Bios

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Aaron Allston
SF&F novelist Aaron Allston is a longtime resident of the Austin area, meaning that the authorities havent found him to deport him yet. His recent work includes novels for the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series (Betrayal, Exile, Fury) and post-production on Deadbacks, an independent horror film he scripted and directed. Upcoming work includes Mongoose Among Cobras (original SF adventure) and The Lady of Pain (third novel in the Doc Sidhe series). Visit his web sites at www.AaronAllston.com and www.deadbacks.com.

Michael Ambrose
Michael Ambrose published small press SF/F magazine Argonaut from 1972 to 1995. He currently publishes Charlton Spotlight magazine, which examines the history of the Charlton Comics Group and which was hailed by Diamond Distributors as the best magazine about comics in 2006. Under his Argo Press imprint he has also issued interesting short story collections and novels by writers you probably never heard of. The last time he was an ArmadilloCon panelist was in 1981, so he’s safely past his expiration date by now and is probably harmless.

C. Dean Andersson
C. Dean Andersson is the author of short stories such as the 2007 HWA Stoker recommended "The Death Wagon Rolls on By" in Cemetery Dance #57, eight horror novels including I Am Dracula and Raw Pain Max, and the heroic fantasy trilogy, Warrior Witch, Warrior Rebel, and Warrior Beast, Scandinavian mythos adventures of Bloodsong, a warrior woman created ten years B.X. (Before Xena), from Warner/Questar with Boris Vallejo covers, reprinted by Hawk in 2000 then by Alpha-Kniga in Russian Language hardbacks. Dean has degrees in astrophysics and art and has worked in T.V., music, programming, and technical writing. Visit www.cdeanandersson.com.

David Lee Anderson
David Lee Anderson is a science fiction and fantasy illustrator whose work has appeared around the US and in Europe on paperback books, magazines, in CD art collections, game cards and trade paperbacks. His work has been seen at 440 science fiction convention art shows around the country and Canada since 1980. He’s been the Artist Guest of Honor at twenty conventions, Toastmaster at two cons and Fan Guest of Honor once. He’s been on hundreds of panels speaking about science fiction and fantasy illustration and other subjects. He’s entertained people at conventions as an MC for costume contests, narrator for plays, played guitar and sang. Check out his art at www.davidleeanderson.com.

Kimm Antell
Kimm Antell is a local playwright and cartoonist who also happens to be in charge of programming this year. The only reason she is on this list is because she is a seat filler. You can view her website which hasn't been updated in 4 years year at www.kimmantell.com.

Jane Archer
Jane Archer is the bestselling author of twenty fiction and nonfiction books. She has also contributed many articles to magazines such as FICTION WRITER. As a keynote speaker and workshop presenter, she has been featured at regional, national, and international conferences, notably National Romance Writers, World Fantasy, and World Science Fiction. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Dallas Area Romance Authors, Women Writing the West, and Western Writers of America. She is represented by the Vivian Beck Agency.

Renee Babcock
Renee Babcock is a person of contradictions: an introvert who fakes extroversion, a cat lover who wishes she had a dog, a night owl who lives a morning person’s life, a beach baby who lives in Central Texas, nowhere near an ocean. She loves movies that make her cry, Diet Pepsi and Craig Ferguson. She was officially declared insane after she agreed to co-chair the 2006 World Fantasy Convention (which was a huge success by all accounts). This year marks her fourth time chairing ArmadilloCon, and this time she may have gotten it right. Renee is an avid reader, and can be seen most mornings on the bus to downtown Austin with her nose buried in a book. She thinks it makes her look more intelligent than sleeping on the bus.

Neal Barrett, Jr.
Once again, the role of Neal Barrett, Jr. will be played by himself.

Kurt Baty
Kurt Baty is a computer architect, physicist, ancient greek numismatist, and a science fiction fan. Kurt enjoys reading and collecting science fiction books and also enjoys going to the worldcons, having (by 2004) attended 26 of them so far, starting in Kansas City in 1976. Kurt lives with his wife of 27 years on their acreage on Lake Travis outside of Austin, Texas, where they enjoy their horses and boats. Kurt Baty was (with party buddy Scott Bobo) fan guest of ArmadilloCon 24.

Paul Benjamin
Paul Benjamin is a Writer, Editor, Supermodel and video game producer whose Tokyopop manga series PANTHEON HIGH debuted at New York Comic Con 2007. Paul has developed comics-to-film projects for Hollywood, produced video games, edited graphic novels for Humanoids/DC Comics and is currently writing MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK. He’s also producing video games for Austin-based Amaze Entertainment. Paul’s webcomic SCI-FU can be seen at www.sci-fu.com and of course everyone in the world is familiar with Paul’s long list of credits as a supermodel.

Matthew Bey
Matthew Bey has published features, satire and comic strips in local markets. He writes reviews for Tangent Online and lives in Austin with two cats and a novel that is pretty much essentially finished.

Jayme Lynn Blaschke
Jayme Lynn Blaschke's fiction has appeared in Interzone and Writers of the Future, among other places, as well as the forthcoming Cross Plains Universe: Texans Celebrate Robert E. Howard. He’s the former fiction editor of RevolutionSF.com, and is currently the media director for Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. A collected volume of his SF-themed interviews, Voices of Vision: Creators of Science Fiction and Fantasy Speak, is available from the University of Nebraska Press. Blaschke lives in New Braunfels, works at Texas State University, and maintains a blog at http://jlbgibberish.blogspot.com.

Scott Bobo
Scott Bobo is best known as one of the two Party Fans who, with Kurt Baty, spent 10 years reviewing parties at the WorldCon. He is a charter member of FACT.

Stephen Boucher
An Aussie fan married to a great lady. Stephen finally understands the dangers of drinking at a WorldCon. Go ahead... ask him about the Melbourne bid.

Elizabeth Burton
Liz Burton lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband Phil and the kids: Bird, Bright Eyes and Max. She is a member of the board of directors and board secretary for the Fandom Association of Central Texas and a member of the Writers League of Texas, the Electronically Published Internet Connection (EPIC) and Broad Universe, and co-owner of Zumaya Publications LLC of Austin. She has three novels and three novellas published and the third book in her Everdark Wars trilogy, The Everdark Gate, is scheduled for release later this year.

Rachel Caine
Rachel Caine is the author of the Weather Warden series, the 6th book of which -- Thin Air -- is scheduled for release in August 2007. Also in August, Silhouette Intrigue will release her romantic adventure/suspense novel Athena Force: Line of Sight. September brings the release of Rachel's short story "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life" in the Many Bloody Returns anthology, and in October, the third book of her Morganville Vampires series, Midnight Alley, hits the shelves. Website: www.rachelcaine.com Myspace: www.myspace.com/rachelcaine.

A.T. Campbell
A. T. Campbell, III is a game programmer for Midway Games, where he is currently putting the finishing touches on Blacksite: Area 51. He has been active in Texas fandom for over 20 years. He worked on ArmadilloCon, OwlCon, SerCon, ConDiablo, LoneStarCon 2, and a couple of World Fantasy conventions. For many years he has been organizing the FACT SF/F Reading Group, which recently discussed its 300 th book.

Matt Cardin
Matt Cardin is a horror writer from Missouri. He has written numerous stories, essays, and other writings in such publications as The Children of Cthulhu, The HWA Presents: Dark Arts, The Best of Horrorfind II, The Thomas Ligotti Reader, Strange Horizons, Penny Dreadful, and elsewhere.

Lillian Stewart Carl
A romantic fantasy novel, BLACKNESS TOWER, is scheduled for November 2007. The most recent thirteen of her twenty-six mystery, fantasy, and sf short stories are collected in THE MUSE AND OTHER STORIES OF HISTORY, MYSTERY, AND MYTH, published in August 2007. Lillian is co-authoring (with Martin H. Greenberg) a book about Lois McMaster Bujold's science fiction work, to be published in 2008. Lillian's website can be found at http://www.lillianstewartcarl.com.

J. Kathleen Cheney
J. Kathleen Cheney is a writer of speculative fiction and a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) as well as a member of the Carpe Libris Writers Group. She is also a member of Broad Universe, and a founding member of the Oklahoma Speculative Fiction Syndicate and has several distinctive short stories to her name.

Deborah Chester
Deborah Chester is the internationally published author of 37 novels, mostly fantasy and science fiction. She's also written award-winning young adult, Regency romance, and historical fiction. Currently she holds the John Crain Presidential Professorship at the University of Oklahoma, where she teaches short story and novel writing in the College of Journalism. The author of The Sword, The Ring, and The Chalice fantasy trilogy from Ace Books, she also wrote The Alien Chronicles for LucasFilm Publishing. Her next fantasy will be The Pearls, due in stores Thanksgiving 2007. For more information, go to www.deborahchester.com.

R. Cat Conrad
R. Cat Conrad hails from Arlington – that’s Texas, not the national cemetery and usually without the media attention afforded an ice storm, although his puns can be deadly. After doing a stint with an UnFortunate 500 company as a chemist with a fine art degree, Cat decided that prolonged exposure to hazardous chemicals isn't what advertisers meant by "making a better living through chemistry." So, in 1991 Cat left the private sector, moved to Texas and started promoting his creative side full time – prefering the "symmetry" of painting to nurturing flowers in the world's fastest growing "underground" movement. In addition to being an award-winning artist and cunning linguist, Cat is a popular speaker, auctioneer, and fan entertainer. Visit his website: www.artistsinresidence.com/cat.

Bill Crider
The Completely Unauthorized (and very brief) Autobiography of Bill Crider: I was born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, kilt me a b’ar . . . wait a minute. That’s not me. That’s Davy Crockett. Sometimes I get the two of us mixed up. I was born in Mexia (pronounced Muh-HAY-uh), Texas, and I never kilt me a b’ar. I’ve been in a bar, and I’ve worn a kilt. I may even have worn a kilt in a bar. But that’s another story. My latest novel is A MAMMOTH MURDER.

Scott A. Cupp
Scott Cupp is a short story writer from San Antonio. He is a former owner of Adventures in Crime and Space. He is the co-editor of CROSS PLAINS UNIVERSE, an anthology of Texas writers working with Robert E. Howard and his characters.

Gail Dayton
Gail Dayton writes beach books, because she lives on the Texas Gulf Coast. THE COMPASS ROSE and THE BARBED ROSE, the first two episodes of godstruck soldier Kallista Varyl's story, were published by LUNA Books. THE ETERNAL ROSE, completing the One Rose trilogy is available now from JUNO books.

Linda A. B. Davis
Linda A. B. Davis was originally schooled in print journalism, but has decided that writing science fiction and fantasy is a lot more fun. She enjoys creating new worlds and characters that she would like to see become real. Her fiction work has appeared in Child Life, Ralan’s Spectravaganza, Twilight Times and Espresso Fiction. She has upcoming short stories in two DAW anthologies. Linda lives in northwestern Florida with her husband and daughter. They are all graciously tolerated by three dogs, a cat and a rabbit. The rabbit rules.

Bradley Denton
Bradley Denton’s 2006 novella "Blackburn and the Blade" (from the Subterranean Press anthology Lords of the Razor) is currently a nominee for the International Horror Guild Award, and the 2006 Japanese translation of his novella "Sergeant Chip" (from Hayakawa's SF Magazine) is currently a nominee for the Seiun Award. (The English-language versions of both stories are available free online at www.bradleydenton.net.) Brad is a previous winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (for Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede), the World Fantasy Award (for The Calvin Coolidge Home for Dead Comedians and A Conflagration Artist), and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award (for the English-language version of “Sergeant Chip”).  And his non-award-winning but apparently unkillable 1993 novel Blackburn has just been reissued in a new paperback edition from Picador USA.

Rose Dimond
Rose Dimond, an Austin writer, is the author of "Stabat Mater", published in Infinite Space, Infinite God (winner of an EPPIE as an e-book, published in trade paperback by Twilight Times on August 15, 2007. Her "Carol for Mixed Voices", possibly the first published story about 9/11, appeared in Strange Horizons online magazine and in their Best of the Second Year book. She has published several other stories and keeps hoping for the novels.

Rhonda Eudaly
Rhonda Eudaly lives in Fort Worth, Texas where she's worked in various industries to support her writing habit and her cat, Dixon. Rhonda's work is featured in The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse; Apex Digest Issue #5; Flush Fiction; International House of Bubbas; More Stories That Won't Make Your Parents Hurl; Fundamentally Challenged; Sinister Sleuths; Cyber Oasis; Small Bites; Apex Digest Online; "Isabella the Brave" in Encounters; Aegri Somnia; Panic; and is featured in the March/April 2006 issue of Today's Christian, and the "Newbie Revelation" column on CoffeeGeek.com. See www.RhondaEudaly.com for links and information. Most recently, she achieved her greatest work to date... getting married.

Sara Felix
I am a dabbler in the arts. Mostly I work in clay, I can't really draw or paint but get by when it is required. I was on a craft show in 2005 on HGTV called Crafters Coast to Coast, where I made tile boxes and clay piggies for the show. I love to teach people how to make things more than I like mass producing one thing to sell. I love fantasy art. Some of my favorite artists include Brian Froud, Alan Lee, John Jude Palencar, Charles Vess and John Picacio. My first art book was Faeries when I was 10 and have collected art and books on the subject since then. I read a lot fantasy, not much science fiction although there are a few authors I will read when they have something new out. Usually my favorites have humor involved or are not the average fantasy story. My favorites include books by Christopher Moore, James Morrow, Gregory Maguire, Anne Bishop, Sharon Shinn, and Robin Hobb.

Mark Finn
Mark is the author of Blood & Thunder, the Life and Art of Robert E. Howard, as well as a number of short stories, essays, and reviews. He can be found at www.revolutionsf.com and elsewhere. Do not ask him to do the monkey walk for you.

Janice Gelb
Janice Gelb wandered into fandom in 1977 at the infamous worldcon in Miami Beach, her hometown. Since then, she has participated in numerous apas, spends too much time posting on LiveJournal, and has worked on many conventions, notably running Program Ops at the 1992, 1995, 2001, 2004, and 2005 worldcons, and running the Hugo ceremony
at LAcon III. She was the 1999 DUFF representative at Aussiecon 3 where, in a fit of madness, she also ran Program Ops. She liked it there so much that she migrated in 2006 (oh, and married Aussie fan Stephen Boucher, too).

John K. Gibbons
Local software analyst, SF fan & author, and volunteer speaker for NASA'a JPL space missions, John would probably get more writing done if he didn't have so many hobbies.

Laura Anne Gilman
Laura Anne Gilman is the author of the popular `Retrievers´ series from Luna Books, which includes Staying Dead, Curse the Dark, Bring it On, Burning Bridges and the forthcoming Free Fall (2008). She is also the author of the Grail Quest trilogy, and over twenty-five short stories published in such magazines as Realms of Fantasy, Amazing Stories, ChiZine, and Flesh & Blood, and the anthologies Powers of Detection I and II, Did You Say Chicks?, Coyote Wild, and Polyphony 6, among many others. Laura Anne Gilman lives in New England, where she also runs d.y.m.k. productions, an editorial services company. Find out more on-line at www.lauraannegilman.net or http://cosanostradamus.blogspot.com. She is also online at http://suricattus.livejournal.com.

Steven Gould
Steven Gould is the author of Jumper, Wildside, Helm, Blind Waves, Reflex, and Jumper: Griffin’s Story, as well as several short stories published in Analog, Asimov’s, and Amazing, and other magazines and anthologies. He is the recipient of the Hal Clement Young Adult Award for Science Fiction and has been on the Hugo ballot twice and the Nebula ballot once for his short fiction, but his favorite distinction was being on the American Library Associations Top 100 Banned Books list 1990-1999. “Jumper was right there at #94 between Steven King’s Christine and a non-fiction book on sex education. Then that Rowling woman came along and bumped us off the bottom of the list.” Steve lives in New Mexico with his wife, writer Laura J. Mixon and their two daughters. His first book, Jumper, is now a major motion picture starring Samuel L. Jackson, Hayden Christensen, Rachel Bilson, and Jamie Bell from Fox and New Regency to be released 15 Feb 2008.

Elze Hamilton
Elze Hamilton lives with her husband and daughter in Austin, where she works as a programmer. In her spare time she dabbles in writing science fiction, blog articles and software, and goes to SF conventions. So as not to forget interesting things she's heard at conventions, she documents them at her website. She wishes she could keep up with the FACT reading group list, but her reading speed is limited by the time she spends on a stairmaster, which is the only time she can read. This, however, did not stop her from founding another book club at the Center For Inquiry Austin branch.

Samantha Henderson
Samantha Henderson lives in Southern California.  Her fiction and poetry have been published in Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Chizine, Helix, Heliotrope, Weird Tales and Lone Star Stories, and Prime Books' Fantasy: Best of the Year (2006) and Horror: Best of the Year (2007).  For more information, see her website at www.samanthahenderson.com.

R.T. Hitchcock
From right here in Austin, R.T. Hitchcock assures he’s personally done his best to make Austin Weird(er) most of his life. With life experiences embracing equal measures of sublimity and absurdity, R.T. Hitchcock remains “an ally of chaos and fractal irregularity in an increasingly segmented world striving for a perverse order mythos.” His first published Science Fiction Novel, Commonality , (Sense Of Wonder Press), is a wild ride through Martian invasion of Earth a la Wells’ War of the Worlds. But in this adventure readers understand invasion also from the Martian perspective—their internal political corruptions and discoveries of a history so vast it envelops our solar system, changing courses of our futures forever.

James P. Hogan
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.

Al Jackson
I started out as a SF fan in Dallas in 1954 with the first SF club in Texas, the Dallas Futurians, which had an adventurous life for 6 years. The DFS held the first SF convention in Texas, in Dallas, August 1968. I also was a member of the Houston Science Fiction Society from some time around 1966….. till forever, ……..after all the HSFS never officially disbanded! (Unlike the Dallas club.) I re-founded the University of Texas SF club.. 1970-197?..... During the time when I was getting my PhD in Physics. Heck been in and around SF fandom (by the by NOT SCI-FI fandom for around 50 years now, an official SF geezer!) I have spent most of my years (from 1966) at the Johnson Space Center, doing all kinds of things from training astronauts during Apollo to computing where space debris will be and go, to assorted engineering. Kind of fulfilling a childhood space cadet's dream! You can see my technical publications here! www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/jackson/

Rocky Kelley
The question "What if …? " has always occupied Rocky Kelley’s imagination and artwork since childhood. As a result, Kelley works in many genres, including: Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Surrealism...and many more. Rocky’s creations have appeared in magazines, galleries, murals, and were even featured in Neiman Marcos Christmas Catalogs and the David Letterman Show. Kelley was the recipient of the Director’s Award at the 2006 World Fantasy Art Show, and Best of Show Award at Armadillocon 26, with his fantasy painting Come Out and Play. His artwork may be viewed at www.rockykelley.com.

Julie Kenner
The author of the bestselling Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom series, Julie Kenner is thrilled to announce the sale of an uber-cool urban fantasy series to Ace for publication in 2009. Corner Julie and force her to tell you all about that and her other pending projects (including the second book in her teen vamp series, coming in September!). Praised by Publishers' Weekly as an author with a "flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations," Julie’s books cross multiple genres and have hit bestseller lists as varied as USA Today, Barnes & Noble, and Locus Magazine, among others. Visit Julie at http://www.juliekenner.com.

Katharine Eliska Kimbriel
Katharine Eliska Kimbriel has held numerous traditional writer jobs (like correspondence school instructor and gold caster,) has been nominated for the Campbell, and has watched three imprints die under her feet. In other words, she's ready to try success. She's published the Nuala Chronicles (SF) and Tales of Alfreda Golden-Tongue (Fantasy) as well as short fiction and nonfiction, and has written a mystery-fantasy-romance she'd like to sell. She’s got a chapbook out from Yard Dog Press, and a new Alfreda novel in the works. Stop by her live journal (she's Alfreda89) for occasional updates. Or try http://www.ke-kimbriel.com.

Ellen Klages
Ellen's short fiction has appeared in science fiction and fantasy anthologies and magazines, both online and in print, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Black Gate, and Firebirds Rising. Her story, "Basement Magic," won the Best Novelette Nebula Award in 2005. Several of her other stories have been on the final ballot for the Nebula and Hugo Awards, and have been reprinted in various Year’s Best volumes. She was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award, and is a graduate of the Clarion South writing workshop.

Rick Klaw
When not playing with books (2007 marks his 20th anniversary as a bookseller), Rick Klaw produces reviews and articles for The Austin Chronicle, Moving Pictures, RevolutionSF, Sf Site, and other venues. His short fiction has appeared in Electric Velocipede and Cross Plains Universe. Klaw's writings were collected in Geek Confidential: Echoes From the 21st Century (MonkeyBrain). Klaw was the award-winning editor of seventeen books and numerous short stories. He was the co-founder and managing editor of MOJO Press and the founding fiction editor for RevolutionSF. Klaw lives in Austin, TX with his wife, an enormous cat, an even bigger dog, and a modest collection of books.

Kim Kofmel
Kim Kofmel is a Canadian writer and scholar living in Houston, Texas. A reader of science fiction and fantasy for over 30 years and active in the SF social community since 1978, she parlayed her interest in the field into a PhD dissertation on adult readers of science fiction and fantasy. She has published short stories, poetry, essays and book reviews on science fiction and fantasy and has been a panel participant and solo presenter at cons and academic conferences and in university classes. Yes, she likes maple syrup. Non, elle ne parle pas français.

Julia Blackshear Kosatka
Julia is a writer with several short stories and a teenage daughter to her credit. She works at the University of Houston and lives in the Houston, Texas, area. Like so many FenCon guests, she has a story in the Yard Dog Press Four Bubbas of the Apocalypse anthology. When asked about pets, Julia says "there isn't enough room to name all my cats."

Jay Lake
Jay Lake lives and works in Portland, Oregon, within sight of an 11,000 foot volcano. He is the author of over two hundred short stories, four collections, and a chapbook, along with novels from Tor Books, Night Shade Books and Fairwood Press. Jay is also the co-editor with Deborah Layne of the critically-acclaimed Polyphony anthology series from Wheatland Press. His next few projects include The River Knows Its Own (Wheatland Press), Madness of Flowers (Night Shade Books) and Stemwinder (Tor). In 2004, Jay won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He has also been a Hugo nominee for his short fiction and a three-time World Fantasy Award nominee for his editing. Jay can be reached via his Web site at http://www.jlake.com.

Joe R. Lansdale
Joe R. Lansdale is the author of nearly thirty award winning novels and numerous award winning short stories. His work has been adapted for film or television, including his novella Bubba Ho Tep and his short story “Incident On and Off a Mountain Road.” His new novel Lost Echoes was released earlier this year as a Vintage Original trade. In addition to his other awards, Joe R. Lansdale received a Bram Stoker award for editing Retro Pulp Tales and the Grand Master Award at the World Horror Convention 2007.

Alexis Glynn Latner
Alexis Glynn Latner's novelettes and short stories have been published in Analog, Amazing Stories, and the anthology Bending the Landscape: Horror. Her first novel, Hurricane Moon is being release this month from Pyr. She lives in Houston, Texas and works at the Rice University Library. Besides writing SFF, she does editing, writes magazine articles about science, technology, and aviation, and teaches creative writing in the Rice University School of Continuing Studies. For fun and real-life adventure she is a sailplane pilot.

RJ Leahy
RJ Leahy's first novel, Tigra, was published in 2007 by Zumaya Publications. He has been nominated for several awards including this year's Dream Realm Awards taking place at ArmadilloCon.

Stina Leicht
Stina Leicht is a fantasy writer from Austin, Texas. She works at BookPeople and shares a house with a wonderful husband and a cat named Sebastian. Sadly, her hopes of becoming anyone remotely like Vincent Price have been dashed. You see, there are no basements in Texas, thus, making it difficult to wall up anyone alive under the house, and Sebastian, being a calico, refuses to dye his fur black. Alas, she'll have to resign herself to going quietly mad while wearing a smoking jacket. Too bad Texas is hot, she doesn't smoke and therefore, doesn't own a smoking jacket.

David D. Levine
David D. Levine is a lifelong SF reader whose midlife crisis was to take a sabbatical from his high-tech job to attend Clarion West in 2000. It seems to have worked. He made his first professional sale in 2001, won the Writers of the Future Contest in 2002, was nominated for the John W. Campbell award in 2003, was nominated for the Hugo Award and the Campbell again in 2004, and won a Hugo in 2006 (Best Short Story, for "Tk'Tk'Tk"). He is currently working on a novel. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Kate Yule, with whom he edits the fanzine Bento. His website is at http://www.BentoPress.com/sf.

Jim Mann
Jim Mann got involved in science fiction fandom in 1975, when he joined the Western Pennsylvania Science Fiction Association (WPSFA), and, with a handful of club members, attended his first convention (Midwestcon). Since then, he's attended many conventions and worked on nearly as many as he attended. He co-chaired (with Laurie) a Boskone, was Secretary of Noreascon 3 (the 1989 Worldcon), and has been a division head at five Worldcons (Noreascon 3, LoneStarCon, the Millennium Philcon, Noreascon 4) as well as a deputy division head at Interaction. He's also a long time member of NESFA, edited several NESFA indexes, and a number of NESFA Press books, including the works of Cordwainer Smith, William Tenn, Anthony Boucher, and John W. Campbell, as well as several Boskone books and the Light From a Lone Star by Jack Vance, the Guest of Honor book for the Austin NASFic. He has been married to Laurie, whom he met at her first WPSFA meeting, since 1977. They have one daughter, Leslie, now 24.

Laurie Mann
Laurie Mann's been active in fandom since 1974, run cons, bid for and worked on Worldcons, Boskones and Confluences, and maintained Web sites including AwardWeb and Dead People Server. Together, Jim and Laurie ran a Boskone, the Noreascon III Services Division and the Millennium Philcon Program Division. For Noreascon IV, she ran the fan history exhibit and edited William Tenn's Hugo-nominated Best Related Book Dancing Naked. For Interaction, she was on Program and Publicity staff. Laurie's been married to Jim since 1977. Their daughter, Leslie, is finishing up a software degree. Laurie is a freelance writer, Web site and database developer. She's finishing a contemporary novel about four of her favorite subjects (movies, computers, travel and sex).

A. Lee Martinez
A. Lee Martinez is a writer who enjoys juggling, origimi, skulking, and time travel. While he's a likable enough guy, he claims he really isn't very interesting and mostly plays video games and writes. His novels include Gil’s All Fright Diner, In the Company of Ogres, and A Nameless Witch.

Maureen McHugh
Maureen McHugh moved to Texas last year and has discovered that she is an Easterner. She has written four novels including the Tiptree winner, China Mountain Zhang. Her most recent book is a collection of short stories called Mothers & Other Monsters.

Karen Meschke
Karen has chaired conventions, reads (all kinds), listens to music (most kinds) and would happily spend most evenings at the Alamo Drafthouse if possible. She will be chairing the 2008 Nebulas in Austin, TX at the Omni Downtown.

Paul Miles
Paul Miles was born and raised in Austin, Texas. In keeping with his drifter nature, he has never been out of the city for more than 5 days at a time. He occasionally picks out short stories on a blue 1972 IBM Selectric. his work has appeared in Polyphony 5, Plot Magazine, Cross Plains Universe, and RevolutionSF.

Tim Miller
Tim Miller, one of the forces behind Fencon, is a long-time SF/F fan who has a "special" love for filking. This For Worth fan can be seen on weekends attending conventions wearing some Viking horns and holding pushing a small clone of himself in a stroller. Yes, that's right... he's breeding. Tim is one of the forces behind Fencon.

CJ Mills
C. J. Mills is a summer bird (Minesota 5-6 months in summer, Texas the rest of the year), who writes SF, but also suspense and historical fiction; a life-long gardener who can’t get the hang of planting in Texas in the “wrong” seasons; and the possessor of eight completed novels, 4 pets, 3 grown children, 3 young grandchildren, 2 houses, and 1 husband. At present I’m writing a novel about the Viking invasion of England 865-875, rewriting my contemporary suspense novel, and beginning to write articles about pernicious effects of fundamentalist religions on politics and democracy, here and in other parts of the world.

John Moore
Houston resident John Moore joined FACT in 1984 and sold his first short story to Aboriginal SF in 1986. His fifth novel, A Fate Worse than Dragons, was recently released by Ace. A chemical engineer by day, John has no children, pets, or responsibilities, and aspires to live the life of a dissolute wastrel.

Chris Nakashima-Brown
Chris Nakashima-Brown writes short fiction and criticism from his home in Austin, and group blogs at nofearofthefuture.blogspot.com.

Jess Nevins
Jess Nevins is the author of The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana (MonkeyBrain Books), a guide to genre fiction of the 19th century. He has also written two companions to Alan Moore's graphic novels, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He has forthcoming: a third companion to the League; The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes, a guide to characters in genre fiction from 1902-1945; The Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, a guide to characters appearing in comic books between 1935 and 1949; and a novel of alternate history. Nevins is a reference librarian at Sam Houston State University.

Gloria Oliver
Gloria Oliver lives in Texas with her husband, daughter, three cats, and one ferret. She is the author of the novels In the Service of Samurai, and Vassal of El, both in the Fantasy genre. She also has stories in the Four Bubbas of the Apocalypse, Small Bites, and Fundamentally Challenged anthologies. When not busy working with numbers at work, she enjoys reading, writing, watching movies, Japanese Anime, trying to learn Japanese, and making her mind mush by translating Japanese comics.

Cary G. Osborne
Cary G. Osborne of Norman, Okla., is the author of the Iroshi trilogy (Iroshi, The Glaive, Persea) and the Deathweave series(Deathweave, Darkloom) in science fiction. Her sixth book was a fantasy titled Winter Queen. Her most recently completed novel is an alternate history titled Cross Over the River and she is currently working on an historical fiction, a fantasy, and two romantic mysteries. Most of her short stories have been in the horror genre, both published and unpublished. However, last year she had an article published in Chicken Soup for the Fisherman’s Soul. Meanwhile, she is working on an audio book proposal, and maybe even some gaming books.

Aaron de Orive
Aaron de Orive has been a writer and designer on several video games including Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, Tabula Rasa, Anarchy Online, and Ultima Online 2. His horror screenplay, Blood Waters, is currently in development with Cadre Entertainment. He’s also working on a comic book, Good Green Earth, with artist Jim Daly (http://www.jmd3.com/index.htm). Presently, he’s a senior writer at Bioware Austin working on a new massively multiplayer online game. Aaron lives in Austin with his wife, daughter, and a grumpy Scottish terrier. You can check out his website at: http://www.aarondeorive.com.

Lawrence Person
Lawrence Person is a science fiction writer living in Austin, Texas. His short fiction has appeared in Asimov's, Analog, Postscripts, Fear, Jim Baen's Universe and several anthologies, including the forthcoming Cross Plains Universe. He also edits the Hugo-nominated SF critical magazine Nova Express, and runs the Turkey City Writer's Workshop. His non-fiction has appeared in National Review, Reason, Whole Earth Review, Locus Online, The Freeman, The World & I, Science Fiction Eye, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and Slashdot.org. He owns such a large library (mostly science fiction first editions) he had to buy a two-story house to put it in, and then adopted a golden retriever to drag him out of his house on a regular basis. He also makes a mean batch of salsa.

John Picacio
JOHN PICACIO has illustrated covers for books by Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock, Robert Silverberg, Frederik Pohl, Jeffrey Ford, Robert Heinlein, Graham Joyce, Mike Resnick, and many, many more. He is currently one of the finalists for the prestigious Hugo Award in the Best Professional Artist category (his third consecutive nomination), as well as this year’s Best Related Book Hugo category. He has won the Locus Award, the International Horror Guild Award, the Chesley Award, and the much-coveted World Fantasy Award. A lush, 200-page hardcover collection of his work, COVER STORY: THE ART OF JOHN PICACIO, is now available from MonkeyBrain Books. For more info, please see www.johnpicacio.com.

Alan J. Porter
Publishing software executive by day - Freelance Writer & Editor by night. Alan J. Porter blames it all on Tom Swift, Stanley Kubrick and Adam West. In the space of a few short months in the late 60’s he borrowed “Tom Swift And The Cosmic Astronauts” from the local library, not longer after he watched “2001”; at the movies, and thanks to Adam West and the Batman TV show discovered Comic Books! Since then he's managed to publish a couple of books; and had magazine articles on comics, music and the movies published in Europe, Australia , Canada and the US. He's currently working on a couple of new book projects as well as a few comics series, while still pitching the occasional magazine article on the side

Jessica Reisman
Jessica Reisman grew up on the east coast of the U.S., was a teenager on the west coast, and now lives in Austin, Texas. She dropped out of highschool and now has a master's degree. She is a writer, an animal lover, a reader, and movie aficionado. You can find her short fiction in magazines and anthologies; her first novel, THE Z RADIANT, was published by Five Star in 2004. Find out more at www.storyrain.com.

Carrie Richerson
Carrie Richerson lives in Austin, Texas, where she acts as talent agent for Jeep the Blue-eyed Wonderdog, Houdini the Escape Artist, the Artful Dodger, and the rest of her notorious menagerie. Her recent short fiction sales include a story about building the superhighway to Hell in west Texas, in F & SF; and a tribute to Texas’s most famous barbarian king, appearing in the World Fantasy Convention anthology, Cross Plains Universe. She is currently working on a story about the Romantic poets.

Chris Roberson
Chris Roberson's short fiction can be found in the anthologies Live Without a Net, The Many Faces of Van Helsing, FutureShocks, and Forbidden Planets, and in the pages of Asimov's, Postscripts, and Subterranean Magazine. His novels include Here, There & Everywhere, The Voyage of Night Shining White, and Paragaea: A Planetary Romance, and he is the editor of the anthology Adventure Vol. 1. Roberson has been a finalist for the World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, twice for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and twice for the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History Short Form (winning in 2004 with his story “O One”). Visit him online at www.chrisroberson.net.

Madeleine E. Robins
In 1989, I took a job in the production department at Tor Books; in 1991 (after a year of freelancing for Tor after the birth of Julie in 1990) I went back as the Assistant to the Publisher, which task is entirely like stuffing camels through the eye of a needle on a daily basis, except that the camels each have to have a separate ISBN. In 1994 I left Tor, had a brief stint at Metropolis Magazine, and then found myself at Acclaim Comics (once Valiant Comics. Long story) where I was the editor of Armed and Dangerous, Magnus Robot Fighter, Shadowman, Darque Passages, and the terrific Classics Illustrated Study Guide line. Oh, and in 1996, Rebecca was born. In 1998 I underwent one of those quintessential American rites of passage: I was downsized. Since then I've been working full-time as a freelance writer and editor. In June, 1999 both The Stone War (formerly City on Fire) and Daredevil: The Cutting Edge, hit bookstores. And in 2002 I moved to the Bay Area of Northern California. In May 2003, my novel, Point of Honour, hit the bookstores. I'm currently working on some short stories, and on raising, and being raised by, my children.

Josh Rountree
Josh Rountree's short fiction can be found in many magazines and anthologies, including Polyphony 6, Best New Fantasy 2, Realms of Fantasy and Lone Star Stories. He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and two sons. For more information, visit his website at www.joshrountree.com.

Patrice E. Sarath
Patrice E. Sarath is a writer and editor in Austin, Texas. Her short stories have appeared in Black Gate, Realms of Fantasy, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and Year's Best Fantasy 3. Her first novel, Gordath Wood, is forthcoming from Berkley Press. She is coordinating this year's Writer's Workshop with Jayme Blaschke.

Jennifer Schwabach
Jennifer Schwabach is the author of nearly four dozen short stories and poems and two novels Dark Winter and Curse's Captive, both available from Double Dragon Publishing as ebooks or LP print editions.   She lives in the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York.

Rie Sheridan
Rie Sheridan has been published in several ezines, as well as on the EOTU and Planet Relish websites. Stories appear in the electronic version of Double Dragon ePress' From Within The Mist and Mundania Press' Beyond The Mundane: Flights Of Mind. Her poetry appeared in Mythic Circle and Dreams of Decadence magazines. While The Blood That Binds and The Lute And The Liar are currently out-of-print, her anthology Rievisions is available from Mundania and her Young Adult fantasy, The Right Hand Of Velachaz from LTD Books. Information regarding her books can be found at: http://www.riewriter.com/books.htm.

Sherlock
Sherlock is a very eclectic San Antonio artist. Achieved a University summa cum laude BFA in drawing, and then scribbled the rest of her life away. Sherlock does fine art, graphic art, fan art, illustrations, paintings, sewing, wild experimentation...you name it. She's done a few clip art collections, illustrated a book or two and snagged a Hugo nomination among other things…always busy with something. A few of the latest creations include almost a dozen illustrations for ANALOG, a CD cover (Geronimo Trevino III), a Cthlulu-like monster mask, an animé character doll (complete with light-up forehead gem and poseable skeleton), illustrations for Jonathan Frid's (Barnabas Collins!) King Richard III flash project, a large painting of Elvis, a Styx club t-shirt, dragons and cartoons for conventions and the like, painted gourds, fun signs, and funny animal covers for Colorado Book Associates' catalogs. Coming up is art for a funny science/ecology book for kids--Dr. DNA and the Anacondas (by Lucas Miller, Austin's singing zoologist). When not figuring out how to insanely combine things, Sherlock clerks at the local library part-time, coaches her brilliant up-and-coming manga-enthused sister Amy, or trips over the overstuffed chow-mix, Paddington.

Sharon Shinn
Sharon Shinn is the author of Archangel and four additional books in the Samaria world, as well as six other science fiction/fantasy novels. She has also published two young adult books and a sprinkling of short fiction. Because writing science fiction/fantasy books doesn't make one rich, she holds a real job as an editor on a trade magazine that covers the field of business education.

Willie Siros
Willie Siros has been called "the Cardinal Richelieu of Texas science fiction" by Howard Waldrop. Willie had an awful lot to do with the creation of FACT, ArmadilloCon, SolarCon, LoneStarCon, InstaCon, SerCon, and ALAMO. Currently he devotes himself to being a bookseller with Adventures in Crime & Space.

Debbie Lynn Smith
Debbie has spent the last fifteen years writing and producing such television shows MURDER, SHE WROTE; DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN; and TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL.In addition to her television credits, Debbie has published non-fiction articles in the DARK SHADOWS ALMANAC and FANGORIA and has currently has short stories in the Dark Delicacies and Summer Chills Anthologies, and forthcoming in Hot Blood XIII, Dark Passions. She is currently working on a paranormal romance novel.

William Browning Spencer
William Browning Spencer is an Austin writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. He has published four novels, including Résumé With Monsters and Zod Wallop. He has published two short story collections, the most recent of which, The Ocean and All Its Devices, appeared in June of 2006. It received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, as did his two previous books. Last year he moved to Lexington, Missouri, but he decided that the Midwest needed no additional weirdness, so he has returned to Austin to help keep it weird.

James Stoddard
James Stoddard's fiction has appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories and Fantasy and Science Fiction. His short story, The Battle of York, was recently included in David Hartwell’s The Year’s Best SF 10. His novel, The High House, won the Compton Crook Award for best fantasy by a new novelist and was nominated for several other awards. It has been translated into several different languages. A sequel, The False House, followed. The movie rights for The High House are currently under option.

Matthew Sturges
Matthew Sturges is comic book writer whose current projcts include Shadowpact, Countdown to Mystery, and Jack of Fables (with Bill Willingham), all from DC Comics, with another series to be announced within the year. He is also the auther of a novel, Midwinter, and once composed the music and lyrics for a musical version of Lysistrata set in the year 3000, which was exactly as bad as it sounds.

Kathryn Sullivan
Kathryn Sullivan writes young adult fantasy and science fiction. Her first book, The Crystal Throne, won the 2002 EPPIE for best Fantasy, and her second, Agents & Adepts, won the 2003 Dream Realm Award for Best Anthology. Talking To Trees, released January 2006 by Amber Quill Press, is a finalist for the Dream Realm Award for best YA. She is well used to dealing with alien lifeforms, as she's owned by two birds who graciously allow her to write about other animals, as well as birdlike aliens.

Shanna Swendson
Shanna Swendson writes humorous contemporary fantasy for Ballantine Books and pop culture essays for BenBella Books. She¹s the author of Enchanted, Inc., Once Upon Stilettos, and Damsel Under Stress, and has contributed to Flirting With Pride and Prejudice, Welcome to Wisteria Lane, So Say We All and Serenity Found. When she¹s not writing, she¹s usually discussing books and television on the Internet. She¹s a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and Romance Writers of America. Visit her web site at www.shannaswendson.com.

Matt Taggart
Matt Taggart was born in Bountiful, Utah and raised in a large old Victorian house known by the locals as "The Haunted House of Odell Lane", where he spent much time adventuring in the crumbling ruins of an eighty year old ivy covered swimming pool that had the unique ability to transform itself from into a medieval castle or the scourge of the seas pirate ship. Later he attended Salt Lake Community College and won several awards in the collage shows including two awards at the All Utah Open. He is a winner in the L. Ron Hubbard’s Illustrators of the Future Contest of 2004 and has been working on a career in book and magazine cover illustration. He now resides in San Antonio, Texas with his wife and a slew of projects in the waiting.

Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor is a great Texas fan who lives in Austin. He was a grounding force behind the two Texas bids for LoneStar Con as well as a longtime attendee of ArmadilloCon.

Mikal Trimm
Mikal Trimm writes speculative fiction and poetry. He's had over 150 works published in numerous venues including Strange Horizons, Polyphony, Interfictions, Postscripts, and Weird Tales. If you meet him, pretend like you've read something by him -- he really falls for that crap.

Lynn Ward
Lynn Ward, an SF "late bloomer" , has sold short fiction in magazines and anthologies. Most recently, her novel "Blood of Kings" was bought by Zumaya press. She's a speech pathologist in her day job, while other interests include reading, martial arts, terrible punning, questioning authority and killing publishing houses. Approach with caution.

Don Webb
Don Webb teaches Novel Writing for UCLA. With his wife Guiniviere he immortalized several Austin ghost stories for the Disembodied Spirit Exposition of the Austin Museum of Art. He has had short stories in Year's Best Fantasy, Year's Best SF, and Year's Best Horror. He is loud, very shy and never knows what to write in bios. He has a cat.

Martha Wells
Martha Wells is the author of seven fantasy novels, including "Wheel of the Infinite" and the Nebula-nominated "The Death of the Necromancer." Her most recent novels are a fantasy trilogy: "The Wizard Hunters," "The Ships of Air," and "The Gate of Gods," published HarperCollins Eos. She has had short stories in the magazines "Realms of Fantasy" and "Black Gate", the anthology "Elemental," and essays in the nonfiction anthologies "Farscape Forever" and "Mapping the World of Harry Potter." She also has a media-tie-in novel, "Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary." Her books have been published in eight languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Dutch.

Wendy Wheeler
Wendy Wheeler is a founder of the SlugTribe SF/F group in Austin. Her fiction has been selected for The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (Datlow/Windling) and has appeared in Analog, Aboriginal SF, Gorezone, Pandora and others. She's also had work in anthologies like Snow White, Blood Red and Silver Birch, Blood Moon and in The Crafters Parts I and II. These days she writes mostly genre screenplays. No options yet but the producer of The Ring is reading one of her horror scripts. More at www.wendy-wheeler.com.

Jo Whittemore
At the age of 29, Jo Whittemore has exceeded a goal she set for herself as a child—to publish a novel. She is now the author of three novels: Escape from Arylon, Curse of Arastold, and Onaj’s Horn. Jo has been a member of the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) since 2003 and has been featured in the national magazines For Me, East West, and Audrey. She is a lover of all things Whedon, most things Blizzard and nothing that involves the words “mayonnaise” or “probe”.

Steve Wilson
Steve Wilson co-edited the fiction section of RevolutionSF.com and the zine Space Squid. His stories have appeared in Opium.com and Parageography. As a freelance journalist, he has occasionally written on genre-related topics, such as the "San Diego Comic Con Survival Guide" in GQ and an essay in the Buffy/Angel crit book Reading the Slayer (Tauris Parket, 2002).