Justine Larbalestier - Author Guest of Honor
Justine Larbalestier writes novels for teens. She is best known for her
Magic or Madness trilogy: Magic or Madness, Magic Lessons and Magic's
Child, which won the 2007 Andre Norton Award for best YA Science
Fiction and Fantasy and landed on many other short lists for awards and
recommended reading lists.
Her non-fiction book The Battle of the Sexes in
Science Fiction was nominated for a Hugo Award for best related book
and she also edited a collection of stories and essays called Daughters of Earth (Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth
Century) which won the William Atheling Jr. and Susan Koppelman
Awards.
She was born in Sydney, Australia and, with her husband Scott
Westerfeld, splits her time between Sydney and New York, as well as San
Miguel de Allende (Mexico), Dunedin (New Zealand), Buenos Aires (Argentina),
or wherever else strikes their fancy.
Her forthcoming novel, The Ultimate Fairy
Book, will be out in September 2008.
Justine Larbalestier's Links
Scott Westerfeld - Author Guest of Honor
Scott Westerfeld is the author of five novels for adults and ten for
young adults, including The Risen Empire, Peeps, the Midnighters trilogy, and the New York Times
bestselling Uglies series. His books have won the Philip K Dick Special
Citation, the Aurealis Award, the Victorian Premier's Award, and have been
named NY Times Notable Books and Summer Reads, BBYA Top Ten Children's Books
of the Year, and made the Andre Norton and Ditmar shortlists. He has
contributed nonfiction to Nerve, BookForum, and the scientific journal Nature, and published short fiction on scifi.com and in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. His upcoming
fourth book in the Uglies trilogy, Extras, will
be released on October 2, 2007.
He was born in Texas in 1963, graduated from Vassar College in 1985, and
has worked as a teacher, textbook editor, game designer, and composer. He is
married to the Hugo-nominated writer Justine Larbalestier, is a permanent
resident of Australia, and splits his time between New York and Sydney.
Carl Lundgren - Art Guest of Honor
In 1965, at the age of 18, he was co-chairman of the first multimedia
convention ever held, The Detroit Triple Fan Fair, (comics, movies, and
science fiction). In 1967, he discovered Gary Grimshaw doing posters for
a Detroit concert venue called The Grande Ballroom. Gary gave him a job
and he created posters for such bands as The Who, Pink Floyd, and
Jefferson Airplane and more. In 1974, he became a science fiction and
fantasy illustrator, painting almost 300 book covers. He was also a
founder of ASFA and was nominated for a Hugo Award. In 1987, he quit
working for publishers and started his Fine Art career. In 2001, he
started worshipping computers. His autobiography,
Carl Lundgren, Great Artist, was published in 1993.
After 23 moves and 7 states, Carl lives in Detroit with his first
(and second) wife Michelle. He has 2 daughters and a cat named
Roswell.
Kevin M. Dunn - Science Guest of Honor
Our Science Guest of Honor this year is Kevin Dunn. Kevin is an
accomplished mammoth hunter, gifted Shakespearean actor, talented
bagpipe player, experienced Magician, and is currently working as a
professional soap maker- or, according to his C.V., researching the
chemical problems faced by soap makers since the substance was
discovered some 3000 years ago.
Kevin received his B.S. in Chemistry in June 1981 from the University
of Chicago. While working as a Research Assistant at the University of
Texas, he earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics. He is currently
employment by the Department of Chemistry, Hampden-Sydney College. Also,
Kevin is involved with the High Energy Amateur Science Group, a
collection of "Boy and Girl" scientists who never quite grew up and are
enjoying their prolonged childhoods building Tesla Coils.
Throwing Toasters - Music Guest of Honor
Throwing Toasters is a comedy rock band that has played at clubs and
colleges all over the United States. In 2003, they played a sold out show at
the Tokyo Dome in Japan and in 2007 they were the opening act for "Weird Al"
Yankovic on his STRAIGHT OUTTA LYNWOOD tour. While all this is impressive,
it's the fact that whether or not Throwing Toasters is actually a band that
makes them one of the most talked about acts in Comedy Music. Even though
lead singer/songwriter/ guitarist Grant Baciocco insists that there are
other members of the band, no one has ever seen them and they have never
appeared at any live shows, leading one to wonder if the rest of the "band"
are merely figments of Grant's imagination. What you can't deny though is
that a Throwing Toasters concert is a hilarious, high energy affair that you
will not soon forget. In addition to Throwing Toasters, Grant Baciocco is
the writer, producer and star of the award winning podcast, The Radio
Adventures Of Dr. Floyd as well as the host of the official podcast of The
Jim Henson Company. He lives in a tiny one bedroom apartment in Burbank, CA
with his pet plant, Yorgi.
The Roving Pirate Party - Fan Guests of Honor
The Roving Pirate Party is a scurvy crew of long-time area fans who sail the
seas of ConFusion dispensing RUM, SODOMY, and THE LASH -- err, I mean RUM,
SNACKS, and ARABIC RAP MUSIC (What? We're BARBARY Pirates...) And THE LASH.
And, er, RUM. And -- oh, BUGGER. Where was I?
John Scalzi - Toastmaster
John Michael Scalzi II is a professional blogger and award winning
Science Fiction writer. His fiction works include the Hugo nominated
Old Man's War,The Ghost
Brigades, and The Android's Dream.
The Last Colony, a sequel to
Old Man's War and The
Ghost Brigades will be out in Feb 2007 from Tor Books.
John currently lives in Bradford, Ohio with his wife, Krissy, and
their daughter, Athena. He occasionally
tapes bacon to
cats.