About Our Guests

Elizabeth Moon

Elizabeth Moon grew up on the Texas-Mexico border, and started writing as soon as she could hold a pencil. She has degrees in history (Rice University) and biology (University of Texas) with graduate work in biology at U.T. San Antonio. Her first fiction sale came in 1985--and yes, she had a wall covered with rejection slips before that first sale. Besides 19 novels and over 30 short fiction works, she has written one-act plays for school and community production and poetry. Her first published book, Sheepfarmer's Daughter, won the Compton Crook award in 1989; Remnant Population was a Hugo nominee in 1997, and The Speed of Dark won the Nebula in 2004. Her most recent book is Engaging the Enemy, in the Vatta's War series; the next, Command Decision, will come out in 2007.

In addition to writing, Moon's interests include nature photography, prairie restoration and wildlife management, horses, fencing (she is in the SFWA Musketeers), space exploration, music (she sings in a choir), and just about anything but housework. She lives in central Texas with her husband, son, two horses, and a cat...and 80 acres she and her husband are restoring from a badly damaged cow pasture to native prairie and woods.

Elizabeth's Website     

Howard Waldrop

Howard Waldrop is a legendary unknown writer. His works have been nominated for a number of awards but can be dificult to find in print. Lately more of his stories have been available on the web, so people can get access to his "disorientingly strange/familiar stories." He's very funny and we look forward to having him as our toastmaster at MoonBase ConFusion.

Howard's Website     

Bill Higgins

Bill Higgins likes to say that he is a product of the Twentieth Century, the same century that gave you WW I, WW II, and WWW. Like many Atomic Age kids, he was attracted to science fiction, and eventually found fandom in the Midwest while studying physics. In 1978 Bill joined Fermilab, where he has been involved with giant accelerators and particle beams ever since.

In SF circles, he has dabbled in fanzines, filksinging, cartooning, and helping organize conventions, but he is probably best known for his talks on science, particularly spaceflight and planetary exploration.

Bill is frustrated that, several years into the following century, the cars still have wheels, but admits that the pocket computers, portable radiophones, and Mars rovers are pretty cool.

Bill's LiveJournal     

Paul "PZ" Myers

We're excited that biologist Paul Z. Myers, PhD, of the University of Minnesota, Morris, has accepted our invitation to be Science Guest of Honor for MoonBase ConFusion.

Dr. Myers, or PZ as he is known, is author of the popular blog Pharyngula, where he holds forth on science, religion, and the politics of science and religion. Not only does he know the findings of science, he knows why science does its job better than the alternatives, and he is not afraid to name religious extremism when he sees it.

Dr. Myers is also a lot of fun. On his blog he has humorous entries about the sex lives of invertebrates. He also reads science fiction. His fans even wrote a piece of Gernsbackian Mary Sue Science Fiction about him.

Evolution need not be a mystery to anyone. If you ever felt like you needed a firmer handle on the evidence in the creation vs. evolution issue, this is your chance. In his accessable and fiesty style, PZ will take us from the startling marvels of DNA, to the living wonders of the sea.

Steve Macdonald

Steve Macdonald is a renowned musician and songwriter who was formerly local and has now headed out into the wide world. We wish him luck, but had to drag him back as a guest. :)

Steve plays filk. Most people haven't heard of this small sub-genre of folk music. The most useful definition of the term 'filk' that he's heard is "Filk is folk, for very narrow values of the letter 'o'" Simply stated, filk is the folk music of science fiction and fantasy fandom, with all sorts of crossovers to many other genres of folk and rock. Filkers tend to not take themselves too seriously; there's a lot of humor inherent in the genre. That's not to say that all filk is humor - far from it. Songs that focus on space, modern technology, as well as fantasy, horror, and the here-and-now are all accepted.

Steve's music focuses on relationships, with storytelling elements pulled from his own experience and the experiences of friends and family. His 9 albums reflect the depth of his songwriting talents. He has also put together a songbook, collecting songs from his Crossroads and Playing In Traffic albums, as well as previously unpublished parodies, opinions, and playing tips.

Steve's Website     

Mike Glicksohn

At MoonBase ConFusion, we will award Mike Glicksohn with a Special Award For Perfect Attendance.

It came to our attention that he is possibly the only person from outside the immediate Detroit Metro area to have attended every single ConFusion, starting with the first relaxacon, and continuing to date. When we called to tell him of the award, he expressed his appreciation, but noted, "I was planning on attending next year anyway." We intend to hold a special presentation at the con, featuring stories and tales from Mike's long association with our event. If you know any good stories, please let Roxanne know.

Mike's other well deserved honors include the 1973 Hugo for Best Fanzine which he shares with Susan Wood and the 1975 Fan Guest of Honor at WorldCon 33- among many other FGoH awards, Mike is a founding member of the Ontario Science Fiction Club, editor of the Fanzines ENERGUMEN and XENIUM, and can be found behind the art auctioneers podium at many midwest conventions.

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