Guests
Guest of Honor: David Doub
David Doub is the Publisher and Head Writer for Dusk Comics. Dusk Comics is an Independent Comic Book Publisher out of Denton Texas. David took his love of creating comics into a full blown publishing company to help other creators get their works out. David’s writing style leans to dark complex dramas that explore the messier side of human nature. You can see examples of that in the 2 volumes of Dusk and the noir styling of Mystery Masque. Also currently Dusk Comics is releasing the Malaysian Manga CESAGA. Learn Malaysian mythology in the form of shonen action. You can find out more about David and Dusk at http://www.duskcomics.com.
Artist Guest of Honor: Complex Actions (Michael “Talthos” Willett and Emily “Silkspinner” Karnes)
Complex Actions satirizes, parodies, and generally pokes fun at MMORPGs, console gaming, table-top roleplaying, strategy gaming, board and card gaming, as well as books and movies. The content in the comic is derived from the antics the creators and others have experienced in these types of games, tossed in with a bit of ‘slice-of-life’. Written by Michael and drawn by Emily, the comic has been well-received by gamers and non-gamers alike. Michael is a writer who still considers himself a novice at the craft, when he isn’t busy with his cats, dogs, snakes, kids, or wife. Emily is a professional artist who strives to always improve, learning new ways to bring art to life in varied media. They live in the Houston area suburbs, and enjoy sushi and coffee when free time allows.
Musical Guest of Honor: The Bedlam Bards
Hawke and Cedric, the Bedlam Bards, are famous for playing foot-stomping, heart-pounding music about outlaws, pirates, sailing ships, space ships, space pirates, misadventures, and strong drink at renaissance festivals, scifi conventions, and shindigs across the country. They arrive at their shows armed with a guitar, two fiddles, a mandola, bones, bodhran, pennywhistle, kazoos, a bizarre sense of humor, and two strong, manly voices. Their performance style stresses passion before perfection, death before dishonor, and whiskey before breakfast.
They have several albums out, including Take Out the Trash, a collection of bawdy ditties, and Furious Fancies, an exploration of more serious music. The Bedlam Bards have recently released their third album, entitled On the Drift: Music Inspired by Firefly and Serenity. Several of their songs, including "The Ballad of Joss" and "Big Damn Trilogy," have become Browncoat anthems around the world. Their second bawdy album, Barnyard Bedlam: A Cock and Bull Story, was recorded live at the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival at considerable risk to life, limb, and morality. Collaborating with Marc Gunn, they released Firefly Drinking Songs.
Winners of numerous awards, including Best Album of 2006, the Bedlam Bards have been featured on the documentary Done the Impossible, The Signal podcast, and the Big Damn Chefs' Cookbook. Their song "Hush, Little Citizen" is featured in the independent fan film Browncoats: Redemption.
Gaming Guests of Honor: Jason Durall and Jeff Toney of KingsIsle Entertainment
Jason has been a gamer since the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons, and has worked professionally as an international teacher, graphic designer, editor, and web developer. However, it was gaming that brought him into his current career as Creative Design Lead in the online games industry. He has worked in the MMO space as designer and writer on Shadowbane , Star Trek Online, Blackstar, and Wizard101, and has written for tabletop RPGs such as Basic Roleplaying, The Laundry, A Game of Thrones, Supernatural, Serenity, Conan, Dragon Lords of Melnibone, Lord of the Rings, and others.
Jeff Toney has been an artist in the video game industry for around 12 years. He has spent most of his time working on Massively Multiplayer Online Games. He was a senior artist for Shadowbane by Wolfpack Studios and is now a senior artist for Wizard101 by Kingsisle Entertainment. He enjoys role-playing and board games with his friends, playing Legend of Zelda (all of them) and also organizes Cheese Day at his work, were people feast on different cheeses from around the world once a month.
Based in Dallas and Austin, KingsIsle Entertainment publishes and designs Wizard101. According to the KingsIsle Entertainment Website, "KingsIsle Entertainment develops and publishes high quality family online games that appeal to a wide audience. KingsIsle’s kid safe games have been honored with awards from the National Parenting Publication, Beckett Massive Online Gamer Magazine, Massively.com and MMORPG.com." Visit them at www.kingsIsle.com or get your game on with Wizard101 at www.wizard101.com.
Pasadena Paranormal Research Team
The Pasadena Paranormal Research Team (also known as Pasadena P.R.T.), consists of a group of people with a common interest from various backgrounds and religious beliefs in the Paranormal who are willing to dedicate their time to research, investigate and document paranormal events and phenomena. Kristen started this group for herself and others that are interested in all aspects of the paranormal. We are located in Pasadena, Texas and serve the surrounding communities. Our services are performed as a "free" public service to those in need of our investigation services.
DJ Illuminator (Noah Ramon)
Noah likes music. He's the Bi-Bulb, the light man for notable Houston band Beans Barton and the Bi-Peds - and he wears that job on his back, jumping out on the dance floor with a battery-laden backpack and two hand lights to illuminate the band. He also hosts The Bright Lights Tonight, an eclectic dance club night held several times a year.
Please send music requests to conjourdance@bibulb.com.
List of Guests
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Guest Name: Michael Finn Website: http://about.me/MickeyFinn Mickey is a short story author who's trying his hand at novel writing. In addition, he's a freelance thematic consultant, currently working for Dynamite Entertainment on the Hugo-nominated Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files and the ManaPunk RPG. He is also a moderator for www.jimbutcheronline.com, was the chief editor for the Backspace and CHUDStories internet anthologies. His work has appeared in Mind's Eye Fiction, alongside notables Stephen King, Fred Saberhagen and Harlan Ellison. He also runs a periodic review site called Coyote Reviews. |
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Guest Name: Christopher Dunbar, Co-Author of the Morrigan’s Brood Series Website: http://www.triscellepublishing.com, http://triscellepublishing.wordpress.com Chris Dunbar was born in Greenport, Long Island, New York and then moved to Texas as soon as he could, at least that is the story he tells to native Texans, and his wife. Chris’ day job is performing Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, but his night job is coming up with creative ways to wound and maim the characters he and his wife Heather created. Chris enjoys the occasional novel and video game, but he also likes to delve into his Scottish ancestry. When he can find the time, Chris pretends to play the Bodhran and the didgeridoo. |
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Guest Name: Heather Dunbar, Co-Author of the Morrigan’s Brood Series Website: http://www.triscellepublishing.com, http://triscellepublishing.wordpress.com Born in Houston, Texas, Heather began writing her first book at age eight. While her undeveloped grammatical structure, she continued to hone her writing and storytelling skills. During a college internship in London, England, her curiosity about ancient cultures and mythology intensified. She backpacked through Europe, fell in love with Scotland, cried at the retelling of Ulster cycle, wandered the Roman ruins in Bath, and danced around the stones in Avebury. She now resides in the Houston area with her husband and three cats. Her favorite authors include Morgan Llewellyn, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, and Randy Lee Eickhoff. |
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Guest Name: Joe Grisaffi Website: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003784 Joe has called Houston home his entire life. He entered the Houston commercial and motion picture scene in 1993, producing his first short in 1995 (the still popular Death and a Salesman) and his first feature in 1998 (Laughing Boy), both award winners. Joe recently released his film Dead of Knight on DVD and is about to release his third independent feature film, Lars the Emo Kid. In 2001, Joe founded SouthwestCasting.com, which quickly became Houston’s premiere casting resource, now boasting over 12,000 members. As an actor, Joe can be seen in the indie horror features Psychic Experiment and Jacob as well as appearing several other projects currently being completed. |
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Guest Name: Terry Mixon Website: http://LynnMixon.com Terry Mixon is co-host of the Parsec Finalist Dead Robots’ Society writing podcast. He also publishes erotic romance and erotica under the name of Lynn Mixon. You can find his novels and short story collections on all major online booksellers. |
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Guest Name: P.L. Blair Website: http://www.plblairportals.com, http://blog.plblairportals.com P.L. Blair was born and grew up in Tyler, Texas; lived 10 years in the Corpus Christi/Rockport area before moving to Sheridan, Wyo., in the mid-1980s. She returned to Rockport in 2008 to be closer to family, but she continues to spend summers in Sheridan. She has worked for more than 30 years as a newspaper reporter. She wrote Shadow Path, the first novel in her Portals fantasy/detective series, in 2007, and followed it with three more: Stormcaller, Deathtalker and Sister Hoods. Shadow Path has recently been released as an ebook, available on Kindle. Blair has recently completed her fifth book in the series and is working on Book 6. In addition to her human family, Blair shares her life with two basset hounds, a long haired dachshund and two cats-all rescued. |
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Guest Name: Robert Stikmanz Website: http://www.robertstikmanz.com Texas native Robert Stikmanz is the author of The Hidden Lands of Nod, a genre-bending fantasy cycle that chronicles the re-emergence of magical consciousness in a technological society on the edge of collapse. An illustrator as well as an author, he creates graphic works rooted in the world of his books. In addition to his novels and illustrations, Stikmanz has invented a language for his fictional people, the Dvarsh, and created a fantasy divination system, Nod's Way, that embodies their ancient oracle. His current projects include a dictionary of the Dvarsh language and the fourth novel in the cycle. |
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Guest Name: Amanda Kimmerly A South Austinite, Amanda Kimmerly writes fiction, poetry, and book reviews. While Journalistically-trained and AP Stylebook-minded, she secretly fancies the Oxford comma (as seen above), due to confusing sentences such as this: I ate dinner with Robert Stikmanz, my favorite author and the family's beloved elephant. Her obsession with words and grammar led her to a life of editing novels and co-authoring Robert Stikmanz's invented language guide, “The Way It Grows: An Introduction to Dvarsh,” the debut piece of Confabule, a new publishing company scheduled to launch October 2011. |
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Guest Name: Rhonda Eudaly Website: http://www.rhondaeudaly.com Rhonda Eudaly lives in Texas where she's worked in various industries to support her writing habit. Her passions are writing and music (mutually exclusive) and she enjoys reading, movies, friends and family. She loves all things writing related including unusual writing instruments and notebooks. She's had over a dozen fiction and non-fiction stories published in anthologies, magazines and websites. |
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Guest Name: O. M. Grey O. M. Grey dreams of the dark streets of London and the decadent deeds that occur after sunset. She dons a tight corset, a fluffy bustle, and a teeny-tiny top hat for fantasy conventions where she enjoys meeting fans and participating on panels. Olivia prefers to live in the cobwebbed corners of her dark mind writing paranormal romance with a Steampunk twist. Her premiere Steampunk Paranormal Romance novel, Avalon Revisited, is an Amazon.com Gothic Romance bestseller. She also writes short stories, relationship articles, and angsty poetry. Ms. Grey is represented by the fabulous Louise Fury of the L. Perkins Agency. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, tending the garden, or drinking a hot cup of tea. |
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Guest Name: Bev Hale Website: http://www.bevhale.com Bev Hale is usually found writing. However, of late she has become obsessed with gears (guard you windup watches and clocks) and now spends far too much time gluing, soldering, sewing and attaching things to other things—sometimes herself (there was that unfortunate superglue incident). She makes steampunk accessories which can be seen in the art show or viewed at Facebook Page Otherwhen Oddities. She’s still writing when she can get unattached from the gears and is working on a YA “Gaslight Fantasy” and a YA SF novel. |
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Guest Name: Alexis Glynn Latner Website: http://www.alexisglynnlatner.com Alexis Glynn Latner has written Hurricane Moon (Pyr 2007) and stories in science fiction, fantasy, horror and mystery magazines and anthologies. She works at Rice University's Fondren Library and teaches creative writing through the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice. She has a sailplane pilot's license, so she understands the calculus of risk and reward when people undertake adventure. Her latest novel is a dark fantasy in which the American West has black magicians and demons, earth spirits, and mystical witches and wanderers. |
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Guest Name: Charlie Brown Website: http://mojotoothproductions.com Charlie Brown is a writer, filmmaker and podcaster from New Orleans. He has made two feature films, including “Angels Die Slowly,” and has produced two full audio books “The French Quarter Hustle” (part of the “Crescent City Heat” series) and the fantasy “Dragon Ash.” |
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Guest Name: Jeremy Tully Website: http://mana-punk.com Jeremy Tully is creator and co-author of the Mana Punk RPG, a fantasy tabletop role-playing game with a steampunk twist. Currently a resident of Houston, Jeremy has been an "RPG Junkie" for more than 30 years, playing many other game systems before deciding to create his own. Jeremy spends most of his day creating content, writing up short stories, and dreaming up ways to break his own rule system... all while attempting to navigate the currents of independent publishing. |
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Guest Name: Glenda Boozer I am an amateur at many things, an expert at nothing. I have one published short story (so far); I have been creating costumes of various sorts for 25 years or so; I have written a handful of filk lyrics that I’m fairly pleased with, and I have fun performing them; I write reviews, but only for Amazon.com and (rarely) IMDB.com; I crochet my own original designs (including a big red hat at Conjour 3.0), and I bake my own original recipes. I teach math online and in the classroom. One of my laptop totes says “Singing Gypsy Math Teacher.” |
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Guest Name: Mel White Known to her kids as "Indiana Mom", anthropologist Mel. White is a writer, artist, comic book creator, poet, storyteller, playwright, rocket-and-robot enthusiast, fossil preparator, and Warcraft player. As a scientist, she spearheads several citizen science projects. |
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Guest Name: Dr. Paul Abell Dr. Paul Abell is the Lead Scientist for Planetary Small Bodies assigned to the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Paul has been studying potentially hazardous asteroids and near-Earth objects for over 10 years and is a visiting astronomer at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility at Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawai’i. He was a telemetry officer for the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft Near-Infrared Spectrometer team and is a science team member on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa near-Earth asteroid sample-return mission. Paul, his wife Amy Sisson, and their feline companions have lived in Houston, Texas since December 2003. |
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Guest Name: Amy Sisson Amy Sisson is a writer, book reviewer, crazy cat lady, and medical librarian, not necessarily in that order. Her published fiction ranges from Star Trek work for Pocket Books to a group of thematically linked short stories in her Unlikely Patron Saints series, which have appeared in Strange Horizons, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, and Irregular Quarterly. Most recently, her story “Patriot Girls” appeared in Aeon Speculative Fiction. When not writing, she enjoys making artist trading cards, studying German and Japanese, attending performances by the Houston Ballet, and traveling with her husband, Paul Abell. |
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Guest Name: Louise Riofrio Louise Riofrio is educated in Physics and Astronomy. She moved to Houston in 2008 to pursue the dream of working as a scientist at NASA. She worked in the Lunar Sample Lab doing experiments with priceless Apollo Moon samples. She is becoming known for her "GM=tc^3" theory, which may solve the accelerating universe problem. Louise is a part-time actress who has worked on Hollywood movies and numerous plays in the Houston area. |
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Guest Name: Jonathan “Skippy” Schwarz Website: http://skippyslist.com More years ago than he cares to recall Skippy rather accidentally wrote a comedic about his time in the military. It was called the "213 Things that Skippy Cannot Do in the US Army". He put it online and then a bunch of good stuff happened to him as a result. He is still a little confused as to how all of that happened. Skippy is a former video game designer and a current board game designer. |
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Guest Name: Janice Schwarz Website: http://www.geekartist.com Janice's career in the Internet industry began in 1996. She is a professional web designer and developer with over a decade of experience. Her knowledge extends beyond web design and development, to social media, SEO, website copy and online marketing. She is passionate about her industry, and about sharing her knowledge with others and watching them succeed. When she's not making websites, she's hanging with her husband and 2 year old twins, reading (usually sci-fi and fantasy), playing video games, or enjoying dance, yoga, or poi. |
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Guest Name: Julia Mandala Website: http://www.juliasmandala.com Note: Due to family obligations, Julia Mandala will not be able to attend the convention. |
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Guest Name: Lou Antonelli Website: http://www.louantonelli.blogspot.com Note: Due to other obligations Lou Antonelli will be unable to attend the convention. |
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Guest Name: Philippa Ballantine Website: http://www.pjballantine.com Note: Due to other obligations Philippa Ballantine will be unable to attend the convention. |
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Guest Name: Tee Morris Website: http://teemorris.com Note: Due to other obligations Tee Morris will be unable to attend the convention. |
How do I get on this list?
Please contact us at guests.conjour@gmail.com. Send a personal bio with 100 words or less and a picture.