ArmadilloCon 28

Author / editor Julie E. Czerneda has been a finalist for both the John W. Campbell (Best New Writer) and Philip K. Dick Awards, twice on the preliminary ballot for a Nebula, and has won all three English language Prix Aurora Awards (Canada's Hugo), one for her standalone novel In the Company of Others, one for her short story, "Left Foot on a Blind Man," published in Silicon Dreams, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Larry Segriff, DAW Books, and most recently, for editing Space Inc., DAW Books. Her novel, In the Company of Others also won Reviewer's Choice, Best SF of the Year for 2001 from RT Magazine.

Julie has published ten bestselling biology-based SF novels with DAW Books Inc., all still in print, including two ongoing series, the Trade Pact Universe and the Web Shifters, recently translated into Russian. Her latest is the trilogy: Species Imperative, in which the potential impact of biological drives on civilization are examined through the eyes of a BC salmon researcher. Survival, on the Nebula Award Preliminary ballot, came out in May 04 followed by Migration, (May 2005) and Regeneration, May 2006. The first prequel to the Trade Pact series, Reap the Wild Wind will be released next year. She has five more novels scheduled for release. As editor, Julie's Space Inc. explored daily life off this planet. With Dr. Isaac Szpindel, she is co-editor of the acclaimed alternate science history anthology ReVisions, both from DAW.

A former biologist, textbook author/editor, and publisher, Julie edits the original Y/A SF anthology series based on science curriculum topics, Tales from the Wonder Zone, winner of the 2002 Special Award for Science & Technology Education from the Golden Duck Committee, as well as the new Realms of Wonder YA fantasy anthology series linked to language arts, both from Fitzhenry and Whiteside.

Upcoming titles include the fantasy anthologies Mythspring, Inspired by the Lyrics and Legends of Canada with Genevieve Kierans (Red Deer Press), Under Cover of Darkness with Jana Paniccia (DAW Books), Misspelled (DAW Books), and YA science fiction anthology Polaris, In Celebration of the International Polar Year.

Julie is a sought-after speaker and conducts presentations on science, scientific literacy, science fiction, and writing in both Canada and the US, as well as serving as SF Consultant to Science News, Science News for Kids. (www.sciencenewsforkids.net)

Ellisa Mitchell has been involved in the realms of Science Fiction and fantasy since she was four years old. Her parents decided to teach her to read before she headed off to school, and her first storybooks were the early Science Fiction periodicals. She was practically raised on Analogs. This early exposure led to an undying love of Science Fiction, and her other interests in art, animals, and the sciences propelled her, albeit somewhat reluctantly, into the field of fantasy illustration.

Ellisa actually went to college with the intention of becoming a large animal veterinarian, and pursued degrees to that end. But it was not long before it was discovered that she had a knack for drawing. Illustration work helped to pay for college, but, like Dr. Frankenstein’s creation, soon began to take over her life. Soon she had little time to prepare for future vet school and too much work in the art field. She eventually gave into demand, graduating Summa Cum Laude from Texas A& M with a now-useless degree and a lot of hard work ahead. There are times she still regrets abandoning the veterinary dream, but a few hours assisting her local vet worm puppies, float stool samples, and taking skin scrapings for mange quickly quells those thoughts.

As it turned out, she might as well be a veterinarian. She has taken to rescuing unwanted cats and other odd critters, and now sports over 30 felines, five dogs, several dozen chickens and guinea fowl, four horses, a mule, and two rescued bait fish at her East Texas home. Fortunately, the house is perched atop several acres in the country—room to roam for everyone. She spends more time opening feed sacks than drawing.

All in all, though, Ellisa’s art career has been rewarding. She has worked for many of the best role-gaming companies in the nation, including Wizards of the Coast, TSR, Iron Crown, GDW and Gary Gygax. She has had her bronzes—her favorite medium—exhibited at the Delaware Museum in the First Invitational Hall of Fame of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Ellisa is currently the main interior illustrator for TOR Books and St. Martin’s Press, and has recently worked for Warner Books, Pyr, and done cover work for Hale, Ltd. in England. She has illustrated the works of Robert Jordan, Orson Scott Card, Tad Williams, Louise Cooper, Kathy and Michael Gear, Piers Anthony, Vernor Vinge, Larry Niven, Eric Van Lustbader, and dozens of others. She has also designed a series of swords, knives, and axes from Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series for Museum Replicas. She writes in her spare time and enjoys a number of hobbies, including horseback riding, training mules, horses, and dogs, and occasional swamp-kayaking. Her "other" job is working with a top kennel that breeds and trains military and police K-9's, and she does narcotics detection in schools with drug dogs. The early veterinary pursuits continue to come in handy—both in caring for the menagerie and in designing her works of art, which she displays at more than 50 conventions across the US and Canada every year. It is the fan art that she enjoys the most, and which actually feeds the zoo.

She is hoping one day to expand into writing and more bronzes. She is quick to admit she is a techno-peasant, with few computer skills, but hopes to learn how to build websites one day. As there is no local instruction, this will all have to come out of books--so this is why she now has greying hair. The goal--she hopes to publish her SF works based upon her own universe, complete with graphics and other fun stuff. But don’t hold your breath—that’s a long time coming. For now, she still does things the old-fashioned way—with a pencil.

Senior Editor Diana Gill has edited a variety of books from science textbooks to fantasy novels. She started her career at W. H. Freeman in 1996 and moved to Morrow in 1998, where she now runs Eos, the science fiction and fantasy imprint. The authors with whom she has worked include Mario Acevedo, USA Today bestselling author Trudi Canavan, William Gibson, New York Times bestseller Kim Harrison, Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Mary Stewart, Steph Swainston, Karen Traviss, and Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, among others. In addition to sf and fantasy, her editorial interests include commercial and historical fiction, supernatural novels and thrillers and historical and travel nonfiction.

I love fandom. I've been in fandom since I was about 10 when our family discovered SFSA (Science Fiction South Africa) in Johannesburg during the late 1970s. I contributed to the clubzine from early on and was highly active in the club. I came to the US in late 1995 and only discovered US fandom in 1998 at that year's Worldcon. Since then I have been on staff for many Worldcons, from junior jobs of all kinds through running promotions, recruiting volunteers and being this year's party maven. Since settling in Mississippi for a time, I became involved in Southern fandom. I'm honored to be the editor of the 2007 Southern Fandom Confederation Handbook. I'll likely get involved with the next Texan Worldcon bid. I also remain deeply involved with SFSA, being their US agent, contributing to the zine, promoting the club in the US and running SFSA parties at Worldcons. They even honored me with lifetime membership, something only four others have been lucky enough to get (all of them better qualified I think). I love them like family, and indeed I consider all of fandom my family. Worldcon is like a pilgrimage for me and local cons are a joy. I have made dear friends all over the world through these connections. Not for nothing have I been called a fandom and Worldcon evangelist, and for this passion I owe thanks to all of you.

Nebula Award winner Esther Friesner is the author of thirty-one novels and over one hundred fifty short stories, in addition to being the editor of seven popular anthologies. Her works have been published in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Russia, France, Poland and Italy. She is also a published poet, a produced playwright, and once wrote an advice column, "Ask Auntie Esther". Her articles on fiction writing have appeared in Writer's Market and Writer's Digest Books.

Besides winning two Nebula Awards in succession for Best Short Story (1995 and 1996), she was a Nebula finalist three times and a Hugo finalist once. She received the Skylark Award from NESFA and the award for Most Promising New Fantasy Writer of 1986 from Romantic Times.

Her latest publications include TEMPING FATE from Dutton/Penguin; a short story collection, DEATH AND THE LIBRARIAN AND OTHER STORIES, from Thorndyke Press; and TURN THE OTHER CHICK from Baen Books, fifth in the popular "Chicks in Chainmail" series that she created and edits. She is currently working on two YA novels for Random House about young Helen of Troy, NOBODY'S PRINCESS and NOBODY'S PRIZE, as well as continuing to write and publish short fiction.

James P. Hogan was born in London in 1941, his father Irish and his mother German. After studying general electrical and mechanical engineering, he graduated as an electronics engineer specializing in digital systems. Later he became a sales executive in the electronics and computer industries with such companies as ITT, Honeywell, and Digital Equipment Corporation, and eventually a Sales Training Consultant with DEC's scientific computing group at Marlborough, Massachusetts.

He produced his first novel as the result of an office bet in the mid 70s and continued writing subsequently as a hobby, his works being well received within the professional scientific community as well as among regular science-fiction readers. In 1979 he left DEC to become a full-time writer, moving to Florida and later, California. He now lives in the Republic of Ireland. He has six children now grown, giving him the distinction of having engendered three trilogies: one male, one female, and one literary.

His novels and other book-length fictional works to date are: Inherit the Stars; The Genesis Machine: The Gentle Giants of Ganymede; The Two Faces of Tomorrow; Thrice Upon a Time; Giants' Star; Voyage from Yesteryear; Code of the Lifemaker; The Proteus Operation, Endgame Enigma, The Mirror Maze, The Infinity Gambit, Entoverse, The Multiplex Man, Realtime Interrupt, Paths to Otherwhere, Bug Park, Star Child, Outward Bound, Martian Knightlife, Cradle of Saturn, The Legend that was Earth, The Anguished Dawn, and Mission to Minerva. In addition he has written two nonfiction books: Mind Matters: Exploring the World of Artificial Intelligence, and Kicking the Sacred Cow, a look at some modern-day scientific heresies; also, three mixed collections of short fiction, nonfiction, and biographical anecdotes entitled Minds, Machines & Evolution and Rockets; Redheads & Revolution, and Catastrophe, Chaos & Convolution. Further details of Hogan and his work are available from his website.