that becoming a fantasy author was simply the next, natural step in her bizarre life. After living in Isfahan, Iran for four years, spending five years as a full-time Firefighter/EMT in Denton, Texas, and picking up hobbies which have ranged from motorcycle racing to tournament pool shooting to sword work (primarily rapiers), it seemed that fate was grooming her to write fantasy action-adventure. Her first novel, Trail of Darkness, was released in September 1996, and she is currently working on a sequel to that novel, Dark Hunt, as well as a mainstream novel containing fantasy elements, Night Mist. Darlene lives in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. (Where else would you live after all that?) Clockwork Storybook is a new indepentdent book publisher, specializing in fantasy, horror, and adventure genres, with plans to expand into science fiction more experimental works the coming years. Since their intial launch of four print titles spring 2001, they have expanded catalog, an even greater number slated for release 2002. Sample chapers web-exclusive content are available on site http://www.clockworkstorybook.com, updated often. - Allison Baker Allison Baker is the business manager for Clockwork Storybook, Inc. In addition, she has worked in the film industry since 1996, with credits including The Faculty and Spy Kids. She is currently working as Executive Assistant to the Producers on Once Upoon A Time in Mexico and Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, with director/producer Robert Rodriguez and producer Elizabeth Avellan. - Mark Finn Mark Finn is a native Texas and the author of two books of contemporary fantasy: Gods New and Used and Year of the Hare. A long time participant in the Texas science fiction scene, he's written for comics, the gaming industry, and even Playboy.com. His third book, a short story collection titled Empty Hearts (with a stunning cover by fellow AggieCon guest John Picacio), will be available soon. - Chris Roberson Chris Roberson, a writer, lives in Austin with his wife and his library, in that order. He is the author of Voices of Thunder, a murder mystery with cowboys, pirates, and angels; Cybermancy Incorporated, a science fiction novel worth buying if only for the stunning Michael Lark cover; Set the Seas on Fire, a historical fantasy set during the Napoleonic Wars; and Any Time At All, a science fiction novel worth buying if only for the stunning John Picacio cover. Though his ultimate ambition is to take over the world, and to rule it with an iron fist and an army of super-intelligent cyborg monkeys, for the time being he's satisfied with conquering the publishing world one reader at a time. - Matthew Sturges Matthew Sturges is a thirty-one year old novelist from Austin, Texas. His first book from Clockwork Storybook, a collection of horror stories called Beneath the Skin and Other Stories, has received praises from sources as divergent as the Magazine of Fantasy and Sciecne Fiction and the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. His latest book, Midwinter, is a novel that both embraces and subverts the genre of high fantasy. - Bill Willingham Bill Willingham is the multiple award-losing creator of many critically acclaimed comic books series including: Elementals (Comico), Ironwood (Eros), Coventry (Fantagraphics), Proposition Player (DC-Vertigo), Pantheon (Lone Star Press), The Tessaliad (DC-Vertigo), and the forthcoming Fables (DC-Vertigo). He's been nominated for the Eisner and Ignatz awards, but in each case lost out to better books. He's the only two-time winner of the annual Austin Maverick Poker Championship, and plans to make it three-times come the weekend before AggieCon. His first novel, Down the Mysterly River (Clockwork Storybokk), was published early in 2001 to some critical attention, and his second novel, The Monster Maker, set in his Coventry fictional world, will be published in time for the convention. Cat, award-winning artist from Arlington, Texas, is on hand to intrigue and amaze with his stellar landscapes (and wit). Be sure to visit the art show and examine his beautiful creations up close. In addition to his astronomical and fantasy art, Cat is a popular speaker and auctioneer on the convention circuit, as evidenced by the record-breaking 5-1/2 hour at Worldcon 51, where he was one of the featured auctioneers. Roxanne is widely known for alternately terrifying and weirdly funny novels like Stormriders, The Undead, Red Angel,Cold Kiss, Slow Burn, Copper Moon, and Bridge of Shadows. Her short fiction like "Cowboy Bob and the Vampire Cow Stampede," "Roses," "Faith Like Wine," and the forthcoming "The Dark Downstairs" (Dracula In London, edited by P.N. Elrod) share an off-center perspective and dark edge of dread. She's currently working on a new as-yet-untitled novel. Exile, the first in a series of Texas mysteries featuring Meg Leary and Dan Fox, will be out in 2003, and her screenplay from that novel was recently announced as a semifinalist in the American Accolades national screenwriting competition. Roxanne is married to award-winning Texas artist R. Cat Conrad, aka "Cat." The two live happily in Arlington with their three iguanas and a mali uromastyx, and surely there aren't many people who can make that claim. Her web site is www.artistsinresidence.com, and if you like Buffy and Highlander and lots of other addictive television series, you may find some free goodies in that area, as well as free short fiction and information about her novels. You can email her at roxwrites@home.com. Bill Crider Bill Crider was abandoned in a wilderness area at birth and raised by a band of musical chipmunks. He taught himself to read and speak English by reading old paperback Tarzan novels that tourists tossed away. The chipmunks left the wilderness for a recording career and paid for Bill's education with their royalties. Their only request was that he move to a town named for their harmonica player, which explains why Bill lives in Alvin, Texas. In his spare time he writes mystery, horror, and western novels for adults as well as books for younger readers (including Mike Gonzo and the UFO Terror, which won the Golden Duck award for best SF juvenile), all in the hope that someone, being raised somewhere by chipmunks, will read his discarded books and learn to read and speak English. In that way, Bill feels that he will be repaying at least a tiny bit of the debt that he owes to the writers who came before him. Bill owns thousands (and thousands) of old paperback books, and he is married to the lovely Judy, without whom he would be nothing. (At least to hear her tell it.) Scott Cupp Scott Cupp is primarily a writer of short ficiton and non-fiction. His work tends to deal with the west and western themes. A former Treasurer for the Horror Writers Association, he is currently on an owner of Adventures in Crime and Space in Austin. He resides in San Antonio, this will be his 30th consecutive AggieCon. Cheryl Daniel Cheryl Daniel, "mother" of GEM, (Generation 2 Environmental Mutation), a Roswell alien offspring, is also a sign language interpreter in a high school, so creating an alien character who relates to the world like he came from another planet was not a stretch for her. Cheryl was a closet writer until her first novel Catch a Falling Star (Hard Shell Word Factory) sold when she accidentally stood in an editor s line at a conference thinking she was waiting for guacamole and chips. Catch a Falling Star has been nominated for the Dream Realm and Independent ePublishers awards, and her mother says it s good. She has also been published in The Houston Chronicle, Texas, and several magazines and anthologies. A fourth generation Texan, Cheryl was not raised by chipmunks but instead grew up in Deep East Texas, a comparable experience. She lives in Sugar Land with her husband, two dogs, and Jaws the Gerbil. She has completed a sequel, which takes place at Houston s Johnson Space Center. Visit Cheryl and read excerpts at www.cldaniel.com or www.cheryldaniel.com. P.N. "Pat" Elrod's favorite family reunion is AggieCon, and her year is not complete until she's parked in the dealer's room or a panel talk saying hello to everyone. Please remember she will only do autographs when conscious and has a tendency to talk about writing 24/7, but she's not obsessed at all, nope, not her, nope, nope, nope. While she has been busy not being obsessed by writing, she's still managed to sneak in 16 books' worth, but she's getting aversion therapy and a crack team of specialists are guardedly optimistic. Their unique chocolate-distraction treatment seems to be working! Come celebrate with her and bring chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Try not to smear her latest titles, Lady Crymsyn, Quincey Morris, Vampire, and His Father's Son, co-written with past Aggie GoH, Nigel Bennett. As an expatriate Chicagoan transplanted to Texas, Melanie Fletcher is still trying to understand the proper grammatical usage of "y'all". Her publications include "Star Quality" (Selling Venus, Circlet Press) and "Heramaphrodite" (Crossing the Border, Indigo), and her artwork can be seen on the covers of The Erotic Writer's Market Guide (Circlet Press, 2000) and the anthology Mind and Body (Circlet Press, 2001). When not writing, she can usually be found in the garage communing with her power tools. Steven Gould Steve Is the author of the Tor novels JUMPER (an ALA Best Book for Young Adults), WILDSIDE (winner of the Hal Clement Award for best YA SF and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults), HELM, and BLIND WAVES. He co-wrote the Forge novel GREENWAR with Laura J. Mixon, his wife. His short fiction has been on the Hugo and Nebula ballots. His proudest achievement was the placement of JUMPER on the list of 100 Most Challenged Books of 1990-1999 (as compiled by the Office of Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association.) A very long time ago he was a member of Cepheid Variable and was chairman of AggieCon V. Becky Matthews Haynie
Born in Indiana, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel also spent time in Michigan, Ohio, and California before settling in Texas. She has a B.F.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University and a deep distrust of formal education. Her obligatory itinerant occupations have included research aide, gold caster, janitor, sales clerk, technical writer, correspondence school instructor and Registered Massage Therapist. Once upon a time she was a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New SF/Fantasy Writer. Rick Klaw is an award-winning editor, writer, and bookseller. He was the co-founder and managing editor of MOJO Press, where he worked with the likes of Joe R. Lansdale, Michael Moorcock, Moebius, and many others. Currently Klaw is the fiction editor for RevolutionSF and a buyer for Book People, the largest independent bookstore in Texas. One of the more opinionated people in an industry of opinionated people, Klaw regularly produces columns for www.bookpeople.com and SFSite. Klaw's stories and essays have appeared in Weird Business, The Big Book of the Weird Wild West, Gangland, Michael Moorcock's Multiverse, SFWeekly, and other venues. Geek Confidential, a collection of his essays, reviews, and other things Klaw, will be out in October from DinoShip. Tom Knowles has published numerous short stories, non-fiction, photos, interviews, essays, and reviews over the years. He has recently become the official historian for the Texas Rangers. He attended his first AggieCon in 1979 where he was encouraged to continue his writing attempts. Some of his works include Wild West Show and The West that Was. When he's not writing, he fishes, hunts, takes photos, and teaches a creative writing course. Julia is a mostly native Texan and a former Navy brat. After spending way too much time inside her own head for most of her life, she decided to start writing it down. After a few years apprenticing with a co-author and writing for fun, Julia decided it was time to go pro. She sold the first story she ever submitted (but to the third market) when Black Gate bought her novelette "Bones of the Dead" for its Summer 2001 issue. She's now working on two novels set in the same universe (but 700 years apart). Between bouts of frenzied writing she's raising an insanely bright eight-year-old daughter and doing computerish things for the University of Houston (not to mention counting down the months until she can collect her pension). Before being seduced by the Tech side of the Force, she worked as a florist, a bookseller, a security guard, a travel agent, a secretary, a bakery clerk and probably several other things that have vanished into the mists of memory. Joe Lansdale is the high-falutin', award-winnin', butt-kickin' East Texas author of over a hundred short stories and a dozen novels. His works include Bad Chili, Mucho Mojo, and Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo. He has won two Bram Stoker awards, one for Best Short Story: "The Night They Missed the Horror Show," and one for Best Novella: "On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks," which also won the British Fantasy Award and the American Mystery Award for Best Novella. Other works include DC Vertigo's Blood and Shadows and a story for Weird War Tales. Karen Lansdale Michael Lark Michael Lark is a comics illustrator who has received several Eisner and Harvey Award nominations for his work on Terminal City and Terminal City: Aerial Graffiti, his adaptation of Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister, and Scene of the Crime, the critically acclaimed interpretation of the detective/noir/mystery genre co-created with writer Ed Brubaker. In recent years, he has worked on a variety of titles for DC and DC/Vertigo, including All-Star Comics, Superman: War of the Worlds, Sandman Mystery Theatre, The Invisibles, and Legends of the Hawkman (DC). His latest book is Batman: Nine Lives, a film-noir-styled graphic novel written by Dean Motter. He is currently working on illustrations for Chris Roberson's novel Cybermancy Incorporated, as well as illustrating the upcoming DC monthly Gotham Central. Living Room Games is a group of friends and gamers who took the news of Earthdawn® being canceled harder than most. They started their own game company in the hopes of obtaining the rights to print Earthdawn, as well as come out with their own line of games. So far they have succeeded admirably at this, recently releasing Paths of Deception, an Earthdawn module, and Barsaive at War. And what the heck, half of 'em are ex-Cepheids. See, we don't all come to bad ends, no matter what the police reports say. More information on Living Room Games, their fight against the menace of the Yeti, and the FAQ that part of this bio was plagiarized from can be found at their website. John Lucas John Lucas has an enormous noggin. Using heavenly bodies as a system of measurement, if the average human head was a yellow sun (similar to Sol), John's head would be a red giant. This fluke of genetics is what, eventually, led John to draw comics. His head is not as grotesque as one might imagine, In fact, some have suggested it is quite handsome, in it's way. Children do not flee when confronted by it, and some women have been known to swoon. Howver, supporting an extremity as large as John's head, without the use of a complicated system of cables and struts, makes traveling, even the shortest of distances, difficult, But rather than lamenting the tragedy of John's deformity, what some have referred to as god's curse, we ask that you, insteaded, celebrate the art John has created in spite of the burden he carries. Lee Martindale ascribes to the Heinleinian notion that "specialization is for insects"; she is awriter, editor, filksmith, activist and "hell on wheels". Her fantasy fiction has appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, three MZB-edited anthologies, Kinships Magazine, Outside The Box: The Best Short Fiction From Bookface.COM, Bubbas of the Apocalypse (in a story co-authored with Bradley H. Sinor) and a collection of her size-positive fantasy fiction, The Folly of Assumption, from Yard Dog Press. She edited the groundbreaking anthology Such A Pretty Face: Tales of Power & Abundance, published by Meisha Merlin, and is the Founding Publisher/Editor of Rump Parliament Magazine, a size issues activism publication now in its tenth year. She keeps folks posted on new sales and projects on her website, "Lee Lines" at http://www.sff.net/ people/lee-martindale. Lee is active in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. She and her husband George live in Plano, Texas. Author of sixty novels, forty of them published by standard print publishers, Ardath Mayhar began her career in the early eighties with science fiction novels from Doubleday and TSR. Atheneum published several of her young adult and children's novels. She also wrote westerns (as Frank Cannon) and mountain man novels (as John Killdeer). Four prehistoric Indian books in her own name came out from Berkley. Recently she has been working with on-line and on-demand publishers. A numberof her published and unpublished novels are available through several such sources. T.W. Miller As a world traveler, he uses real people and places as backdrops to his books. Doing research of the places before he visits them, he is able to paint a beautiful picture of the people and places in his books. Laura J. Mixon Laura J. Mixon is an SF writer and environmental engineer living in Houston with her husband, SF writer Steven Gould, and their two daughters. Her first novel, ASTROPILOTS, a young adult SF, came out from Scholastic and Omni in 1987. In 1992, her debut adult SF book, GLASS HOUSES, was serialized in ANALOG, published by Tor in 1992, and was among the year's most frequently and favorably reviewed paperbacks. In 1997, an eco-thriller she wrote in collaboration with her husband, GREENWAR, was released, followed in 1998 by PROXIES. Teresa Patterson Teresea Patterson wanted to write since grade school. She discovered science fiction while in Jr. High and began a Star Trek club, called Vulstar, while in High School. She also discovered sci-fi conventions, where she gained notoriety as a costumer, winning awards competing at local conventions, as well as Worldcons. She acheived the level of Master Costumer after her third win at a Worldcon at Denvention in 1982. Illustrator, designer, and comics creator, John Picacio was born September 3, 1969. Since 1996, his illustration and design work has continued to grace the covers and interiors of major books, magazines, and other media. Clients include Random House, Realms of Fantasy, Golden Gryphon Press, Subterranen Press, Night Shade Books, Mojo Press, Bookface.com, Hispanic, Texas Parks & Wildlife, The San Antonio Current, and The Empire Theatre Company. He is a Best Artist nominee in the 2001 International Horror Guild Awards and he is currently writing and illustrating a collection of graphic narratives -- In Vivo: The Waking Dream. He lives and works in San Antonio, Texas. Brian Stelfreeze Brian's innovative marriage of graphic design and cartooning has placed him on the bleeding edge of sequential art. Brian has created widely acclaimed covers for Shadow of the Bat, Detective Comics, Birds of Prey, and the wholly ignored and widely forgotten Psy-Cops. Martha Wells has recently published her fourth novel, Wheel of the Infinite. Her other work includes The Element of Fire, which was a finalist for the 1993 Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award and a runner-up for the 1994 Crawford Award, City of Bones, and The Death of the Necromancer, which was a 1998 Nebula Award Nominee. She shares her home in College Station, Texas, with her three favorite things: her cats, her husband, and her tapes of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
previous guests of honor, aggiecon 32 We had an exciting group of writers, artists, editors, publishers, and media guests gracing AggieCon 32 with their presences. Below are the guests of honor for AggieCon 32, to refresh your memory if you attended or to rouse your envy if you couldn't make it. The multitalented Julie Caitlin Brown is most known to media SF fans from her recurring role on Babylon 5 as Na'Toth, the aide to the Narn Ambassador G'Kar. In addition to her acting credits, Brown is an accomplished country-blues singer and agent. Additional information can be found at her online fan club, The JCB. Making his second appearance at AggieCon, Charles de Lint is the author of numerous fantasy novels and short stories. His works include the recently-published Forests of the Heart and Triskell Tales, as well as Moonlight and Vines, Someplace to be Flying, Jack of Kinrowan, and The Ivory and the Horn, to name a very few. He maintains a webpage with a more extensive biography. Joe Lansdale is the high-falutin', award-winnin', butt-kickin' East Texas author of over a hundred short stories and a dozen novels. His works include Bad Chili, Mucho Mojo, and Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo. He has won two Bram Stoker awards, one for Best Short Story: "The Night They Missed the Horror Show," and one for Best Novella: "On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks," which also won the British Fantasy Award and the American Mystery Award for Best Novella. Other works include DC Vertigo's Blood and Shadows and a story for Weird War Tales. Melanie Rawn is the author of the Exiles series, the Dragon Star series, and the Dragon Prince series, a collaboration with Kate Elliott and Jennifer Roberson, and a number of short stories. More information can be found at the official Melanie Rawn website. Martha Wells has recently published her fourth novel, Wheel of the Infinite. Her other work includes The Element of Fire, which was a finalist for the 1993 Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award and a runner-up for the 1994 Crawford Award, City of Bones, and The Death of the Necromancer, which was a 1998 Nebula Award Nominee. She shares her home in College Station, Texas, with her three favorite things: her cats, her husband, and her tapes of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
previous guests of honor, aggiecon 31 We had an exciting group of writers, artists, editors, publishers, and media guests gracing AggieCon 31 with their presences. Below are the guests of honor for AggieCon 31, to refresh your memory if you attended or to rouse your envy if you couldn't make it. Gee, does this paragraph sound familiar or what? Harlan Ellison has been called one of the greatest living short story writers by more people than we have room to name here. He is the winner of numerous awards, including the 1993 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and appears frequently on ABC's Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. He was a guest at AggieCons 1 and 5, and we are delighted to have him back at last. "Terry Pratchett is fifty and lives behind a keyboard in Wiltshire, where he answers letters in a desperate attempt to find time to write." The author of the tremendously popular Discworld and Johnny Maxwell series, Terry folded time for us and agreed to attend the convention. Known for his work on Vampire: the Masquerade and The Crow: City of Angels, Tim Bradstreet is one of the premiere artists working in comic books and games. |